The Silence After Us Novels & Stories

After that, she waited outside until the aerospace agency's military jeep came for her. She got in without hesitation. Then she pulled out her phone and uploaded the recording from the night before. When she confronted Rainee, she'd secretly recorded everything. Zach's death had been ruled an accident. The law couldn't punish Rainee or Manuel. But the internet could judge them. It was the last thing she could do for Zach before she left. Then Shiloh threw away her phone. The military jeep drove toward the endless horizon. For the first time in a long time, she felt free.

The Silence After Silence. For the first time in what felt like an eternity— there was no screaming. No explosions. No collapsing sky. No roar from the Entity. Nothing. The battlefield simply stood there. Broken. Ruined. But alive. The clouds slowly moved across the sky. Sunlight passed through the cracks that had once covered the heavens. The enormous fractures in reality were disappearing one by one. The ocean settled. The mountains stopped trembling. The earth— finally— stopped moving.

Her appetite had returned, too, unless Albert was sitting at the table with her, then she was pushing her food around on the plate with a fork and just wanted the meal to end. One evening, about three months after the attack, Alissa was recovered to the point where she sat at her desk happily humming along to the music on the radio. She edited photos on her laptop because she loved taking pictures for her life. After a few hours of concentrated work, she went to sleep. She fell asleep pretty quickly and dreamed of becoming a great photographer one day. But suddenly she woke up, something caressed her leg. She knocked it away angrily and wanted to get up and turn on the light to see what it w

This is bad, I sigh inwardly as I feel myself tighten. “Did we die?” She returns to her seat, her eyes still closed and I chuckle. “You’re not getting away from me that easy missy.” I say, smiling as I ruffle her hair and the silence returns. From the first time we met, silence seems to be her comfort. Maybe getting involved was the best decision I’ve made in my life after all. Smiling to myself I take her hand again and we drive in the warmth of the stillness that envelopes us, before we reach our destination.

I say to her, and she smiles through her tears. "Too bad we won't be growing old together." She said, and I nod sadly. We sat there for a minute, and after a while, the sounds had stopped. I waited in anticipation. But for quite some time, I could no longer hear the loud bangs. I gingerly wiped my cheeks trying to dry my tears. We didn't get up from our place. We looked at each other, relief flooding through our every fibre. I wanted to scream and dance. Just a minute ago, we were sure that we would die and now there were no signs that told us that we would.

There was no immediate response on the other end—just muffled, indistinguishable sounds. Assuming it was a bad connection, Joanna turned up the volume, accidentally routing the call through her car's Bluetooth system. Suddenly, the strange sounds amplified, filling the car with unmistakable noises—frantic gasps, the rhythmic thud of bodies colliding, and a woman's moans of ecstasy. Then Addison's voice followed, sultry and demanding."Henley, honey... tell me I'm the one you love the most! If you don't, I won't let you finish!"

Not like they could hear me. I turned to drift away, hoping to catch a breath, but suddenly I heard a loud collision. Crash! A glass shattered against the floor, shards scattering in every direction. William shot up from his seat. His expression was ice-cold. "All of you, shut the hell up!"

Together, we let the quiet settle over us again—this time, not as strangers. Not yet lovers. But something older than both. Not the end of a moment. Not the start of something clean. Just… a breath between scars. The kind of silence that comes after the bleeding stops— and before the howl begins.

And oh my God, you don’t understand how insane that was, because one second I was lying here, choking on the wet slap-slap-slap of bodies colliding and her screaming his name like she was being baptized in fire, and the next it just vanished. Like someone ripped the plug out of the universe. And you’d think silence would be a relief after what I just heard, but no, it was worse, because silence means something is waiting, silence means someone is watching, silence means something is about to crawl out of the dark and eat me alive.

I knew what it was like to want to tell someone something desperately, and not being able to make a sound. My muteness cost me my voice. Fear cost Nora hers. But we were safe now. Kyle was gone. Wasn’t he?