Noise

• Jenna Duncan, Grade 7, Brisbane State High School
• Short Story
• 2022

Excellence Award in the 'Summertime Fun ONLINE' competition

My feet hit the pavement hard, fast. The smash of my flats pounding the cement batters my legs, my ears, a hammer striking me below with every stride. Thud, thud. I can’t stop. Thud, thud. So loud. Everything’s so loud.
*Noise everywhere. Hammering over and over, drowning my cries for it to stop. They wouldn’t stop. Couldn’t stop. And now it’s too late. It’s done. Nothing to do but run.*
My hair snags on a tree branch as I round a corner. Twisting mid stride to swat it away, I can feel the branch rip at the skin on the back of my hand. On any other day I’d stop, but out of the corner of my eye I can see them coming. They’re close, too close. Don’t stop. Can’t stop. Thud, thud. I run on. If I can make the gate by the tunnel, I’ll wipe the blood away then.
The pelt of their hard soled boots increases as they gain on me. Between them, the thudding of my heart, the pounding of my own feet, there’s nothing else to hear. Nothing I can hear.
*It feels like silence was a lifetime ago. The hammering had stopped, the thudding had stopped. Their heart had stopped. Just silence cocooning us. And then the sirens.*
Wailing splits the night air, the cacophony racing with me. Don’t get caught. Can’t get caught. Thud, thud. I promised not to tell, but if they catch me, I know I’ll tell them everything just to stop the incessant noise.
I can’t think straight but it’s going to be okay, I can see the gate ahead. Relief. Only we knew the gate lifts on its hinges. Thud, thud. I shoot forward, drop and roll. Lifting the bottom of the gate with my shoulder just enough for me to roll underneath before it slips back onto its hinges, veiling my unauthorised access. Three more steps and I’m in the tunnel. Made it. I suck in a breath as the darkness swallows me. Thud, thud.
*Eyes closed, darkness and silence whisper their secrets. Don’t stay. Can’t stay. Then light, bright blinding light, and noise. Tyres screeching sirens wailing, voices yelling, noise breaks the reverie.*
Thud, thud. I push off from the wall covering my ears trying to drown the oppressive din of the blood in my ears, and trip on the rail line. Its drowning all my senses so I can’t see, smell, or hear. I scramble back up, still clutching my ears. What is that horrible screeching? Is that me? I know I want to scream, scream this all away. Can I possibly make this much noise. I squeeze my eyes shut. If it wasn’t me screaming, I am now. I join the deafening cry of the horn that crescendos above the sound maelstrom. It’s so loud. Thud.
And then it’s not.
Darkness holds me tight. Its finally silent.