Mind Palace

Entry Three

The pencil slowly drags across her paper. Shhhhhh, it says. Outside the window wall the world awakes. Always silent. She thinks to herself, But not today, and never again, my charge. Shhhhhh the pencil says again and again, punctuated by the end of the page. She places the pencil on the table and grabs a paintbrush. She moistens it and dabs excess paint on a nearby towel and drags the paintbrush across the page. What? It asks, softly. What what what? She sighs and sets it down. She sees a light blink on her wall screen. She walks over and turns it off. Okay. She picks up her remote and presses the green button labeled "START." Wandering back to her art supplies she absent mindedly begins drawing the pencil back and forth across the paper again. She begins to hum a tune from her childhood and draws in time to it. Outside the window morning has begun. She hums faster as the remote begins to beep. Shh shh shh, goes through pencil, faster and faster. The final beep sounds and the silent world erupts. The room shakes. Still she draws. Outside the dust settles and she places her pencil on the table once more and whispers, "All for the best, my charges... See you again soon." A silence settles once more, thicker than the dust, and becomes sound in itself. Pondering this, she says, "the silence is the sound, for now." She walks to the exit, hand drawing along the corner as she turns to look one last time. Still humming, she turns and leaves.