Silently Crying Novels & Stories

Like saying it out loud made it undeniably, real. The moment it landed, the tears he had been holding since God knows when broke through not dramatically, not in heaving sobs, but in the quiet, helpless way that is somehow so much worse. The kind of crying that a person does when they're ashamed of needing to. I held him tighter and said nothing. Some things don't have an answer, and pretending they do is its own kind of cruelty. We waited. I have sat through boardroom silences that stretched for hours.

EMBER’S POV Queenie doesn’t answer. I glance over and she’s staring at the dashboard and tears are sliding down her cheeks in two clean lines and her mouth is pressed shut and she’s not making a sound. She’s just sitting there, crying silently, and the silence is louder than anything she could have said because the answer is in the tears and the tears say no. I don’t push. I don’t fill the quiet with comfort or platitudes. I just let her cry, because sometimes that’s the kindest thing you can do.

But now, all that pain and struggle was all for nothing. The tears streamed silently down my cheeks. Not sobs. Not noise. Just quiet, steady drops, it was as if my body gave up hiding how shattered I felt. My throat was burning, I hadn’t screamed, not yet. I just couldn't. I couldn't give him that. I wouldn’t.

In love. Before everything got complicated. Before the Callahans. Before she lost herself. Sienna dropped her heels by the door. They clattered against the floor. Too loud. She sank down. Right there. Back against the wall. Knees pulled to her chest. And she cried. Not loud. Not dramatic. Just quiet. Exhausted. The kind of crying that comes when you have nothing left. Her phone buzzed in her small purse. Once. Twice. Then wouldn't stop.

Bleeding. SILENCE

Lydia’s POV Grief is not loud. It is not screaming, or wailing, or even the sound of glass shattering. It is quiet. It creeps in when no one is watching, when the world has gone to sleep and the only thing left is silence. Silence that digs into your bones, silence that mocks you because you know the person you loved will never break it again. That’s what Rina’s absence feels like. A silence so sharp I feel like it has replaced my blood with knives.

I just needed a second. Sami was still wrapped in my arms, his little body trembling, worn out from all the crying. I lowered myself onto the couch with him, still holding him, my hands cradling him like he might break if I let go. And maybe I would too. The moment they were all inside, silence dropped over the room like a heavy blanket. I felt it, pressing down on me, making it harder to breathe. "I don't know what to do," I whispered to no one, my lips brushing the crown of Sami's head. The tears came quietly. They weren’t dramatic or loud. Just steady. I didn’t even realize I was crying until I saw one of them land on his hair.

It's soothing . "Damn, are you listening? Are you that busy right now?" "I'm listening .." I managed to reply after a sniff. He fell silent. I was worried that he might notice my voice, and true enough, I shut my eyes in disbelief when he did. "Are you crying?" Shit. I was no longer deterred. I cried. It's quiet but I'm sure he can hear. The other line fell silent as I continued to sob. I don't know how to feel, I feel so stupid ..

I asked him, but this time his face and his voice didn’t break the eerie and lonely silence around me. My eyes scrunched tightly as more tears started to flow and I sobbed quietly, while the constant tugs of anger and grief sent sharp sword-like stabs into the pit of my skinny, empty stomach and shivers crawled deeply across my tiny frame. I cried until my eyes felt sore enough to close voluntarily and lead me into another haunted sleep.