Speaker 1: You guys ever hear of the silent zone, Eric said
when he first brought up the idea, some old local
rumor about part of the forest where no sound exists.
The planet started as another escape. Eric, Rachel, Meghan and
I needed a break from the noise, the constant hummo
the city, the stress of work, and the endless barrage
of emails and notifications. We did this for years by
going camping, always chasing that sense of freedom that only
nature could offer. For this time, we wanted something different,
something truly remote. Rachel rolled her eyes and leaned back
in a chair. Sounds like a bunch of superstition, Probably
something to do with the acoustics or the natural sound barrier.
Her tone, dripping with skepticism. Could be interesting. Might be
nice to actually experience some real piece and quiet for once,
I added, half joking, though a part of me was intrigued.
A truly silent area sounded perfect for that. Eric had
found the spot while digging through obscure online hiking forums.
It wasn't on any official maps, and that made it perfect.
A remote patch of national forest, far off the beaten path,
where few hikers dared to venture. The main attraction though,
was a legend that came with it. That idea stuck
with us. The silence, as eerie as it sounded, had
a strange appeal, a break from the constant noise of
modern life exactly what we were after. The trip was
set and we were excited to disappear into the wilderness
for the weekend. The drive out was long but familiar.
Miles of winding roads led us deeper into the national forest,
the trees growing denser as we left civilization behind. By
the time we parked at the last trailhead, the car
felt out of place in the thick woods. This is
where we head in, Eric said, pointing at a barely
visible trail. It was faint, cutting through the brush, almost
like it didn't want to be found. Rachel checked her
phone one last time, no signal. Well, here's to being
completely off the grid. We packed up our gear and
began hiking. The mood was light. We laughed and joked
about how far off the map we were going, and Rachel,
the resident skeptic, continued to mock the legend. Maybe the
silence will swallow us whole, she joked, grinning as she
pushed through the brush. Eric led the way moving confidently
down the narrow path. The trail wasn't marked, but it
was clear enough to follow. For the next few hours,
the forest felt normal. The leaves rustled in the wind,
birds chirped in the trees, and our boots crunched against
the packed earth. Everything was peaceful, just what we'd hoped for.
As the sun began to set, we decided to make
camp for the night. At this point, we were miles
from the nearest road, with nothing but wilderness stretching out
around us. The air was crisp, and as Meghan gathered
wood for a fire, the familiar sounds of the forest
played in the background, the soft wind through the branches,
the occasional distant hoot of an owl, insects buzzing in
the underbrush. But as we sat around the fire that night,
the conversations and I noticed the first hint of unease.
You guys hear that, I asked, my voice low. Rachel
looked up. What it's quieter than it was before the forest,
I muttered. Eric paused listening. The usual sound of the forest,
the rustling of leaves, the faint hum of insects had
grown distant. It wasn't gone, not completely but it felt
like the forest had dialed everything down. We're probably just
deeper in than we've been before, Eric said, shrugging it off.
This far out, it's normal for it to get quieter
at night. Rachel nodded, but the tension lingered. The silence
wasn't total, but it was there, creeping in around the edges.
The next morning, the group packed up and continued deeper
into the forest. We hiked for hours, the trail growing fainter,
the trees closer together. The further we went, the more
the quiet settled in. By midday, we were walking in
near silence, save for the soft crunch of our boots
and the occasional murmur of conversation. Megan stopped at one point,
her face tightening. Seriously, do you guys feel that it's
like the airs pressing down on us? I nodded slowly,
the strange stillness, the way their voices seemed to fall flat. Eric,
the ever steady one, waved them on, We're getting close
to the area, read about, Probably just the geography or something.
It'll pass, yes, But as we tricked further, the forest
grew quieter. Still. The birds had stopped singing, the wind
had died, even off footsteps seemed to lose their sound,
muffled by the dense, heavy air. By the time we
reached the second camp site, the silence was more than
just unsettling. It was palpable. No wind, no animals, just
the oppressive weight of quiet closing in around us. Okay,
Rachel muttered as we set up camp, her voice barely
more than a whisper. Now it's getting weird. Eric gave
her a tight smile, but he couldn't deny it anymore.
