Soft Silence | ✓ | unedited

Chapter One ⌔ Lightning Fear

           Chapter One ⌔ Lightning Fear

         Lightning struck outside, illuminating the sky with flashes of bright light while thunder boomed close after it; uncaring of the fear they might be bringing to the citizens of Toronto. Then again, maybe not everyone was as terrified of loud thunders as I was.

             I sat in the small closet, my tear-stained face pressed against my knees as my fingers dug into my scalp. My palms were pressed tightly against my ears in an attempt to block out the deafening boom of the storm raging just outside my bedroom window. The sobs escaping me racked my body violently, causing me to hit against the clothes that were still hung –I had neglected to pack them earlier.

             The sound of the heavy pounding of my heart was drowned by the storm outside so that from every direction, I was forced to hear the terrifying sounds of the sky breaking and destroying itself.

             I bit down a little too hard on my bottom lip, breaking the skin and tasting the blood. Another wave of fear coursed through my body and I instantly released my lip, trying desperately to numb out my body and feelings.

             Including the horror.

             I didn't want to feel anything.

             It was times like these when I would crave the comfort of my mother and would slide into bed with her, cuddling into her warmth and falling asleep directly. My sister would join us and then we would wake up the next morning all snug and happy. Like a proper family.

             But I couldn't do that anymore.

             No.

             I was stuck here in the closet, shaking like an overgrown baby. My fear for lightning and thunder never ceased to vanish as I grew up but neither did it grow. I still cried and shook whenever there was a storm –despite me being a seventeen year old.

             Was it fair? Was it right to have your only family taken away from you? Not even taken away, ripped away. Maybe it was because I was too happy and oblivious to the troubles around me.

          Maybe it was because I couldn't have a broader vision of my surroundings –after all, why did I need other things when I had my family?

             My trembling didn't cease as I buried my face against my knees, too afraid to flex my stiff fingers from their hold over my ears.

             I didn't know how long I stayed in the closet, cramped up tight in the darkness and doing anything possible to block out the thundering noise, but it was the sound of someone banging something in the distance that awoke me. The first question that popped into my head was: when had I fallen asleep?

             The next question was: how was I even able to sleep through the noise?

             I slowly opened my eyes, blinking a few times to get rid of the blurry view of the closet door. I stayed motionless for a while and allowed my eyes to roam around the tiny space I had pushed myself into. Light seeped in through the cracks, offering me a better view of my cramped surroundings.

             "Sierra?"

             At the sound of my name, I moved—surprised that my hands were still over my ears— and pushed the closet door open. I blinked rapidly as sunlight poured freely into my room, lighting up the place merrily as though a terrible storm hadn't come to pass. I licked my dry lips and swallowed, wincing at the sting.