The Sound Of Silence

One

Annie arrived back to her apartment when the sun had already set down. She tiredly put down her coat and bag, roughly took off her shoes and went to the kitchen. There she stood by the kitchen counter watching the people on the street while she was drinking her favourite mint tea. She had had a busy long day at work. She had left at six in the morning and had spent entire day in the hospital, unable to see the sunlight.

One would say that she could get used to working as an elite surgeon, but not having a chance to have free time, was really not her cup of tea. The constant beeping noise of the ECG machines, never-ending questions of the patients, that and more had been appearing in her dreams for the past few weeks almost every night. She loved her job but she needed to take some time for herself. Even when she was home she could hear the loud noises of the city life and therefore was not having a chance to calm down and relax.

Yes, she was tired and all she could have thought of was sleep, but she knew that her mind asked for a detox from this urban lifestyle. So she decided to put on some trekking shoes, big fluffy hoodie, took her keys and went to her car. She had purposely left her phone at home.

She started the engine but did not know where to go. Eventually she chose just to enjoy the driving out of the city. She had no music on, only could hear the wind outside and occasionally the serene of an ambulance or a police car.

Half an hour later, she found herself driving off the motorway in the middle of nowhere. She parked her car on the side of the road and stepped out. The sky was full of stars and any human being was out of sight. There she was standing, listening to the perfect sound of silence.