Have you ever experienced true silence?
I’ve lived next to the highway my whole life. The interstate was put in around 60 years ago and has been one of the quickest ways to get from our little town to anywhere that doesn’t close at 6pm.
There is traffic on it at every hour of the day. Because of this I’ve always wanted to move out to the country where my closest neighbor would need to drive a few minutes to get to me.
The opportunity arose a few weeks ago, and being the idiot I am I took the deal. An aunt that I rarely visited named me as her sole surviving family member and left her house and a bit of money to me.
It didn’t take long to move in, all I really had to my name was a duffle bag of clothes and a guitar. I could have lived out of my car if I really needed to with how little I had. Luckily my aunt had a couple guest bedrooms, and everything that was left behind became mine as well, so I didn’t have to worry about finding my old air mattress in storage.
That first night wasn’t that bad. The dark sky that surrounded the house made it perfect for me to feel at ease. The crickets chirping and the occasional owl hooting made it seem very peaceful.
The only issue I had that night was the realization that the loud droning of the highway helped me sleep. After fidgeting with a box fan I found in another room, it was lights out.
Waking up in an unfamiliar place the first time can scare you. It takes a moment to remember where you are and how you got there. Even more so in the dark. On the third night after getting a few hours of sleep my fan had shut off. When I woke up to the abrupt silence I sat forward in a daze. The lights where all out, and the night was overcast. Having been here two nights so far I thought I knew how to work the lamp at my bedside, but when I stretched out my hand to turn it on, no lamp was there to greet me.
The confusion of my missing lamp paired with the fan being off sent my heart racing. I knew it was impossible that anyone was in the room with me, but I had a sense that someone was playing tricks on me. I felt around on the nightstand to find my phone, that way I’d have some light to search around in.
After I got my flashlight working on my phone I found that the lamp was on the other nightstand and turned it on then got the fan running again. After stretching a bit I crawled back in bed and didn’t think about it. I was sure I was just mixing my sides up.
The fourth and fifth nights were uneventful, but after what happens the 6th night I may have to sleep in my car for a few nights.
Like before, I woke up to my fan shutting off. This time I couldn’t find the light on either side of my bed. I frantically began looking for my phone on the nightstand. It wasn’t there. After sweeping the bed with my hands and legs I found it just in time to feel it being kicked off the bed.
My phone launched across the room, and the screen turned on lighting up the corner of the room.
There standing in the corner of the room was a large blob of shadows. The vaguely human shape was slouched over, and looked as if it was searching through a bin. It noticed my phone lying beneath it. It turned and picked it up to examine the brick of glass and plastic. As the creature examined my phone the screen turned off as it timed out.
I went limp, my blood dropping from my face to my stomach and my skin crawling as I felt it climb into the bed at my feet. I felt the phone press against my hand as this creature wrapped my fingers around it, and then I felt as it got out of my bed.
That is when I noticed what I should have figured out from before. My fan wasn’t off.
The air was still wafting over me, and the sheets were being blown gently against me. After what felt like an eternity, the sound came back slowly
It was as if I had been deaf before and someone slowly gave me my hearing back. The crickets outside were loud and my fan was humming its white noise as it had before.
I think the blob of shadows somehow absorbed all sound that is around it. I’m pretty sure that the creature meant no harm to me.
But now I know what it is to experience true silence.