Something was off. As we sat by the fire, staring
into the void of the darkened trees, the silence swallowing
the sounds of the crackling flames, It was as if
the forest itself had absorbed everything, and beyond the glow
of the fire there was only silence. The morning started
out like any other. We backed up camp, shook the
night off, and got ready to hike deeper into the forest.
I could feel the tension from the night before, but
none of us mentioned it. Eric was his usual self,
leading the way, talking about how great it was to
be so far away from everything. Megan was right behind him,
pretending she didn't notice the quiet pressing down on us.
With each step. Me I was at the back, watching
them walk ahead, trying to shake the feeling that something
was off. At first, it was just like the day before,
the usual forest sounds, birds, winds in the tree, these
leaves rustling underfoot. But as the morning dragged on, the
sound seemed to fade, not all at once, just little
by little, until it was hard to tell if it
was the forest that was getting quieter, or if my
brain was playing tricks on me. By noon, it was
impossible to ignore. The silence was thick, if that makes
any sense. You could feel it pressing against your skin,
your ears straining to pick up any noise at all.
No birds, no wind, not even the rustle of leaves anymore,
just the soft crunch of our boots on the path.
Except even that was fading. It was like the forest
was swallowing everything. Megan spoke again, her voice sounding too
loud in the dead air. It's weird, right, there's no
sound at all. It's unsettling. Eric glanced back at her,
trying to keep things light. You're letting the silent's own
story get to you. It's just the woods. We're probably
imagining it because we're thinking about it. Too much. But
even he couldn't hide the unease creeping into his voice.
I could feel it too. By the time we made
camp that evening, the silence was impossible to deny. It
was oppressive, like a weight on my chest, making it
harder to breathe. We sat around a fire, but even
the flame seemed quieter than they should have been. The
crackling was there, but it was faint, muffled. The fire
barely made a dent in the silence that surrounded us.
Rachel was sitting across from me, her face lit up
by the firelight. This doesn't feel right, she said, her
voice low. I've been in quiet forests before, but this
is too quiet. Eric smarked. We found it the silent tone.
We should be proud of ourselves. Rachel didn't smile back,
neither did I. We didn't talk much after that. Every
time one of us spoke, it felt wrong, like our
voices didn't belong there. I kept glancing over my shoulder
into the dark where the firelight didn't reach. It felt
like something was watching us. And I hadn't said it
out loud, but the thought had been gnawing at me
all day. The quiet was doing something to me messing
with my head. It was too perfect, too. Still, we
moved on. Eric, Meghan, and Rachel were a few steps ahead,
moving slowly. None of us wanted to admit it, but
a sense of dread was growing stronger. The silence wasn't
just eerie anymore. It was starting to feel dangerous. The
quiet seemed to rap tighter around us every minute, suffocating
every sound before it even had a chance. Megan slowed,
looking around, her face tense, you guys, hear that? She asked,
her voice sounding dull, as if it too was being
swallowed by the air. I stopped in my tracks, straining
to listen hear what. For a slit second, I thought
I heard it too, a snap, maybe a twig breaking
in the distance, the kind of sound that should have
been impossible in this dead zone. But then, just as quickly,
the forest went silent again. We stood still, waiting, listening.
Megan's eyes started around, scanning the trees. I swear I
heard something like normal noise. Eric glanced back at us, confused.
Maybe it's just I don't know, an echo. Maybe things
are just weird here. He kept moving, but I could
see the doubt creeping into his eyes. A few minutes later,
something strange happened. We passed through a small clearing. It
was a march, just the patch of ground where the
trees parted slightly and sunlight bled through the air. Here
felt different, lighter, almost. Rachel and I exchange glances, noticing
the shift. Then as I took another step, I heard it,
my own footsteps, for the first time in hours. A
crunch of my boots on the ground actually sounded like sound,
real sound. Megan's eyes widened and she looked down at
her feet, stomping lightly. You heard that, right, she whispered.
Eric stopped and turned around, confused, what are you talking about?
I tried it too, stomping harder this time. The noise
was faint, but it was there, a crack, like someone
snapping their fingers in a room too big to echo.
It wasn't much, but after so much silence, it was deafening.
I hit my water bottle against the rock for god measure.
The clang just barely audible, but sharp, piercing through the
heavy quiet. We all stood still, looking at each other,
almost hopeful. But then the silence crashed back. The moment
passed like a window slamming shut, and everything went quiet again.
