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As the car pulled into the outskirts of the town, I heard nothing except the rumble of the engine. The sky was gray, the ground dry. Nothing had color.
"Welcome to Ragged Edge, Paulie."
My father's voice pierced the quiet, startling me. I jumped. My parents rarely spoke to me, and I, having become used to it, hardly spoke at all. I didn't reply, and continued to stare at my surroundings. All the houses in Ragged Edge were old, rundown, and devoid of life. My parents stopped the car. We'd arrived at our new home. It looked like all the others.
My parents and I changed homes a lot. We'd go to a new town, each one more dreary than the previous one, and when it looked like we'd completely sucked out the life of everything, we moved. But this town..had we already been here? There were no children playing on the streets, no ordinary life sounds such as lawn mowers, chirping birds or barking dogs. There was nothing. It already lacked any life.
I opened the car door, and got out. It was a bit of a struggle- I'm a short 12 year old. Once on solid ground, I looked again at my new home, maybe hoping that when I first looked it had just been a dream, and that my home was actually very nice. But to no avail. It was still old and bare and very, very quiet.
Would this town be any different? Would my parents ever smile at me? All my life, I had been ignored by them. It was as if I had been a total accident, and now just a burden for them. I had to learn to cook and care for myself at a very young age. If I didn't, I'd go to bed unfed. My parents exchanged very few words with me, and when they did, it was usually to criticize me.
My parents walked into the house, leaving me outside alone. I decided to wander, figuring they wouldn't notice if I left for a bit. Lifting the end of my dress, I started walking, leaving the home I'd never learn to love behind me. There was not much to look at. The town was mostly composed of houses, with a few shops sprinkled here and there. Once every few houses, I saw movement behind the dusty windows. So people actually live here, I thought.
The town of Ragged Edge was small and isolated, so I soon found myself in empty land.
The hair on the back of my neck rose, making me uneasy. It was as if this empty land housed the fear of things to come. In Ragged Edge, I felt bare and lonely. Here, I was simply afraid. The two feelings were very unlike eachother.
Still, I walked on.
...
I don't know when I first saw the village. At first, I thought it was simply Ragged Edge again- that I had somehow made my way back. But that would not have made sense- I was always heading away form the town, so these buildings I was seeing had to be something else.
They were.
I stood at the entryway of the village I found. It was surrounded by what seemed to be a very old, rotting wooden fence. A sign hung on the fence close to where I was standing. It shook, although there was no wind. On it, I read Silenzio.
Holding my breath out of fear, and yet compulsed by curiosity, I entered the village. I dared not make a sound. It just seemed..wrong. Strangely enough, once in the village, I realized all the houses were brand new. How could that be? The village seemed to be old enough when I was standing outside of it. And yet..it must have been built very recently. Why did it seem so dead? Once again, I thought back to Ragged Edge. That town had a long history, thus making it normal for all the houses to be so old. But no one told me about a village near Ragged Edge. Why was this?
I was so immersed in my thoughts that I walked right into a large pile of stones. My foot bumped them, and they sprawled across the gravel, making loud rattling sounds.
I shrieked, startled at the noise. It had seemed like ages since I heard anything.
"Excuse me, Miss."
A voice.
I spun around, my heart pounding at miles a minute. A man stood at the entryway of the village, where I had come in. He was very tall, with a long black coat (one men would wear to dinner parties), black pants and white gloves on his hands. In his left hand he held a cane, and a long top hat was placed on his head. He smiled at me. His bright green eyes seemed to bore into me.
"I..Uh..I-I'm s-sorry, Sir, I-,"I tried to reply.
He approached me, and placed a finger under my chin, tilting my face up.
"We do not appreciate noise in this village, young one," he told me calmly, "Now, if you please, follow me."
We?, I thought. Who is 'we'? And where did he come from..?
It seemed I had no choice but to follow this man. He had a tight grip on my wrist, and half dragged me forward with him. I wanted to protest, but my throat seemed unable to make any noise. That or...I truly wanted to follow him? What would happen if I protested? I'd run away, go back to my parents, and continue living my life, completely ignored by everyone.
No, following this man was the most exciting thing to happen to me my whole life. He wanted me to follow him. No one had ever wished for my presence, ever.
..
We walked for what seemed like hours. Eventually, I was led to a very tall house, painted entirely in black. Like his hat..
"Come," the man practically whispered. He sounded a bit menacing.
We entered the house. It was decorated in a very Gothic style. The wallpaper consisted of an argyle pattern in red and black. All the furtinure was extremely modern, and completely black, like the exterior of the house.
"Sit," he commanded, pointing at a table set in the middle of the room. It was of medium size, with a red tablecloth set upon it. A china teapot and two teacups were in front of both places at the table. Two places, and tea..? Did he know I was coming?
