Inaudible Frequency of Longing, The

This story was originally published in Day One, a weekly literary journal dedicated to short fiction and poetry from emerging writers.

The two scientists meet when a lab rat escapes from its cage after giving birth. When they find the rat, they also discover one tiny, raw-pink baby, mewling despairingly at a frequency inaudible to human ears. From there, love—or some disjointed, broken version of it—develops between the scientists. But when their intermittent relationship ends, one of them languishes in a sedated haze at a psychiatric hospital, pondering how unquantifiable emotional factors can influence an otherwise orderly, rational life. Haunting and fluorescently lit, The Inaudible Frequency of Longing is for anyone who has wanted an empirical explanation of love, heartbreak, and the inevitability of human error.