Work Text:
Silence. I’ve heard a lot about you. You glide in when we’re not looking and take over. Nobody realises you’ve arrived until you’re all that's left. You smooth your hands across our foreheads and leave us lulled and dazed. You’re benevolent. Loving, even. But if you stay too long, you deafen those around you, even the ones who adore your cool embrace.
But I know.
I know better.
...
You sit with me placidly for a while. Watching me. Smiling. Knowing that your company is cherished. I smile back, if a little uneasy at your piercing gaze. You don’t look away. You never do. I turn away, disturbed. Try to think of something else, something other than bared teeth, eyes that grow dimmer by the second. I falter. Squeeze my eyes shut trying to find something, anything. Alas, there is nothing. No one, except you.
I push myself back. You only pull forward. Turning away, I stumble on, on, on. But I know, no matter how far I run you’ll only be right behind me, mildly amused at my antics.
It takes me a while to realise I’m no longer moving. I’m on the floor, curled up in a ball, clawing at where I think my heart should be. You crouch down to eye level and place an icy hand on my shoulders; then you widen your eyes at me and pretend to blink back tears. It’s almost comical. It would be funny, really, except I can feel your fingers sinking into me, scraping away at whatever it is you find. I think I’m bleeding. I think I’m dying. I’m not quite sure at this point. Does it even matter? You engulf me, pull me deep inside where I will never be found, before I can open my mouth to scream.
But that's okay.
Even if I had, I wouldn’t have made any noise anyway.
...
So now, I know.
Silence doesn’t deafen.
It burns.