A year ago Maddie was a victim of a teribal person. The guy was named William. He acted charming. It would of bean Maddie’s first date.

              She didn’t mind that he couldn’t speek. He had this text  to speech app on his phone.  He was born with deformed vocal cords, or so he said. She still doesn’t know if that was the truth. 

               It was just after five. William picked her up in his car. Driving to the movie, he suddenly pulled down a dark empty side road. 

               Maddie longed to asked him if this was a short cut, but she knew he wouldn’t be  abele to answer her with without being on the app. 

               She got this dangerous sensation when he stoped in the middle of the road. 

                She tried to open the car door, but it was locked. Before she could look at William he stabbed her in the neck. 

                Maddie grabbed her neck, blood poring out, she was never good with blood, but that was not the reason why she was fading out. The knife was laced with something. 

                She woke up in a hospital unable to speek. William had texted the cops, and when the cops arrived the he was gone.

                  He had left Maddie after cutting through her vocal cords. He injured her without killing her. He wanted her to live like he did. To slash someone’s vocal cord without killing them took skill. He did this before. Unfortunately he was never found. 

               A year has passed and Maddie’s life has changed. She had plans for becoming a singer, not eany more. She often wondered if that’s why William chose her. 

              She had never told him, but she posted videos about her singing all the time on her socials. She knew William must of syber stalked her. 

             In fear of him still stalking her, she stoped posting.  She lived in constant fear. She lost meany of her friend because of that. And in class everyone saw her as the kid that can’t speek. No one saw her as Maddie anymore. Maybe William took her life after all.

It was 1967 and the Earth had been invaded. The weird creatures are highly capable of murder, and find their victims by sound. By the end of 1975, there was only 10 people left in Oklahoma. They joined together and agreed, they would use hand signs, signals, and gestures to communicate instead of talking.

The creatures had a very high sense of hearing, even one loud breath can be your last. The group, Sarah, Zameria, Ella, Jackson, RJ, Michael, Tamera, Elliot, and Madison went hunting for food, you must be silent with every step in the dense forest.

In this world, silent communication is key. Suddenly, RJ steps in a loud puddle of water. “Hide!” Ella says using a hand signal, we all hide quietly. Multiple creatures appear, looking around. They go forward, they move again, “AHHHHHH” RJ screams as they snatch him and fly away.

We have no time to mourn, they will come back, we watch our step and rush to our hand built cabin, we can whisper in here, and only in here.

“He’s gone…” Zameria mourns, RJ was Zameria’s husband. Their child had already been killed by the creatures.

Zameria runs outside, clacking pots.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” I whisper yell, before we knew it, the creatures took her. She took her own life.

From that day on, it’s just Michael and Zameria left. They created a silent gun to kill the creatures and will fix the world forever.

Christmas is coming! Let’s dance and sing with plenty of joy we can bring! Tonight is Christmas Eve! I love seeing the fireworks! I have never heard them though, I’m Deaf. I love our Deaf community! That’s who I’m spending Christmas with. All of my friends. And my Deaf partner, Rae! I sign to my partner: « I love you. Merry Christmas! » They laugh. « It isn’t Christmas yet, my love! » I sign back fast, a cheeky child’s expression on my face. « SOON! » Rae shakes their head with a smile. « Love you. » I realize something in that sweet moment. Rae is my true love. I love them so much that it hurts. My heart aches when I am without them. I feel free and happy when I am with them. So I sign: « Wait a second… I need to get your present! Bear with me! » And I dash off, Rae chuckling at me. When I return, I hug Rae. Then I sit on the sofa next to them and lean in, eyes closed. We kiss. Then I stand up. I kneel down. I extract an emerald ring. As green as Rae’s eyes. The look of shock and surprise on Rae’s face is priceless. I gaze up at them with love sparkling in my eyes. Rae softly gazes back, rather shy. I put the ring box on the floor and start to sign. « Will you marry me? » « YES! » Rae signs yes so enthusiastically, shaking their closed hand up and down, that we burst into fits of laughter. We calm down and I slide the ring onto Rae’s outstretched hand, grinning happily. I stand up and so does Rae, then we wrap our arms around each other in a hug that becomes a sweet kiss. We giggle like schoolchildren again and start to tell all of our friends. We sign in sync. « We’re getting married!!!!!! » As the fireworks start going off in the dark sky, we sit on the grass, leaning against each other. Our fingers twine around each other and we look up, staring with stars in our eyes.

Annie’s watch said it had been three hours. About every thirty seconds she would press the button to check, hoping 21 hours would have passed by. Of course they didn’t. The watch wasn’t really hers either. But that was a matter best left untouched in her mind…

Currently she was in one of the small dirt tunnels, bent over to keep her head from whacking a stone on the ceiling. Her thought process, as she nearly twisted her ankle in a hole, was that the dirt would muffle the sound of her movements, relying on silence to be her friend; And it worked until she would occasionally reach a stretch of gravel.

