Silent

Life is a journey with roads that split. One simple choice that at first seemed so harmless can lead to a path of darkness, too easy to get lost in. For in that darkness, monsters dwell and do their best to swallow you whole.

It's the year 1997. Michael is an ordinary high school student in Plymouth, England. He's popular among his peers and lives a good life under the roof of his loving Catholic parents. But he has been holding a secret he's afraid to tell. He's in love with his best friend, Tommy.

Then one kiss that gave him hope ends up crumbling everything. Betrayed by his friend, outed for the entire school, and as the gossip spreads, he is left with no choice but to tell his parents. The reaction is as he feared. They couldn't accept it.

Lost and inconsolable, he meets a man who lures him with his sweet talk. Seduces him with his kindness and comfort that is lost elsewhere. The promise of heaven was easy to accept, and so Michael does, only to discover himself trapped in hell instead.

Fear shackles him and keeps him silent until it's time for those shackles to break. For even from the darkness, there can be a path towards the light when you get the chance and choose to find it.
Can Michael still make his way back home?

*Silent* is Michael's story of survival and the healing power of love.
🥇Dark romance in Gloria Regali awards