Eric smiled weakly, trying to act like nothing was wrong,
just the weird spot, he muttered, picking up the pace.
I wasn't so sure. There was something off about that clearing.
For a second, we had real sound, but the silence
kept pressing harder as we walked. There were no more sounds,
no more fleeting moments of relief. Megan and I exchanged
uneasy glances as we moved through the trees, both of
us clearly remembering what we had heard. However, neither of
us wanted to say it outloud. It wasn't an echo.
Something had let the sound through, but we couldn't explain it.
By the time we made camp that night, the silence
was crushing again. We sat around the fire, our bodies hunched,
every movement, feeling more labor than the last. The fire
crackled softly, but even that sound felt faint, like it
didn't belong there, like it was being muted. A little later,
I noticed Megan had gone quiet, her eyes locked on
something just beyond the firelight. Her body was tense, like
she was ready to run. What is it? I asked,
my voice too loud, too sharp in the silence. She blinked,
shook her head. I I thought I saw something over there.
She pointed towards the trees with the shadows flickered in
the firelight. Eric laughed, but it sounded forced, probably just imagination.
It's dark, the fires casting shadows, It's easy to see
things that aren't there. But I could tell Megan wasn't convinced,
and honestly, neither was I. I followed her gaze, staring
into the dark, but there was nothing, just trees and
shadows stretching endlessly into the night. It's nothing, Meghan said, finally,
shaking her head, but her voice was tight, and she
kept glancing towards the tree line like she expected to
see something move again. I knew that feeling. The longer
we sat there, the stronger it got, that feeling that
we weren't alone. When we finally crawled into our tents,
the silence felt even heavier. I lay there, staring up
at the fabric, straining to hear anything, a breeze, a bird,
even the sound of my own breathing, but there was nothing.
We set out early the next morning, but the moment
we stepped away from camp, I felt it the silence
had deepened. Worse than the day before. At first I
thought maybe my ears were clogged or something, but no,
the air itself was thick, heavy. It pressed in on
me like a blanket. I couldn't shake off. Rachel broke
the silence. Is anyone else having trouble? I don't know breathing.
I didn't answer right away. I didn't want to acknowledge it,
but she was right. Even my breaths felt shallow, like
the air wasn't properly reaching my lungs. When I tried
to speak, it felt like my voice was fighting to
break through something dense, like the air itself was absorbing
the sound. Eric denied it, though he didn't sound convinced.
He was a few steps ahead, leading the way, but
there was a tension in his shoulders that hadn't been
there before. He was a few steps ahead, still leading
the way, but there was a tension in his shoulders
that hadn't been there before. We kept moving, but it
was getting harder. The silence wasn't just around us anymore.
It was in us, pressing down on our lungs, muffling
our voices, dulling our thoughts. Every sound we made, even
just stepping on the ground was swallowed up almost instantly.
I stopped for a second, taking a deep breath. Maybe
we should turn back. Eric shot me a look, his
eyes narrowed. We've come this far, We're close to the summit.
Let's just finish the hike, all right. Rachel didn't say anything,
but I could see the unease on her face. I
felt it too, but we kept going. What else could
we do. The further we went, the worse it got.
The silence was spreading, following us, maybe even growing. Any
noise we made, Eric shouting ahead to check the path,
me stomping my boots on purpose, was swallowed up so
fast it felt unnatural. There wasn't even an echo. Nothing
bounced back. The sound just died. Rachel tried talking, making
small conversation to break the tension, but her words felt distant,
like she was talking through a thick wall of glass.
Everything we said was muffled. It felt like we weren't
even there anymore, like the forest of swallowing us whole.
The more we hiked, the more dread crept in. It
wasn't just a quiet, It was something about the way
the air felt. It was suffocating, and I couldn't shake
the feeling that we were being watched. We stopped for
a break, setting our packs down under the trees. That's
when Megan froze, her eyes locked onto something in the distance.
I saw it again, she whispered, her voice shaking. What
Eric asked, Looking around, She pointed toward the trees, her
face pale. Something moved. I followed her gaze, scanning the
tree line. Nothing just shadows and the faint rustle of branches. There,
she said again, her hand trembling. I didn't want to look,
but I couldn't help myself. That's when I saw it,
A shape, elongated, dark, moving between the trees, quick and silent.
