Deafening Silence

Every day of my life has been filled with noise. The sound of my mother's voice, my brother's snoring, my TV. Everywhere I go, I am faced with a wave of sound: cars passing, birds chirping, wind whistling past my ears, my peers chatting at school, the gurgle of the river running through the valley. Even when there's nothing else to hear, when I feel like I'm drowning in silence, if I focus hard enough I can hear my lungs expelling air, blood rushing in my ears, my heartbeat pounding.

Sometimes, when I'm all alone and the world around me has gone to sleep, I stop breathing to see what I would hear. The only thing that greets me is my heartbeat, beating harder with each passing second without oxygen, my throbbing heart growing louder and louder until my lungs burn and I gasp for air.

Sometimes, I wonder what it would sound like if even my heart stopped beating. Would it be peaceful? Or would the silence be deafening?