The announcement that had sentenced them to this fate still rang in her ears like a gunshot. Only a few screams had reached her ears, mostly the ones from the poor soul she had taken the watch from. Blood still stained her perfectly manicured acrylics, a constant reminder of the… wrongness that came from stealing from the dead.

Why is it, she wondered, when I decide not to think about something, it’s the only thing I can think about?

With one final slide across a mound of gravel she reached a crossroads. A concrete tunnel went to the left, another dirt tunnel to the right, this time even smaller. Without a seconds hesitation she got down on her hands and knees, crawling into the dirt tunnel, abandoning the high heels she had been carrying with her. Her life was worth more than any pair of shoes!

The ridiculous sundress she wore got in her way as she attempted to crawl up the tunnel, it’s white fabric with pink cherry blossoms hopelessly ruined. When did life go so wrong? Her feet were bleeding, her nails breaking… Why was she chosen for this sick game?! What did they all have in common? They had never met before tonight and even then they hardly spoke to each other when they darted into separate tunnels.

It was in these silent musings she heard it. A crunch of gravel from behind her. Annie froze on her hands and knees, waiting listening… the silence she had worked so hard to find and keep was beginning to work against her as she realized, her hunter could easily use the silence as well. Peering over her shoulder into the darkness revealed nothing… until suddenly there was no darkness. The tunnel was glowing a dim green from her stolen wristwatch as it began to shill.

The high pitched alarm did not echo but the small light would be easily visible. She frantically felt the buttons pressing them but the alarm continued to fill the tunnel until she ripped it from her arm and began to stomp it with her already cut feet. Tears ran down her face leaving streaks through the dirt smudges as dread filled her. She was a mouse in the gaze of a snake, a deer in headlights… and in the new quiet she heard that awful laugh.

𝓣𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓲𝓼 𝓪 𝓿𝓲𝓵𝓵𝓪𝓰𝓮, 𝓷𝓸 𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝓱𝓪𝓼 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓭 𝓸𝓯. 𝓕𝓻𝓸𝓶 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓸𝓾𝓽𝓼𝓲𝓭𝓮 𝓲𝓽 𝓼𝓮𝓮𝓶𝓼 𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮 𝓪𝓷𝔂 𝓸𝓻𝓭𝓲𝓷𝓪𝓻𝔂 𝓺𝓾𝓪𝓲𝓷𝓽 𝓵𝓲𝓽𝓽𝓵𝓮 𝓿𝓲𝓵𝓵𝓪𝓰𝓮.

𝓑𝓾𝓽... 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓲𝓼 𝓼𝓸𝓶𝓮𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓶𝓾𝓬𝓱 𝓭𝓪𝓻𝓴𝓮𝓻.

𝓨𝓸𝓾 𝓼𝓮𝓮, 𝓷𝓸 𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝓲𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓿𝓲𝓵𝓵𝓪𝓰𝓮 𝓬𝓪𝓷 𝓽𝓪𝓵𝓴 𝓪𝓽 𝓪𝓵𝓵. 𝓘𝓽 𝓬𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓫𝓮 𝓪 𝓬𝓾𝓻𝓼𝓮, 𝓲𝓽 𝓬𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓫𝓮 𝓼𝓸𝓶𝓮𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓮𝓵𝓼𝓮.

𝓘 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓴 𝓲𝓽'𝓼 𝓫𝓮𝓬𝓪𝓾𝓼𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓿𝓲𝓵𝓵𝓪𝓰𝓮 𝓱𝓪𝓼 𝓪𝓵𝔀𝓪𝔂𝓼 𝓱𝓪𝓭 𝓪 𝓱𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓸𝓻𝔂 𝓸𝓯 𝓫𝓮𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓱𝓪𝓾𝓷𝓽𝓮𝓭.

The sound of my sister sweeping downstairs begins to nudge me out of sleep. There is no sign of daylight thanks to the thick curtain I have hung over the only window in my room. Curtain is a loose description for the thick scraps of velvet material I found at goodwill and hand stitched into a makeshift shield between my bedroom and the drab town of Bedmont.
Whsssh whsssh whsssh… the hard fibers of the broom slide across the wood floors below. I can picture Katie in the kitchen laser focused on her task, eyes darting across the floor looking for any sign of a dust bunny that might have escaped her. I slowly make my way from my cave of a bedroom and down the narrow staircase. The broom has been tucked neatly away and I find Katie placing two bowls of oatmeal on our table. She motions for me to sit. She’s dressed like an old stuffy librarian. Her ivory blouse has buttons running from top to bottom and goes up so high on her neck I feel like I’m suffocating just looking at her. She’s wearing a thick tweed skirt that matches her drab gray shoes spot on with black tights. When she catches me staring at her clothes I scrunch my face up like my oatmeal is made of soured apples, point toward my room, then raise my eyebrows in suggestion. I know she’d never in a million year wear anything from my closet but teasing her never gets old. She smacks me in the arm lovingly and takes her untouched bowl to the sink to scrub it to death before she heads to work. She is in fact the local librarian. On her way out she leans down and kisses me on the forehead. In my mind I can hear her voice clear as day… “Love you Lily bug!” I feel tears coming but I don’t let them out. I squeeze her hands and gesture to the calendar on the wall. Tuesday. I volunteer at the women’s shelter Tuesdays which means she’s on her own for dinner. She nods and heads out the door. It’s been 7 years since I’ve heard my sister speak and one day short of that since I’ve spoken myself.