It slipped out of sight before I could get a
clear view, but it was enough. My heart started racing.
We need to leave. Rachel opened her mouth to say something,
but no sound came out. Her lips moved, but there
was nothing. Panic flashed in her eyes as she looked
at me, waving frantically to get our attention. I could
barely breathe. It was like the forest had taken not
just the sound, but the air too. Eric was standing
still now, his eyes wide. I think I see it,
I nodded. We all had We made our way to
where we had camped last, tracking back towards our starting point.
That night, at camp, the fire crackled mutely. The flames danced,
but the sound was barely a whisper, barely a flicker
against the overwhelming stillness. We sat huddled together, no one
saying a word. What was the point? We couldn't hear
each other anyway. Megan kept looking over her shoulder, and
I didn't blame her. I could feel it too. Something
was out there, lurking, waiting, watching. I leaned forward, keeping
my voice low. We need to go now. It hasn't
attacked us, but we don't know what it wants. We
need to leave. Eric didn't respond at first, just staring
into the flames like he was in a trance. Finally
he shook his head. We can't not in the dark.
We wouldn't make it out. He was right, but staying
here felt worse. I glanced at Rachel, her face pale
and drawn, and I knew she felt the same. But
the silence, it was so heavy, so complete, that we
couldn't even talk about it properly. It was crushing us.
The fire kept burning, but it gave off no heat
or sound. We were alone with our fears, suffocating under
the weight of the silence, and out there, beyond the
flickering light, something was waiting. That night, lying in my tent,
I didn't sleep. I couldn't. The silence had become unbearable,
pressing in my ears and my chest. It wasn't just
the absence of sound anymore. It was like the world
had stopped moving, like even time itself had slowed down.
But worse than the silence was the feeling that we
weren't alone. I kept staring into the darkness, sure that
at any moment I'd see that shape again, slipping through
the trees, watching us. I could feel it. It was
out there, waiting for something. I woke up before dawn,
though woke up doesn't feel like the right word, since
I never really slept. When I finally unzipped my tent,
the cold morning air hit me, but even that felt wrong, too,
still too quiet. I glanced over at Rachel and Eric's
tense Then my eyes landed and Megan's empty sleeping bag.
At first, I didn't process it. It wasn't until I
stood up and walked over that I noticed the rest
of her gear was still there, her boots, her pack, everything.
I called a name, but my voice felt muted, barely
breaking the thick air. No answer, Rachel. I shouted louder
this time, though it still felt like I was yelling underwater.
Rachel stumbled out of her tent, rubbing her eyes. What
what's going on? It's Megan, I said, my voice tight.
She's gone. Within minutes, we were all on our feet
scanning the area, but there was nothing, no sign of
her leaving. Her boots were still next to a tent,
her bag untouched, no footprints, no broken branches, no sign
of a struggle, just silent. Rachel started pacing, running her
hands through her hair, her breath coming faster. Where did
she go? She wouldn't just leave like that. Eric was
standing still, his face pale. Maybe she went to the
woods to I'd oh. Maybe she got up in the
night and wandered off. I shook my head without her boots,
and she would have said something. We would have heard.
But that was the problem, wasn't it. In this forest,
you couldn't hear anything, not the wind, not the birds,
and certainly not someone vanishing in the middle of the night.
We searched for hours, calling her name, but her voices
felt like there were a swallowed hole, barely carrying past
the trees. We walked in circles around the camp, looking
for any sign of her. Nothing. It was like she
had been wiped away, erased from the world without a trace.
The panic hit Rachel first. She was pacing again, tears
welling in her eyes. I could see her hands shaking,
her breath coming in short bursts. She was barely holding
it together. Eric tried to calm her down, but I
could hear the tremor in his voice too. We just
need to stay focused. I didn't say anything. I was
trying to think, trying to figure out what to do.
