30 chapter 30 function and secrets

"Days later, one night a

I was trying to understand how HighTech headphones work

When Paige, who was lying with her head on my thigh while tinkering with the computer, said

"Connor managed to identify a device named HighTech."

It's been a few days since I talked to Paige here, although she was a little shy at first, she soon returned to normal.

I, holding the headphones, looked at the computer and indeed there was a panel for the headphones.

Maybe this? Since the headphones are connected to the MacBook, the thought took hold of me. I got up abruptly, letting Paige's head hit the floor.

"What do you think you're doing? That hurts, you know?" She said as she sat up, rubbing the bump on her head.

"Paige, want to do something crazy?" —I ask Paige, and she gives me a suspicious look. "Depends on what you're planning to do?"

"You'll find out if you follow me," I say mysteriously, and then go to the closet. Missy was sleeping upside down for some reason; she manages to sleep without falling off the bed, which is a miracle considering her nighttime habits.

When I reach the closet, I grab a ninja costume from Comic-Con and a black hoodie.

"I hand the ninja costume to Paige and say," Put it on and then Paige looks at me as if I were stupid and then whispers "I want this, this is ugly," she says pointing to the hoodie. Rolling my eyes, I hand her the hoodie and step out of the tent for her to dress.

Once we're ready, we leave the garage and I grab a bike Mary had kept since adolescence and say

"Let's go, Paige, hop on my back," I say this still without the ninja hood to avoid suspicion from people on the street.

A few kilometers from Cooper's house

We arrive at our destination, Radio Shack, the store was completely empty and dark. I whisper to Paige,

"Put on the hood; let's go in. There are some things in there that I need right now."

"Wait, are you stealing?! For heaven's sake, Connor, you brought me here for this?" Paige whispers to me, "what if we get caught, I'll have to go back to my parents' house, and they probably won't let me see you again!" Paige said in despair

"ahh, so Paige Swamson is scared?" I say sarcastically and not even trying to hide my voice

"Shh, be quiet!!, what if someone hears?" Paige says indignantly

"Look, like it or not, I'm going in, it's up to you to decide if you come with me or not."

After an internal struggle, Paige says, "Fine, but if something happens, you'll have to take responsibility."

"Done," I say to her. "Look, I'm going in and you stay here waiting for me to open the door for you, okay?"

"Okay," she nods and says, and then I go to the back door and blend into the darkness, avoiding a few cameras. I reach the back doors of the store and grab a lockpick I made before coming here and start opening the door.

With the door open, I quickly slip into the shadows of the store. I go back and head to Paige's side and call her to come in with me from the back.

Inside the store, I tell her, "Okay, we need some things: a microphone. I want you to grab some; I'll look for some walkmans and some circuit boards. Put everything here," I say to her as I hand her a black backpack.

While searching for some walkmans, I grabbed some things that could help if dismantled. Then I waited a few minutes and Paige came back with the backpack a little heavier.

"Let's go, we need to stop at a place before heading home," I tell her, then we leave Radio Shack, grab the bike, and head to the cabin in the forest.

This place has practically become my refuge. Some people might know about it, like Georgie and Missy, but apart from them, I haven't found anyone who knows. We can't go to my room because Missy is sleeping and I'll make too much noise tonight.

As soon as we enter the cabin, Paige can see a bunch of tools, some irons, steel plates, and some circuits scattered here and there.

"So this is where you hide when I can't find you," exclaims Paige.

"Yes, it is," I say to her as I lay the stuff on the table and ask her to hand me the microphones.

Sitting on the bench beside me, Paige starts watching me dismantle the walkmans and the microphones.

"What are you doing?" she asks, and I reply, "What am I doing? I'm making a tool that allows connecting to a device, in this case, the computer, and transmit sounds to a specific frequency, which would be the headphones."

"I wanted to test this setup. With some modifications," I say as I grab the soldering machine and try delicately not to damage the circuit board. As the saying goes, if you don't have a dog, hunt with a cat. I still don't have a more precise soldering device, but I intend to make one.

After some time, something appeared that shouldn't exist at that time: the "Headset". I had to dismantle some walkmans and a bunch of stuff to find the circuits that could replace the missing elements, but in the end, it all worked out.

"Done, look here Paige, you'll like the function of this," Paige, who was looking at me confused, looks at the object in front of her and then at the boy in front of her and says confusedly, "Alright?"

"Let's go back home; I want to test this."

"Ok, I want to sleep too." Then we grabbed the bike and went to the garage

We enter the tent and I say to Paige

"Paige, try connecting this wire to this round hole here and wait for the computer to identify the device."

After finishing, I tell her to put on the headphones and activate the microphone.

"Paige, I'm going to step away and I want you to say some things afterward, try to hear something," I say and then step away, putting on the high-tech headphones.

Leaving the garage, I say: "Paige, can you hear me?" After a while of silence, I hear a voice coming from the headphones: "Yes, I can. So, this is what you wanted to do, it's very useful for us to communicate without using a landline."

"Great, perfect. Tomorrow we'll take a closer look. It's past bedtime; I'm heading back."

I tell her as I enter the garage and change clothes. Paige at this point was already in pajamas.

"Ok, now go sleep with Missy and get out of my tent," I say authoritatively to Paige.

Paige exits the tent, looks at Missy occupying the entire bed, and says, "No, I'm going to sleep with you. I don't know what would happen if I slept with her, maybe in the middle of the night, she'll start kicking me." I think for a moment and say, "Ok, you can sleep, but you have to be very quiet, okay?"

Paige nods and enters the tent. After a while, Connor hears a voice next to him; he turns his head and is face to face with Paige, who was looking at him. "Connor, today was very exciting," Paige says cheerfully, but then adds, "Connor, can I trust you completely?"

Noticing the change in Paige's tone, I look into her blue eyes, stroke her cheek, and say, "Of course you can, after all, we're friends, right?" Paige didn't move my hand away; on the contrary, she closed her eyes and gathered courage and said, "Can I tell you a secret? I've never told anyone, and I believe I can trust you completely," she says as she opens her eyes to me.

"Of course, trust me, if you don't trust me, who will?" Paige laughs and then says, hesitantly, "That's good, but it's about my parents. They keep fighting because of me, because I'm different and have different needs. Honestly, sometimes I wish I could be a normal girl, with normal problems, without worrying about them." And then she says, "They're going to divorce and it'll be my fault!"

At this moment, silent tears streamed down her face and she said, "Sometimes I just want it all to end. They won't have any more problems if I disappear, right?" She said, silently crying.

At this moment, all I could do was one thing; I draw my body closer to hers and hug her, her head trembling on my chest, and I feel something wet through my pajamas.

"It's okay, Paige, look, I can promise you one thing, that we'll study together at university, and you won't have to worry about your parents' payment, I'll pay for you and I'll be with you at this moment as I am now" I say to her as she hugs me back and continues crying.

"It's over, it's over," I say as I gently stroke her head until I no longer feel her body shaking.

I look at Paige in my arms and sigh. A child, as bright as she is, very different from Sheldon; she has many more feelings and can perceive things around her much more easily. This, just like Missy, made her grow mentally far beyond ordinary children. Normal children should only worry about what tomorrow's dinner will be, and not go through a situation like this.

I think about it and fall asleep, with Paige still in my arms.

End of chapter"