Jenna’s parents were at their wits end. They couldn’t cope with the ‘noise’ any longer…
Jenna was a contemporary music student. That meant she played rock; thrash and grind rock, and loud…
She also sang at the top of her lungs. The neighbours had already complained, as well.
“Use headphones, and a practice amp!”, her father had cried.
They’d tried soundproofing her room. Jenna had ripped it off, saying it ‘spoiled the tone of her music’.
Almost crying, her mother Anya was on the phone to her sister, who was a research scientist in the city…
“Is your new device ready?”, she asked, desperately. “We could really do with it…!”
“We’ve not carried out human trials, yet”, her sister said.
“Here’s an obscene amount of money”, Anya said, naming a figure that made her sister gulp loudly. “We’ve got a test subject for you. Can you carry out the fitting straight away…?”
“For that sort of money, I’ll be right over…”, she said.
Jenna was still practicing in her room when the door burst open. Because of the volume of her music, she hadn’t even noticed…
The first she realised she wasn’t alone was when the clear fishbowl helmet was rammed over her head. A backpack was then strapped onto her back.
“What the fuck!? Get this off me, now!!”
To her amazement, the woman ignored her, completely; she instead went over to Jenna’s equipment and plugged a small device into it. Jenna hardly noticed any difference, just a momentary gap in the music.
In her room, however, it suddenly went quiet…
The box Anya’s sister had plugged into Jenna’s music system was a specially designed Bluetooth relay box. It was now feeding all audio outputs directly to speakers in the collar of Jenna’s helmet. A helmet that was soundproof…
Jenna reached over and turned off her hifi, thinking that was why the woman couldn’t hear her. She tried again.
“What the fuck is going on! Get this damn helmet off of me!”
Again, the woman ignored her completely. She then called Jenna’s parents in.
She then turned to face Jenna, who was still trying to shout at her.
“Jenna, save your breath, I can’t hear you”, she said. “Your helmet is soundproof.”
Jenna’s mouth dropped open in astonishment.
“Hang on a second”, the woman said. She pressed a button on a handset that she held. “Right, now try.”
“Get this sodding thing off of my head!”, Jenna yelled.
“I’m sorry, I can’t. The timer has been set. The minimum period on the lock is three months.”
“What!! I’m stuck in this damn thing for three months! Who’s f’ing idea was that?”
“Mine, sweetie”, said Anya, coming into the room. “We can’t cope with your constant noise any longer.”
“Noise, mum? It’s modern music! I’m learning a trade!”
“No, you’re not, you’re having fun”, Anya said, bluntly. “Also, unless you wear the helmet, your grant will be cancelled, and your university place will be given to someone else. Your father and I have had enough, as have the neighbours.”
Jenna tried to argue, Anya just pressed the button that her sister showed her, and she abruptly went silent again.
“I’ve just turned you off, as I’m sick of it”, Anya said. “When you’ve got a legitimate question to ask, hold up your hand, like a civilised human being. Otherwise, you’re silent from now on in this house. You can speak and make your noise normally at university, as the helmet is set to allow you to there; here, you will be silent. You can still practice here, my sister has set everything so you can still hear your music in your helmet, but nobody else will have to put up with that racket anymore.”
Jenna was really fuming. She just started yanking at the helmet, frantically trying to get it off, swearing and cursing silently.
Seeing as she wasn’t going to get anywhere, Anya sadly left the room, leaving Jenna struggling on the bed…
After Jenna had calmed down a little, she suddenly thought of an obvious problem…
How the hell was she supposed to eat and drink…?
Wandering sadly into the kitchen, she saw Anya and her sister at the table and went over to them. She started to ask her question, then remembered and raised her hand.
Anya turned on Jenna’s ability to talk.
“How am I supposed to eat and drink with this on?”, she asked. “There’s no way to get any food in.”
“That’s what the backpack is for”, Anya said, holding up a rectangular box. “There’s a panel on the side of it that opens, and you insert a full one of these. That’s got enough food and fluids in it for a week. You just come and see me each Sunday night and I take the empty one out and put the full one in.”
“What!!”, shrieked Jenna. Anya’s hand moved toward the remote, and she immediately calmed down. “No, sorry, please don’t silence me. It’s just that I like going out with my friends…”
“You can still go out with them; you just can’t eat or drink with them at the moment. As far as the university is concerned, you’ve suddenly developed a life-threatening allergic reaction to something, and you have to wear the helmet while the doctors are working on a solution. There’s a microphone built into the helmet; if you mention anything about why you’re actually wearing it, the helmet will lock you into ‘silent’ mode, and you will have to come home to me to get it unlocked, so it’s in your best interests to stick to the story.”
Jenna just went back to her room, sobbing quietly…
Jenna got some very weird looks from her classmates when she attended her first lecture since being helmeted.
The lecturer, addressing the ‘elephant in the room’, told the class about Jenna’s allergies and what the doctors had to do, praising her for being very brave and carrying on despite her illness.
Jenna soon found out who her real friends were. A select group became fiercely protective of her. To her amazement, she found it made them closer than ever.
At lunch, one girl did start taking the mickey out of her, calling her a cripple.
Suddenly, two of her friends were standing in front of her, shielding her.
“Leave her alone!”
The other girl slinked off.
To her surprise, Jenna found out that she enjoyed her nights out even without drinking; she could still enjoy dancing and the music, and her helmet made a very interesting piece of ‘clubwear’…!