But we couldn't stay here, not after last night. That's
when I saw it. At first, I thought it was
a shadow, just another trick of the firelight flickering through
the trees. But as I stared, I realized it was moving,
not swaying like a tree in the wind, moving, a tall,
grotesque figure just beyond the edge of our camp. Eric
I whispered, barely able to form the words, do you
see that? He followed my gaze, and I heard him
suck in a breath. What the hell it was? Just
standing there? Still as death, watching us. Its body was
twisted despite its sighs. It made no sound, not a whisper,
not a rustle of leaves, just silence. Rachel turned her face,
growing pale. Oh my god. The creature didn't move, didn't
step closer. It just watched. Eric panicked, grabbed a rock
from the ground and hurled it at the thing. But
when the rock hit it, there was no sound, no impact,
no noise, just the sight of it falling to the ground,
as if it had never been thrown at all. The
silence swallowed every My chest tightened. The thing didn't flinch,
didn't react. It just stood there, shrouded in shadow, the
dark swallowing its features. And then, just as suddenly as
it had appeared, it turned and slipped back into the trees,
disappearing into the dark. We stood there, frozen, none of
us speaking. What was the point? There were no words,
just the weight of the silence. Heavier now than it
had ever been, It pressed thin on us, squeezing the
breath from our lungs, wrapping itself around our throats. Rachel
was trembling, her eyes locked on the spot where the
creature had vanished. We have to go now, Eric didn't
argue this time, neither did I. We moved to the
tree line, ready to follow the trail back. I see something,
I muttered, and both of them turned to look. I
stepped closer, and that's when I saw it. A jacket,
Meghan's jacket. It looked like it was discarded and a
dried up log, but the sleeves were attached. When I
pulled on it, I yanked it up and the logs
snapped with a sound that never came. That's when I
saw that it wasn't wood, but the dried up remains
of Megan. She was sucked dry from all the moisture
and more drained. Wouldn't come close to describing it. How
that happened in the span of hours was beyond me.
Rachel's breath hitched and she stumbled forward, her hands shaking
as she reached down to pick it up. It was heavy,
so with something dark and sticky. Rachel backed away, her
hands trembling. No, no, no, no no. Eric grabbed her
by the shoulders, shaking her gently. We have to go, Rachel,
Megan's gone. We can't stay here. You saw that thing.
It's still out there. We'll die if we don't leave now.
Rachel's face crumbled and she nodded, her eyes wide and
glazed over. Okay, okay. We packed up in silence, or
what passed for packing, when every movement felt sluggish, like
the air itself was resisting us. I couldn't get the
image of Megan's jacket out of my head. She was dead,
and we had to get out before the same thing
happened to us. Eric led the way, moving faster now,
but it felt like we were fighting the forest. Every
step was harder than the last, like the ground was
sucking us in. My lungs burned, struggling to take in
the air that didn't seem to exist, and the silence
was unbearable. I tried to keep up, but my legs
felt like they were moving through molasses. Rachel was ahead
of me, her eyes wide, her breathing erratic, but at
least she was moving. I tried to call out to them,
to tell them that we needed to move faster, but
the sound died in my throat before it even reached
my lips. We started running, or at least we tried.
It didn't feel like running, or like moving through a
bad dream. Everything disoriented, like the world was working against us.
Every step felt like it took twice the effort, like
the ground was pulling us back with every movement. My
lungs were on fire, my legs shaking with exhaustion, but
I pushed forward, not daring to look back. Then I stumbled.
My foot caught on something, maybe a route, maybe a rock,
and I hid the ground hard. No sound, not even
the thud of my body hitting the earth. It was
like the world itself, It had raised the noise before
it could happen. I tried to push myself up, but
it felt like the silence was pulling me down, suffocating me.
I called out for Eric, for Rachel, but nothing came.
The silence swallowed my voice whole, and then I luked up.
There was something in the trees just ahead of me,
a tall and grotesque shadow, watching me from the edge
of the clearing. The creature had in following us, watching
us struggle, waiting for the right moment. I tried to scream,
but nothing came out. My breath caught in my throat,
and I could feel my body being pulled down into
the earth, into the suffocating void. I reached out, but
Eric and Rachel were already too far ahead, the forest
closing in around them. Eric and Rachel didn't notice I'd
fallen behind until it was too late. The silence engulfed
me completely, swallowing me whole. I wasn't gone, not completely.