Listen closely And you will hear The sound of nothingness These sounds so dear

Take for granted a baby’s cry Take for granted a random sigh

Once was clear No longer there Once you hear Now you stare

Loss of hearing Is part of aging As age progresses Tears are waging Tessa🦋

A bird, a chipmunk, and a squirrel made hand movements to get across their message. They ate birdseed with acid rain in it.

They couldn’t make a sound. Eventually they found a barn with a dirty floor and communicated by writing figures in the dirt on the floor. One knew a farmer who knew a doctor.

While scampering to the farmers house, they saw a horse they knew and scratched symbols in the dirt. The horse directed them to a nearby vet’s house.

They dressed up and stood atop one another then knocked on the vet’s door. He didn’t answer and saw the barn door open so they scampered there and made hand motions and scratched in the dirt.

The vet said,” How unusual, speak!”

The animals shook their heads. It was like the doctor knew what they said and what they needed. He loaded them in his truck to the office and gave them medicine. Then he put them in cages until morning while he cared for them overnight.

The next morning he went back to the cages and heard chirping and scritching. The animals we’re better.

Her eyes. They are alive, excited, expressive, and deeper that the roots of an ingop tree. They speak more than words ever could. Which is one of the thousands of reasons I love her, and also the biggest reason we are still alive.

We are surrounded by the fog of hades. It is deadly if inhaled directly. I struggled for months to make masks that would allow us to breath outdoors. The only flaw is that we can’t speak while wearing them.

It’s day two out of the three days that we decided to leave our homes in search of food. We’ve been hunting and forging constantly. I’ve killed thirteen grood yuppies and gathered pockets of heles to make soup with. She’s found folded kibs and trapped several species of gide.

This morning we were trudging along the trail when she spotted a spiked jopple. I was at least six strides behind her and with my mind wandering I did not see it. She quickly turned to get my attention. It worked. With out speaking a word, her eyes told me every single detail I needed to be able to survive an encounter with such a creature as a jopple. It being a spiked breed of jopple increased the danger level dramatically.

The first moment of eye contact said “we are in danger. What are we going to do?” then they immediately changed into “I need you to pay attention and cooperate.” After several years of being by her side I knew she would do everything in her power to strategically and intelligently change the situation from dangerous to calm. As long as I didn’t screw it up. The next look said “lay down. Slowly.” I did. With every muscle in my body straining from how slow they were moving, I made it to the ground, laying face up on my back. With my eyes still locked with hers she stepped toward me. The jopple has yet to see us. I’m amazed because we are inline of his massive head and eye sight. She makes her way to me. As she lowers herself to the ground next to me she realizes that the plants on both sides of the trail are poisonous leaves. Instead of laying down amongst the harmful plants she carefully crawls over me to lay on top of me. Both of our hearts are racing. Never breaking eye contact we communicate our urgent emotions. Her eyes are always saying, “don’t move. If we are still it won’t see us. We can survive. We will survive.” I tell her “We are safe. I won’t move. It’ll be gone soon.”

I slowly look over her shoulder to see if the jopple has left. Praise the Maker it has. I don’t move immediately. The weight of her body on mine is so comforting. To be held. A sadly unfamiliar experience. Finally I move to let her know we are safe. We lock eyes again. She looks for one more conformation. I give it to her. Her body relaxes and she shifts to stand up. The moment before we break eye contact I think I saw something. She’s never looked at me like that before. I must be imagining it.

She looks at me again but this time she’s saying it’s time to head back to Base Coom. I nod in agreement. We’ve gather enough to survive for a week or so. I turn back and in doing so take the lead. I follow the path back to where we came from.

We make it home safe, without anymore dangerous encounters. She stops me before we enter into the sanitation chamber. She grabbed my arm and looked me in the eyes. She was searching for something. I was confused at first, I was waiting to understand what she was trying to communicate. But the I became overwhelmed by the beauty her eyes carried. They swirl with vibrancy and life. I could look at them all day. Then she found what she was looking for. Her eyes squinted slightly as she smiled under her mask. She looked down and entered the chamber, waiting for me to follow.

Its too much to hide now. I’ve tried for so long. She knows. And I hope she feels the same.

Oh my gosh. Something horrible happened, and I am not going to speak to anyone. This is my choice and my choice alone. I can’t reveal it.