Night Alarms and Deceptive Sounds

Security Booth Audio Log Explains Why I Stopped Answering Night Alarms The first sound

on the clip isn't screaming; it's my chair creaking at 2:17 a.m. I was alone at the cold

storage warehouse, heater ticking, coffee gone cold, watching the camera grid blur from snow.

Then the baby started crying on Channel 6, the loading dock mic that never picked

up anything but wind and forklifts. I logged it because policy says log everything.

The cry rose and fell, perfectly close, like it was under the dock ramp.

I keyed the intercom and asked who was there. The crying paused, then started again,

identical, same pitch, same breathy hitch at the end. I remember checking