The Voice In Dark.

*Title: You Decide: Night Caller – Episode 1: "The First Voice"**

*(Ambient city night sounds: distant sirens, muffled traffic, wind rustling through alleyways.)*

**Narrator (calm, serious tone):**

The city doesn't sleep. It never does. Even when its people do. Somewhere, a clock ticks in sync with the rhythm of another crime. Another lie. Another silence.

My name is Detective Mara Vex. Twenty years on the force. I’ve walked through everything this city tried to hide in shadows. But I wasn’t ready for him. Not the Night Caller.

*(Soft click — the sound of a cassette tape being inserted and played. A distorted male voice begins speaking.)*

**Caller (distorted, calm):**

She walked home like they all do. Headphones in. Jacket pulled tight. Step… step… step. She never heard me behind her. She never turned around. You want to know what her last words were, Detective?

*(Pause. Static buzzes. The tape ends.)*

**Narrator (Mara):**

That was the first tape. It came in a plain envelope, no return address. Dropped off directly at our precinct’s front desk at 3:14 a.m. No fingerprints. No prints on the tape, envelope, nothing. Just... that voice.

No one recognized it. And the girl he talked about? We didn’t even know who she was yet.

Until the body showed up.

*(Scene transition — low hum of police radios, camera shutters clicking, hushed murmurs.)*

**Officer Ramirez:**

She’s over here, Detective. No ID. No phone. Wallet's missing.

**Mara:**

Injuries?

**Ramirez:**

Single stab wound, base of the neck. Clean. Almost surgical. No signs of a struggle.

**Mara:**

Just like he said. "She never turned around."

*(Cut to interior: Police precinct, interrogation room ambiance — fluorescent hum, pen scribbling notes.)*

**Narrator (Mara):**

There were no signs of sexual assault. No defensive wounds. She was just… taken. Quietly. Precisely.

We pulled camera footage from the blocks around where she was found. One grainy image at 11:52 p.m. — she was alone, walking north on Eldridge. After that, nothing.

He knew how to pick his spots.

And he knew how to pick his words.

*(Soft mechanical click — another tape plays.)*

**Caller:**

This city hums like a broken machine, doesn’t it? All that noise, and still no one hears the truth. You chase shadows with badges and bullets. But I speak to the night. It listens. It obeys.

Detective Vex... did you hear her scream?

*(Tape ends.)*

**Narrator (Mara):**

I listened to that tape ten times. There was no scream. But there was something else. Barely audible under his voice. Like... a chime. A bell.

We ran a spectrogram analysis. Confirmed it — wind chimes. Faint, metallic, specific.

So we combed city footage, cross-referenced every street within a two-mile radius of where the body was found. We looked for houses or shops with that exact sound. It took hours.

But we found one.

*(Scene transition: Field recording — gravel crunching underfoot, light breeze, faint chimes.)*

**Officer Ramirez:**

Back of this antique store, second floor apartment. Belongs to a Curtis Wren. Thirty-eight. No priors. Keeps to himself.

**Mara:**

We got a warrant?

**Ramirez:**

Signed and ready.

**Mara:**

Then let’s knock.

*(Knocking sound, door creaks open.)*

**Curtis (nervous, calm):**

Detectives. Can I help you?

**Mara:**

Mr. Wren, we need to ask you a few questions about a recording that might’ve been made near your apartment. May we come in?

*(Pause)*

**Curtis:**

Of course

*(Interior: dusty apartment, faint hum of an old refrigerator.)*

**Mara:**

You live alone?

**Curtis:**

Yes. Been here six years.

**Mara:**

You recognize this voice?

*(Plays short clip from the second tape.)*

*(Curtis is silent.)*

**Curtis:**

No. Should I?

**Mara:**

The wind chimes outside — they’re unique. You know where you bought them?

**Curtis:**

They came with the place. Why.

**Narrator (Mara):**

His answers were clean. Too clean. I’d seen enough to know when someone’s trying to scrub their thoughts. But there was nothing we could hold him on. Not yet.

Still, something felt off. On the way out, I noticed a reel-to-reel recorder in the corner. Old, analog. Same model used to make the tapes. But without a warrant to seize it, we had nothing.

Until this morning.

*(Sound of a new tape being played — tape #3.)*

**Caller (more intense):**

You were close last night. You stood in my doorway. You looked me in the eye. And still, you don’t see. You don’t hear.

Next time, Detective… I’ll be watching you.

**Narrator (Mara):**

He wants to play. But he’s not just playing with me. He’s playing with the whole city. With *you*.

So now I’m asking you:

Should we bring Curtis Wren in for questioning — push harder, risk tipping him off?

Or do we wait, watch him longer, and try to catch him in the act?

**You decide.**

*(Music fades in: haunting piano motif.)*

**Narrator:**

Send your choice to our hotline or visit the case board online. This is Detective Mara Vex. The Night Caller’s voice is rising. And I need yours to stop it.