Silence went wherever silence goes.
I am Silence.
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Peace
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This was the name he'd become accustomed to calling himself. Silence, the noun used to describe quiet, and the word couldn't connect with him any better. He was a skinny teen, with a crazy mop of dark hair and ever present baggy clothing. Being a mute selectively, he was the epitome of silence. He'd been sent to his brother Raymond's by his mother to try to get a 'better change of scenery,' she said, but Silence was sure that she'd just gotten tired of his silent ways and sent him to try and talk more. He'd always been very vocal toward Raymond, even after he'd stop talking to everyone else around him. So his mother believed that Raymond would be the cure to Silence's silence.
So she asked Raymond to speak to Silence as often as he could. Which meant that morning, as the teen was getting ready for his first day at his new school, Raymond was striking up conversation. “Are you sure you're going to be okay, Silence?”
“Yes,” he replied quietly, not looking up from the book his eyes were currently glued to.
“I'm just worried about you. Your mother always said that you had a rough time fitting into school because of your condition.”
A condition. That's what Raymond called it. But Silence knew that there was something behind the reason he refused to talk, as well as the reason he called himself what he did. He looked up from the worn pages of his novel, albeit briefly. “I’ll be fine.” And he returned to his book.
“Whatever. Just remember, I’ll be here if you have a bad day, okay?”
Silence didn’t respond as he sighed and stood, leaving the rest of his breakfast untouched, and slung his backpack over his shoulder.
Silence went wherever silence goes.
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Raymond, Silence had to admit as he walked down to his first block class, was absolutely right, and the day hadn’t truly begun yet. The hallways were littered with students, all gathered around each other in their little groups, and the stares. Dear god, the stares. Silence could feel them burn away at his skin and leave his bones out to taste the fresh air. It disgusted him, it drove him mad. He hated people, and when that people became a group, he hated it even more. It suffocated him.
The door was open and the seats were full. The teacher at the front smiled at him, all pearly and white and much too nice. “Hello, you must be our new student. I’ve heard about you from your guardian. He told me that you had two names, an ‘A’ one, and a ‘S’ one. Which do you prefer?”
Silence blinked owlishly. Although he appreciated that the man was keeping his voice down so that the other kids wouldn’t be able to hear, the rest of the classroom was still disturbingly quiet. As if they were waiting for Silence to reply. When he didn’t the teacher’s smile faltered momentarily. “I’m guessing the ‘S’ one?”
Silence nodded, the grip on his book tightening to the point where his knuckles turned white. He never liked his ‘A’ name, but he didn’t know why. At the same time, he didn’t like being called out for having two names, let alone having one that wasn’t exactly considered by normal standards a name. Still, if the teachers knew about Silence’s two names, then he wondered if they knew. Raymond wouldn’t hesitate to give them background information on something he would deem would be important for the school to know. It wasn’t his fault that Silence just wanted to be called Silence.
Silence went wherever silence goes.
The teacher pointed at some seat and told the boy to sit there, the same gentle smile plastered on his lips. Silence sat in his seat, and as the instructor began to talk at the front of the class about some math. From above his book, he surveyed the class to see what kind of people were in his class. There was a petite blonde in front of him, who to the unobservant eye was taking notes, but Silence could see the pages of the book, which were filled which sketches, and realized that she was in no way paying attention to the old man in the front of the room.
His green eyes slid over to another blond who was frantically scratching his head and staring down at his paper. He was thin, but he still had quite a fair build at the same time. His pencil was wrapped in his fist as he stared up at the board with confused eyes. His leg was jumping up and down, his knee banging against the bottom of the desk. Silence’s eyebrow rose as he went back to his book.
Classes went on throughout the day, and each teacher asked the same question. “Do you want to be called your ‘A’ name, or your ‘S’ name?” And each time, his silence answered the question. He kept his nose buried in his book, only looking up whenever the teacher would make some loud noise and Silence thought that they were trying to get his attention. He’d probably spent more time reading than actually learning. But to him, that was okay.
After the final bell, he quickly made his way to the library down the street, where the warm indoor air welcomed him with open arms. There was a soft murmuring between the shelves, which Silence took in gratefully. He walked around the large open room for a few moments, before a voice next to him caused his head to turn quickly. “Hello, do you need any assistance?”
He was scared. What kind of answer would be good to give her? When a second person came up next to her, Silence felt his body begin to shake. “Sir?” she asked, her head tilting in mild concern. “Do you need help?
“No...thank you,” Silence replied in a timid voice, backing away from the woman and running over to the deepest shelves in the library. His eyes scanned over the spines of the books, trying to find something that he hadn’t read yet. He glanced at the book nestled in his arms, frowning as he looked back at the tall pieces of furniture. He sighed as he tried to find a title that was new to him.
“‘Pride and Prejudice’, where have I heard that title before?” a nearby voice said, and Silence turned his head to see who was stuck in the aisle with him. It was the blond from his math class, the one that was thin, but still had quite a fair build. He had a pile of books in his arms, and his finger on Pride and Prejudice’s spine. He had his bottom lip clenched in between his teeth, eyes lost in distant concentration. He eventually shook his head and turned to the next book, and at the same time, Silence placed his hand over the spine of Stained Glass. Their eyes met, hazel meeting blue. The blond retracted his hand. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did you want to borrow this?”
Silence didn’t respond, instead began backing away from the book and the boy, clenching the book in his hand closer to his chest. “Hey!” the blond called from behind him, making sure to stay quiet. But Silence didn’t turn around, instead he ran out of the library, even ignoring the kind woman that had approaching him when he first walked in. The drastic change from the welcoming warmth to the frigid and sudden cold was enough to cause him to shiver and wish that he had worn something warmer.
Raymond was sitting on the couch with some brown haired stranger when Silence returned home, and he stood up once he saw how hard Silence was shaking. “Silence, are you okay?” He walked over to the kitchen. It felt like it was around supper time anyway. “Aren’t you cold?”
Silence shrugged as an answer, and he didn’t spare a glance at the guest in the living room, choosing to run up to his room and lock himself in, turning the lamp on by his desk as he dropped his backpack on the ground. He gently placed the book in his hands on the wood of the desk, fingers lightly tracing the book that he’d been carrying for a couple years now, long enough where the cover was falling apart.
Stained Glass. By Arthur Gryme.
