Silence

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She only could imagine the noise of the traffic in front of her but didn't hear any sound. All she could hear was the swoosh her rushing thoughts made.

Her long brown hair flew across her face and got tangled up in one of her silver earrings. It was pointless to remake her hair since it was getting messed up again with the next car rushing past her.

She squinted feeling a slight burn on her skin while watching the cars speeding up one after another. She took off her black knee-long coat, rolled up the left sleeve of her brown turtleneck sweater, and looked at her wrist which wears her silver clock. She already spent half an hour waiting for a gap to cross the road when she finally saw her chance and took it. Her heart started to beat at the same speed as her legs were moving and it didn't take much time before she arrived safely at the other side of the road in front of the entrance of the graveyard.

With relief, she wiped a sweat pearl off her forehead as she entered the cemetery. The creak which the closing gate behind her produced was the only thing she heard. It was ghost-quiet on both sides of the fence for her. She wandered through the aisles admiring the different gravestones until she reaches the one with the Monument Valley on it. With her mouth, she formed the word, hello but no sound came along with it. She laid her coat next to the grave and went to look for a watering can which wasn't far away. On the way, her ears were satisfied with the sound of crunching leaves on the ground which happened to be the first noise she noticed. In addition to that came the ripple of the water filling the ewer. While she was heading back to the grave she stopped under a tree whose red leaves cast a shadow on her. Through the few leaves and the naked branches, her eyes captured a crow flapping gracefully in the blue sky. Besides that the chirps of other birds reached her ears filling her heart with a little joy.

It felt like the world came back to life near his grave.

As she came back to the grave she poured water over the Crocuses. The slight scent of the flowers always made her feel like he was there with her.

She put the can down and sat in front of the gravestone. Finally, she brought her voice to speak "Hi" she began "I haven't been here for a long time, I'm sorry, but I've been pretty busy. I know that isn't an excuse but I just I... I miss you. And now more than ever.

I'm almost done with school and I have no idea what I should do after that....

My parents don't talk much about you, but they always said that I'm quite like you so I was wondering what would you have done if you had experienced your 22 birthday? " But all she got as a response was silence. "I really need your help because whenever I try to ask someone else no sounds leave my mouth. " She lowers her head as a tear runs down her cheek. Suddenly the crow from before lands on the gravestone and looks her directly in the eyes. She frowned and raised an eyebrow. She knew that it couldn't be true but it felt like it was him, her uncle. She felt his presence. Before she could interpret something the crow fled. The soft wind created the rustle of the leaves and forced some to fall on the ground. But he still owed her a reply. "You're the only person I can speak with about this. With everyone else my voice fails," she sobbed. She blew her nose with a tissue she got out of a pocket from her black jeans and stood up. She picked up her coat in a hurry and started running to the gate. She shook her head in disappointment because she knew asking him for advice was a stupid idea and nevertheless, she did it.

With every step she got further away it got more and more silent. And she started to lose the feeling of his presence until the gate when he was entirely gone. She was lonely and the silence spread around her. It was so quiet that she could hear every little thought of her. She covered her ears trying to mute the thoughts. For nothing. Her legs were noodles her head was a bowling ball and her eyes were two waterfalls. Her thoughts were a big thread knotted together into one big mess. She kicked open the gate and ran through it. It felt like she was blinkered because she was running on the street without caution. Everything went fine until the last 5 meters. She jerked her head to the right because of a honk that broke the silence. Her eyes widened and her pupils shrank because of the floodlight shining directly in her eyes. It was just like 33 years ago when her uncle wanted to cross the road but never arrived.