Novel & Cerita A Silent Voice X

Silent. Staring at her with those dead eyes. More seconds passed. The air in the room felt wrong. Too thick. Too cold. Carmina took a step backward without meaning to. Then another. Her back hit the door. "Killian," she whispered. Nothing. The silence was worse than shouting. Worse than violence. It was the silence before something terrible happens. Carmina's heart was hammering in her chest. Her hands shaking so badly she could barely hold her cane. "Say something," she said.

And then—far below, at the edge of sight— A shape emerged. Tall. Still. Watching. No face. No features. Just presence. Riven swore under his breath. “That’s not scouting. That’s a challenge.” Killian stepped forward, fury radiating from him. “Show yourself!” The figure didn’t move. Instead, the air vibrated. A voice—low, layered, not carried by sound but by intent—rose from the valley and wrapped around them all. “Daughter of silence.” Aria’s breath left her lungs.

They giggled and whispered. Silas walked up onto the stage and stood in front of all of them with his hands placed on his hips. He cleared his throat. All of them immediately stopped talking and all eyes were on him. Power radiated off of him and his voice was loud and clear as he spoke out to them, "We have a visitor."

Her voice shook as she looked at Shiloh. "Shiloh, please don't be mad at me. I never meant for Zach to die." Before, Shiloh would've broken down. She would've screamed through tears, demanding to know why Manuel kept protecting the woman who got their son killed. Now, she said nothing. She lay there with her eyes closed, like she was asleep. Her face was pale. She looked painfully thin. From the doorway, she seemed painfully fragile. A dull ache settled in Manuel's chest.

she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. "Your bitter, cold coffee or the taste of your lips?" Nyx retorted, his voice dripping with darkness and gravel. Athena's mouth twitched involuntarily, a mix of surprise and self-consciousness crossing her face before she quickly concealed it. She wasn't prepared for his blunt remark, the unexpected sharpness of his words.

I sighed in relief as the silence began to take hold. Humans wouldn't understand what silence truly was to a telepath or empath. It was agreed that silence was harder to achieve with an empath and furthermore when they found there someone quiet, they held on for dear life. They could sometimes get obsessive or even violent. I clicked play, not minding the sound of Kendrick Lamar's voice filling the void and blocking out my thoughts. I knew that Silas wouldn't hurt me but I wasn't sure that I wouldn't hurt him. Gosh, look what I did to Rachel.

She had no eyes, yet she could see everything. It was peaceful. It was the kind of silence she had craved for five years in the Thorne mansion—a silence that wasn't pregnant with criticism or laced with lies. It was a silence that simply was. Is this it? she thought. The thought didn't echo; it was absorbed. Is this death? It wasn't scary. It felt like sinking into a warm bath after a long, freezing walk. "You are tired," a Voice said. It didn't come from above or below. It vibrated through the fabric of the whiteness. It wasn't male or female. It was ancient. It sounded like the ocean floor.

"Listeners, we came here to find a voice, but I think we found a mirror. Tobi isn't silent because he has nothing to say. He’s silent because he’s waiting for us to stop shouting long enough to hear the world breathing." The neighborhood stayed hushed. The "radio man" hadn't conquered the "Silent Artist." Instead, the silence had expanded to include everyone in the courtyard. Tobi felt the blockage in his throat ease. He hadn't used the words they wanted, but he had used the truth they needed. He looked at Grandpa, who nodded once a slow, majestic movement. The knife had cut through; the bone was finally visible.

If I slept, I'd see my parents again. I resisted, fighting the seductive pull of darkness with all my might. I knew it was lying to me, but I couldn't speak. It felt like I was choking. I could only run—run... Just as the suffocating sensation threatened to consume me, a beam of light tore through the darkness like a sword. I, too, overcame the heaviness in my chest. For the first time, I heard my own voice, clear and true. "Harvey... help me."

Observing, understanding, not recoiling. “You’ve seen glimpses,” he said softly, breaking the silence. “But the full truth… it’s more dangerous than you realize.” “I’m aware,” Serena replied. “And I’m willing to face it.” A small, almost imperceptible smile touched his lips. For the first time, the mask and the man seemed to coexist, if only briefly. ⸻