Silence

• Juliana Gouveia, Grade 10, Penrhos College -
• Short Story
• 2018

Excellence Award in the 'Horizon of Dreams 2018' competition

There are different types of silence. The silence of peace and the silence of war, of soldiers thinking only of death lurking ahead. There is the silence of happiness and of sadness. Of loss. The silence of lovers, as they lay intertwined and admire their perfection. The silence of hate. The silence of imagination. The silence of a person awaiting death, knowing that their breaths are limited. The silence of anticipation. The silence of fear. The quiet before the storm. A silence of dreams. A silence of concentration.
And there is just silence.
A silence that comes from inside. When no matter how many thoughts race through your head or voices yelling into your ear, a silence that leaves you empty and broken. An indescribable type of silence, that leaves you weary and exhausted.
There are different types of noise too. Noise of anger and frustration. Of love and joy. Of laughter and the noise of sobbing. Of a blade swishing through the air, ready to meet its target
But the noise just fades into the background and the scream of sudden silence is what jerks you awake in the middle of the night, panting and looking around in terror.
I used to be free from the silence
Used to be able to talk.
To sing.
To cry.
I used to radiate sound wherever I went.
But now, no matter how hard I yell or how much I talk, people stopped listening.
Once they would gather to hear my cheers, my songs, my thoughts.
But over time the crowds disappeared. My voice became quiet.
People started to forget, started to call my ideas their own.
They left me, cold and forgotten. Destined to drown in my misery.
But that doesn’t scare me.
What scares me, what sends a chill through my spine, is the thought of fading out of existence.
Because if everyone forgets me, my accomplishments, my thoughts, my ideas, my voice.
Would I have ever existed?