The Long Silence Novels & Stories

POV DARLENE The Original Silence was not a place of peace; it was a place of sensory starvation. It was the white room between thoughts, the vacuum that existed before the First Howl had ever vibrated through the Empty Lands. As I stepped through the Thirteenth Gate, the weight of the Eleventh Cycle, the fire of the Sun-Walker, and the frost of the North felt like heavy, discarded clothing. "Eryx? Leo?" I called out, but my voice didn't travel. The air here was so thin it couldn't carry sound.

_*]:min-w-0 gap-3"> The silence that followed was the longest silence she had ever stood in. _*]:min-w-0 gap-3"> And then Nyx answered.

The echo of the forest’s rage lingered — trees clawing at me, the earth splitting, the wind shrieking. Within the blink of an eye, silence draped itself over everything — A heavy, dead silence. Its wifht pressed down even much more, draining life our of me. But with every passing moment that life slips out of me, it feeds this dead silence like a zombie feeds on brains. And so, this silent wasn't dead anymore. It now had a pulse. I might still be a subject to delusion because it felt like this silence had a voice too. I heard a faint hum rolled through the emptiness until suddenly a flicker of light exploded through the air.

I frowned. "That game has two choices, it's either you will choose to participate in this game and silence will eat your mind as your brain strated to create another story of your life. Or you will choose the KISS The K means Know everything about the game. The I means Ignore everything that surrounds your life. The first S means Study everything about the game. The second S means Seal everything on your mind. Know, Ignore, Study, Seal, once you choose it, there is a chance you learn about the game. And obviously, you chose the silence. And we're glad that our game works out. " She said smiling so I nodded. "But why I can't I remember anything? I don't remember anything my brain did. Why?" I

"You know Russian roulette. Seven chambers. One bullet. We take turns. Three pulls each. If we're both alive after six, I'll forgive you." Manuel went still. "Do you really have to be this cold?" "Yeah." Her voice didn't shift. "As long as I'm alive, I can't forgive you. So we leave it to fate. If we both make it, maybe that means I should." "Fine." Manuel clenched his jaw. "Then fate gets to decide." He snatched the revolver off the table, pressed it to his temple, and pulled the trigger. Click. Empty. Shiloh's turn.

Darkness didn't come slow. She fell over the city. From one moment to the next. The golden lanterns are gone. Windows were black. The rain disappeared. Even the whisper of the stories tumulted. There was nothing for a heartbeat. No colors. No sounds. No orientation. Mara felt her stomach collapsed. Not because of the darkness. Because of silence. For she remembered another silence. To the island. At the moment before the awakening of the dreamer. Those seconds in which the world seemed to be lurking.

It still beats. Léo orders wine, water, bread. His gestures are slow, precise. He watches the waiter with strange attention, as if studying the ritual of an unknown tribe. When we are alone again, he pours the water into our glasses. The splashing of the liquid is a pure, simple note. "What are you thinking about?" I ask, taking my glass. "About the silence," he says. "The silence after. Did you notice? The silence is never the same. The one earlier, in the studio, was thick, charged. Like a layer. The one here… it is soft. It welcomes."

"We end this. Now." And I believed him. Because when a storm has gone on too long, even silence becomes a scream. And we were done screaming.

And so, my heart beat on, slowly and faintly. - One day, an unwelcome guest came to our little sanctuary. Roanna knelt beside my legs, sobbing and pleading, "Miss Palmer, please… Please tell Scott to talk to me again! I really love him, and I can't live without him!" Mary burst out from the kitchen, waving a kitchen knife. "You shameless b*tch! How dare you show your face?" Roanna raised her chin in defiance, shouted, "Kill me then! I can't live without Scott, so kill me!"

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.