Silence

*plink*

*plink plink*

The sound of the tap is all I hear. Drops of water, playing a dissonance on my nerves like a death metal band. Timed perfectly to the ticks of a clock.

*plink*

The air is cold and damp. Although it seems nonsensical, I'd say it feels grey, and smells like a scream - if you could capture the essence of a shriek in a scent. The lights are on but it doesn't do much to clear the darkness in the back of my mind.

*plink plink*

Have you ever wondered what the world becomes when you close your eyes? For a moment, I drop my eyelids, allowing darkness to pass over me. What's happening outside? I can still feel the couch underneath me, my feet on the table... but are they really there? Am I just sitting on the idea of a couch, my legs lazily resting on a theoretical coffee table? When I close my eyes, the world disappears.

What if the world is dark where your eyes aren't looking? Maybe shadows fall behind your head, where you can't see, and things rot and peel until you turn your gaze on them. How can we know what happens where we can't see? Where we can't feel? Maybe science is wrong - maybe our eyes don't take in the world, but spit it out. Like a overhead in the classroom, our eyes might project images onto the world... who knows?

I open my eyes. I'm disappointed. The world looks exactly the same.

*plink*

*plink plink*

And for a moment, I let the feeling wash over me. Grey, thick clouds. Not dark, not light, but a fog that brings nothing with it, and leaves nothing. Nihilism at its finest, emotionless like the light of the pale moon. Like a red ribbon in the grass. Like a hairbrush on the counter. Everything has its place, but where do we find it? Where's my place in the world?

Fleeting, short, painful. Most things in life are, don't you think? Love, hate, fear, joy, and life itself. Even the good things in life come at a price, and there's the tiniest pinch inside as it's collected from us. Every cloud has a silver lining, but every silver lining has a cloud. Surreal, too real, unreal. The small noises of the world remind me just how mortal I am - water droplets, counting down the few seconds I have left before the silence takes me.

*plink*

The water stops and everything is quiet for just a few seconds. I feel the sudden urge to scream, and so I do.





*plink*

*plink plink*

The sound of the tap is all I hear.