731

Voices From the Past

    The last of the afternoon's light was lowering to the horizon as Stella was driving home from the meeting of the paranormal investigation group she was a part of, After All. The plans for the upcoming investigation were nearly lined out. Getting the opportunity to investigate the World War II museum in town was rare. The curator of the collection, Mr. Sato, would not admit to his beloved museum being haunted. There was an entire message board online dedicated to sightings. The site contained testimony, photographs, and a few videos spanning twenty years. Sato carefully maintained the compilation of items and educated the community of the tragedy and necessity of war in the 1930s and 1940s. Stella even had to admit that anytime she went in she learned something new that she was not taught in school.

    Her phone began to ring an unusual tone. Pulling her out of her own mind she wondered when she changed her main ring from the jovial jingle to the old school telephone sound, she glanced at the screen. It wasn't her phone. Slowly turning her head to the small, rectangular box of remains from the soldier that John had given to her earlier that day she realized the harsh bells were coming from it. Curious and hesitant, she cautiously picked up the box and said "Hello?"

"Yes, this is Eric from ABN wanting to interview you about your time at Unit 731. Would now be a good time?" Another voice came from the box and it sounded exhausted and foreign to Stella's ear, "I do not know what you are asking about. I was not at any such place."  "Ivanov, we both know you were there and that no one else knows you survived. The records are gone, your military destroyed it. Ishii won't pay for his crimes unless you speak."

    Wide-eyed now Stella just continued to listen while trying to safely navigate the road. The foreign voice became irritable, "I told you I was not in such a place. Now I will not tolerate this harassment. I will report you to your superiors for this." "This is not over Ivanov! You will give me my story." 

    Then it sounded like a phone slammed down and the box made no further noise. Setting it down Stella felt as if she needed to apologize for handling the remains the way she had. "Who holds a box of cremated remains to their face?", she wondered aloud. She came to the last light before her street and her phone rang. Stella jumped out of her skin and screamed "Not again!", thinking it was the box. She scrambled to answer her phone while stopped at the red light. Looking at the screen she saw it was her co-worker Anthony calling, most likely to check she got home safely. "Hello?", she croaked out. 

    "Stella!'' Anthony was talking excitedly, "I found the ancestry for Alena. Her relative inside the box you have for the museum is a Russian soldier just like she said. I believe he was a POW and that's why he did not speak of his time in World War II. I am slowly getting more military records, but I don't believe his name was always Adrian." A chill ran down her back at the last sentence. "Why would you say that Anthony?", she asked.

    Her question barely registered with him as he rattled on about other family members that he crossed off his list as individuals that could be in the box. "Anthony!" Mid-sentence he finally paused to take a breath, "I am sorry Stella what were you asking?" More in control of her voice and finally in her driveway and not endangering fellow motorists by being on the phone she asked again, "Why would you say his name is different?"

    "There was never an Adrian born into the family in the 1920s. Now I know it is difficult going through the birth records in the original Russian, but I can translate better than the computer. My money would be on Ivanov Petrov. He was born in 1920 so he would have been the right age to be in World War II." Anthony sounded positive and Stella was very inclined to agree with him based on the experience she had before he called.

    "Good work then Anthony. Could you put together a synopsis of his life so we can turn that into the museum with his remains as well? I want to make sure that everything is above board and fleshed out before our investigation next week. I am still in shock Mr. Sato has finally agreed to allow our team access."

    "It will be tied up with a bow for you Stella." Anthony paused and took his first hesitant breath of the conversation, "Do you want to get together and research? Together we could get it done faster and you could ensure that it was done to your satisfaction?"

    Anthony was not one to ask her out directly. Despite his olive complexion he always was a bit pale from all the time he spent indoors researching, investigating, or gaming. Stella did not want to encourage him so she pretended she did not understand the meaning to his question. "That sounds good, but perhaps we could have Bethany join in. She types faster than either of us. I can get Alex to cook dinner. What do you think? Just the four of us. We could even do it at my house. My place is bigger than Bethany and Alex's apartment." 

    The house she lived in was her and Alex's parents, but they left her the house. Alex got the hardware store with the apartment above. Their parents thought she would find someone first and get married and need the space for this large family they thought she would have. She was still single and Bethany and Alex were only interested in one another and hunting ghosts. "Oh yeah... that sounds like a plan". 

    He was obviously disappointed, but went along with her request. "Send me the details. I have another call. Speak with you later". The phone went dead in Stella's hand. She sighed, turning off her car. As she was gathering her bag, she considered leaving the box in the car, but it seemed disrespectful. Stella grabbed the remains and started walking to her door. Reaching to unlock the door her phone started ringing again, but she never got to answer it. A sharp pain on the back of her neck caused her to fall into the door and her vision went black.