I read the message again. Again. And again. Each time my heart pounded harder, faster. Pensively, I devoured more cookies. It was like I’d written it, only with the knowledge bases swapped out. I flicked the mousepad and quickly skimmed the responses for anything on point, but it was the same old guesswork and amateur pseudo analysis as always, with the usual trolls sprinkled throughout.

The cookies formed a delectable paste in my mouth as I tapped the user profile for EarthrBro_99. For the first time in years of searching, someone else had described my experience to a T. They seemed legit. If so, it meant I wasn’t alone.

I feverishly composed a multi-paragraph direct message on my own situation, quickly realized it was a little hot and heavy, and decided to back off a bit. Start slowly, Ben. One sentence at a time.

>O)))<<Flyguy: Hey man, saw your thread in deja who. I have the same thing.

I hit ENTER and slid another cookie from my hand like it was a PEZ dispenser. A response popped up before I could even crunch down.

EarthrBro_99: Are you trolling me?

>O)))<<Flyguy: Trolling you? Are you trolling me? Lol.

EarthrBro_99: No.

>O)))<<Flyguy: Me neither.

>O)))<<Flyguy: How long have you had this thing going on?

EarthrBro_99: Whole life.

>O)))<<Flyguy: Same. Ever since I could remember.

EarthrBro_99: You know about geology and Burlesque and dog shows like me?

>O)))<<Flyguy: Ha, not really, man. For me it’s like any type of natural science. Fauna. Bug reproduction is big. Also, antique watches. Dumb shit like that...

EarthrBro_99: Anything else?

I allowed my hands to slide from the keyboard and swished my tongue around to get all the cookie glue.

There was something else. Another thing I knew. A thing I’d never disclosed to anyone besides Patton. I’d researched it, ransacked the stacks of human knowledge on the internet and in books, only to come up dry. They said nothing about this other thing. I deposited another cookie and pondered an answer.

EarthrBro_99: ???

>O)))<<Flyguy: Nah, nothing else.

EarthrBro_99: Oh.

>O)))<<Flyguy: What?

EarthrBro_99: Nothing. I guess we are all just different. With different sets of weird junk in our heads. I was hoping to find someone who had some knowledge of this other thing like me. I just wanted to make sure I shared with the right person. Someone in the EXACT same situation as me. Anyway, have a nice life.

>O)))<<Flyguy: Wait wait! How can you say that we’re not the same?

EarthrBro_99: You didn’t mention the Chime.

I shotgunned the screen in cookie crumbs, then doubled over beside my desk, hacking out the rest of the bits I’d aspirated into my trash bin. When the episode passed, I gathered myself and shook the computer over the garbage then wiped the screen with the cuff of my flannel.

Okay. The Chime. Where to start?

Here’s what I know: The Chime has something to do with the Note of Jecca. Except I haven’t got a clue what the Note is, or what it has to do with Jecca, or who or what Jecca is. But I understand that the Chime, whatever it might be, is important. Central to somebody’s existence. I know that like I know everything else. It is a source of meaning and identity, not merely symbolic like a totem or a sacred place. Its cultural significance is important, but secondary to its purpose. The Chime is powerful. The Chime is life for some, death for others. And I know where it is.