I could still see them, hear the faint whispers of
their panicked breaths. I watched as they ran, stumbling through
the trees, their movements slow and disjointed. They didn't know
where they were going. The forest had twisted itself around them,
distorting their path. And then they reached the clearing. They
stumbled into the open space, gasping for air, but it
didn't matter. The silence was there, too, thick and suffocating,
pressing down on them. It was so intense now that
it became physically painful. I could see it in their faces,
how they winced with every step in breath. And then
the creature stepped into view. It was taller than I remember,
its body twisted and unnatural, its limbs long and thin,
like shadows come to life. It didn't need to move
aggressively or chase them. Silence was its weapon, its way
of crushing them without lifting a finger. Eric tried to scream,
tried to make some noise, but his voice was gone
before it left his mouth. Rachel fell to her knees,
clutching her head, her face twisted in agony. The creature
just stood there, watching, letting the silence do its work.
Eric and Rachel made a desperate attempt to run, but
it was hopeless. The silence twisted everything, their senses and
perception of time. They were moving in slow motion, stumbling
through the forest that felt endless. Now they didn't know
if they were moving in the right direction. Maybe they
weren't moving at all. I wanted to scream, to tell
them to stop, to tell them to fight back, but
I was gone. The silence had taken me too. All
I could do was watch, trapped in the void, as
they ran into the endless, suffocating silence. I couldn't bear
to be left bed, so I heaved with all my
might and got one knee under me. A few heavy
breaths later and I got my other foot perched, and
with the effort of an Olympic lifter, I performed the
hardest squat of my life to stand. All the while
the creature was just watching at the edge of the
tree line. I stumbled slowly at first, and picked up
to the fastest pace I could, which wasn't much. Determined
to catch up to Eric and Rachel, the light was
starting to bleed through the trees dawn. The pale glow
of the morning should have been a relief, but the
silence was suffocating, heavier than ever. Every breath I took
felt like it was being stolen from me. Up ahead,
I saw Eric and Rachel barely moving each step, like
they were wading through thick mud. The trees were thinning out,
but it didn't matter. The silence was inside us now,
a crushing weight that no amount of daylight could lift.
The air felt thick in my throat, smothering my screams
before it could escape. It didn't matter how close the
road was. It felt like the forest itself was fighting
to hold us back. Then Rachel collapsed. One second she
was walking, the next she hit the ground, face down
in the dirt. No sound, not even the thud of
a body hitting the earth. Her face looked gaunt, like
she hadn't eaten in days. Eric stopped gasping and bent
down to pull her up, but I could see it
in his face he was losing it. His hands were shaking,
his breath shallow and desperate. He tried to lift her.
The silence seemed to cling to him, weighing him down,
making every movement harder than it should be. We're not
going to make it, I heard myself think. The silence
wasn't letting go. Eric crouched over Rachel, pulling her limp
body toward him, trying to get her to her feet.
I staggered over my legs, burning barely able to hold
myself up. We have to get her up, I gasped,
though I couldn't hear my own words. No sound. He
looked up at me, panic flashing in his eyes. I
I can't. His voice came out like a whisper, even
though I knew he was shouting. He tugged on her
arm again, but it was like pulling against concrete. Rachel
wasn't moving. For a second, I thought he was going
to leave her. I thought maybe we'd have to make
the choice leaving Rachel behind or risk being swallowed by
the silence ourselves. But then something flickered in Eric's eyes.
Determination or maybe just desperation. Either way, he wasn't going
to give up. He grabbed Rachel by their shoulders and
I moved to help him. We heaved her up, but
her body was heavy, too heavy. It was like the
Silence had wrapped itself around her, pulling her down into
the earth. For every inch we lifted her, it felt
like the forest pulled her back. I glanced behind me,
expecting to see the creature, but the shadow was gone.
That was almost worse. I couldn't see it, but I
could feel it closing in, pressing in on us from
all sides, like the Silence itself was alive, ready to
crush her at any moment. Eric was still pulling Rachel along,
her body limp barely able to stand. I wasn't far behind,
but my legs felt like they were made of lead.
