The Sounds of Silence (Short)

The Ringing in Your Ears

They think I am insane.

I used to wish they would see they are wrong....

Now I wish that they had been right.

When I told them that our fight to banish silence - to create noise as if to prove to ourselves we are still here - is more than our natural instinct, they laughed at me. They were content in their world; they thought they had faced all their boogey men, but they were wrong. There is a deeper reason behind our need for sound.

All throughout the day sound surrounds us. Planes, traffic, animals, and even the winds create a cacophony that has become the background track to our lives, but that same music dwindles and sometimes ceases to play. It is in those moments that we most notice their presence, and lack thereof. This usually happens when we are lying in bed, searching and hoping for sleep to finally claim us before the silence becomes deafening. But I know that, at least for me, the silence is never empty. Yes, the sounds of the world have quieted, yet it is never truly quiet, or at least it had better not be.

See, there is a reason we crave something to fill the silence. Its total presence is something that fills us with dread. When I'm lying in bed and the house is quiet, my ears begin to ring. People say it is simply our brains trying to explain and overcome the overwhelming silence.

People are liars.

They told me I was crazy for trying to warn them, but they found out for themselves what makes that sound. I tried to tell them they did not want to meet the reasons behind the ringing, that the invisible monstrosities were trying to force their way onto my plane of existence.

It got to the point where I wanted them to break through, those horrific monsters that not even Hollywood could think of in its wildest horror film. Maybe it was my desire for them to be here that was the final blow that shattered the wall separating us. Maybe this was my fault.

Those nights when no light reached me, when life reached its darkest point, I stopped scrambling to hear that same ringing; I started to want absolute silence to embrace me. I wanted them see I am as sane as they are.

If only I made the most of my life, if only we all did; loved fully and truly, and never ceased to be thankful. If only I remembered that it was my own opinion of myself that mattered; that people should not have the power to affect me by calling me insane. If only.

But that is all wasted thought now.

Because it happened; silence came, and in it the monsters broke through.

They are here.

And they have destroyed everything.

I know I am dying. It is only a matter of time, but I had to pass you this word of warning.

All I can say is that your world may still be safe. Keep fighting to fill your days with sound and thrive in its diversity and volume. Be thankful for your life. Look to the sky and know someone else will be looking at the same sun, the same moon. Go to church and sing to the heavens that you were created, you have a life to live. Be thankful because one day they may manage to cross into your plane of existence, too, and when that happens, no amount of running will save you.

A/N: This was a very short story I decided to write because the concept intrigued me. This story is also published with Polar Publishing. Hope you enjoyed :)