The creature was close. I couldn't see it, but I
knew it was there, hidden just beyond the edges of
my vision. Watching her stumble through the trees like prey,
Rachel fell, collapsing to her knees with a thud that
made no sound. Eric dropped beside her, his face contorted
in panic, trying to lift her back up, but she
was barely responsive, her eyes half closed, her breath shallow
and quick. We have to keep moving, Eric muttered, his
voice shaking. He was trying to pull her to her feet,
but she was too heavy. It felt like the air
itself was pulling her down. I tried to think times
when my body felt light, without the oppressive silence weighing
down on me, trying to mentally motivate myself. We'd been
in this nightmare so long. I struggled to think of
a time when things were normal. Suddenly a thought flashed
through my mind of my most recent memory of clarity,
the clearing, the one from the other day, where the
silence had broken just for a second. It had been brief,
barely noticeable at the time, but now it felt like
our only hope sound had returned there, even if only
for a moment. I scanned the area, my eyes darting
through the trees, and then I saw it, the route
leading to the same clearing, just ahead, highlighted by the
rays of light penetrating the canopy of branches. It wasn't far,
just past a cluster of trees. Eric, I hissed, my
voice barely audible. The clearing hits up ahead. We have
to go there. Eric looked up, confused and frantic. What
are you talking about? We need to get away, not
further in, but I didn't have time to explain. I
grabbed Rachel's other arm and we half dragged, half carried
her toward the clearing. The creature was closing in. I
could feel it, the silence growing denser with every step.
My chest felt tight, my head pounding from the pressure,
but I pushed forward. We didn't have a choice. We
broke through the trees into the clearing, and for a
split second, just like before, I heard it the faintest sound,
my boots crunching against the dirt. Rachel's ragged breaths too
loud in the oppressive quiet. The silence was weaker here.
Eric was panting, his eyes wild with fear. What do
we do? We can't stay here. I placed Rachel down,
using this place to let her rest, and as I
lowered her, I heard a loud rattling as she hid
the ground. I looked down at the metal canister and
Rachel's back, my hands trembling as I pulled it off.
The water bottle heavy and metallic. I didn't know if
it would work, but we were out of options. I
slammed it against the ground. The clang rang out, sharp
and clear, cutting through the quiet, like a knife. It
was faint, but it was real sound. For a moment,
everything stilled, even the oppressive silence seemed to recoil, like
it couldn't fully suppress the noise. Do it again, Eric gasped,
Pulling out a metal pot from his pack. He slammed
it against his water bottle, creating an echoing, metallic clang. Again,
the sound cut through, just barely, but it was there.
The air around us shuddered, like the silence itself was retreating,
and I felt the pressure on my chest eased slightly.
The creature it had been closing in I could feel it,
but now now it was held back. I could almost
sense it lurking just beyond the edge of the clearing,
waiting for the sound of fade. We need more noise,
muttered my voice, hoarse. I grabbed a rock and threw
it against a nearby tree. He made a dull thud,
but it was something. Eric followed suit, banging on the
tree with whatever he could find, creating an almost rhythmic clatter.
Each sound we made seemed to push the silence back
just a little further. Rachel, barely conscious, stirred, her eyes
fluttering open. What are you doing, she whispered. We're making noise,
I said, my voice trembling. It's the only way to
keep it back. The silence wasn't gone, but we had
weakened it. The creature was still out there, watching, waiting
for the moment the noise stopped. But as long as
we kept hitting, kept slamming rocks and metal together, we
were holding it at Bay. Move, I yelled, my voice
cracked but audible this time. We have to get to
the road now, Eric and I hold Rachel to her feet,
staggering out of the clearing, I didn't dare look back.
We kept moving, hitting rocks against trees as we went.
The sounds were faint but steady, keeping the silence at
Bay just long enough. It was a long journey, made
especially hard by the constant need to make sound, But
eventually we broke through. The moment we stepped out onto
the road, it was like a veil had been lifted.
The silence shattered all at once. Sound came rushing back
in the wind, in the trees, the distant chirping of birds,
our own ragged breaths. It hit us like a wave,
disorienting and overwhelming, but it was real. We collapsed onto
the asphalt, gasping for air, feeling the solid ground beneath us.
The weight of the silence was gone, lifted. I turned
to look back at the tree line, half expecting the
creature to follow, but there was nothing, no shadows, no movement,
just the forest still and quiet, but not like before,
not that crushing, deadly quiet. Rachel was lying beside me,
breathing heavily, her face pale but alive. Eric sat behind her,
his hands shaking, his eyes still wide with the adrenaline
of the escape. We made it, he muttered, his voice hoarse.
We made it out. I nodded, but the sense of
dread didn't fully lift, even as I stared at the trees.
He had escaped, But the forest, the silence was still there, waiting,
working just beyond the edge.