Nevertheless, regardless of the millions of questions I wanted to ask, I sat down. The man lifted the back of his long coat, and sat across from me. He reached for the teapot and poured us both a cup. The china made no sound when set upon the table. No clank of china on a hard surface. It almost seemed as if the sound should have been there, but had been wiped out by the immense will for quiet this village seemed to have. I stared at the tea, too intimidated to look up at him. Whether I looked at him or not, I don't think he cared, for he spoke anyway.
"So, you seem to have disrupted the peace of my village," he began, still whispering.
"Yes..um..I'm very sorry about that..," I managed to choke out.
'Yes, well..," he took a long sip of tea,"That will not be sufficient. You see, this town is Silence. Thus, any noise must be punished. Us speaking like this is enough to anger me, in fact, but that is not the point. 'Sorry' is not enough."
I stared, not understanding. This town was Silence? What was that supposed to mean? And since I made a noise with some stones..I must..atone?
"Excuse me, Sir, but I don't understand. What exactly do you want me to do to make up for this?"
I did not want to anger this man, so I decided to start by simply asking questions, instead of protesting.
"You will stay here. Forever."
He said this as if he were asking me to go bake some cookies, he was so calm. It was not the answer I was expecting. Fear coursed through my veins.
"W-what? N-no, I can't..I have to go back home..I have to go ba-"
"What, back to your parents, Paulie? Mother and Father? They hardly even look at you. No, I think you'd be better off here."
My jaw dropped in shock. "How do you know my name? How do you know my parents? Who are you?"
I was yelling now. I stood up from my chair, which made no sound when I pushed it back. The lack of noise in the village didn't bother me anymore. I was scared, and had to get out. "Who are you?" I shrieked.
The man simple frowned at me, as if I were a young child disobeying their parent's orders. "Now, now Paulie, you know we dislike noise. Quiet down now."
"Quiet down? Quiet down? No! Let me go, old man! Leave me alone! I don't know who you are or what you want but leave me alone!"
And with that I made a jump for the door.
The door was getting closer and closer, and I had almost made it. I lunged at the doorknob..but it wouldn't open.
I whipped around and glared at the man. I was about to yell protests at my apparent enclosure, but what I saw froze me in my tracks.
The man stood there, but he had changed. What seemed to be his skin had fallen on the floor in front of him. He stood as merely a corpse. His skin was pale, dry and rotting. His eyes were deep in his sockets, staring at me. They were all I could recognize about his original form. The green eyes. His teeth were very yellow, his mouth contorted into a smile.
"Oh, stay, would you Paulie? You wouldn't want to disturb anybody outside, now, would you?" he asked.
I pressed myself against the door - my only means of escape. My hands clutched the doorknob, still trying to pry it open. I simply could not stop looking at the man. I knew that at any moment he could do something. Hurt me..kill me. I was cornered.
Then I remembered. The one thing that seemed to bother him. The one way I could hurt him. He'll either kill me or..this could work.
I screamed.
The sound seem to flow into the room like a dagger. It pierced the air, as if punishing everything for letting it go unwanted for so long. The man clutched his ears, writhing in pain.
I screamed again.
The sound had an effect. With the last of my breath, I continued to scream while trying to open the door again. It worked. It had never been locked, it seemed. The man had probably done something to it himself that now no longer worked, since he was injured. I yanked the door open and ran out as fast as I could. Finally, I could escape.
Or not.
Outside, was exactly what I had feared. That my screams would bring something bad.
Although the man had been affected by my screams, it seems I had called out to other creatures. They were all disfigured and shapeless, all looking as dead as the man. Some seemed human, others were simply beastly. They were almost like shadows, for I could not see anything but their shapes, and glowing red circles where their eyes should have been. They stood there, around the house, completely still. You could hear a pin drop, they were so quiet.
Then, suddenly, noise gradually started to grow. They called out to me. "PauliePauliePauliePauliePaulie......"
The combined power of all their voices created a chanting that got into my head. My forehead started to pound and throb. I yelled in pain and grabbed my ears, crumbling to the ground. My hands suddenly felt wet. I removed them to look. Blood. My ears were bleeding.
I continued to yell. The creatures were advancing on me, and I could not move from where I lay. The agony was too great. My vision was starting to fade out, and I knew I would soon fall unconscious.
"Well..well.."
The voice of the man came from above me. I tilted my head ever so slightly to look. There he stood, completely intact. It seemed my scream only damaged him temporarily.
"You just can't keep quiet, can you?"
He reached for me.
I blacked out.
..
I opened my eyes.
The ceiling above me was dirty and old.
Was that a dream? Am I home?
Relief flooded through me. Of course. I must have just been so tired when we got to Ragged Edge that I fell asleep in my new room. It was all a dream.
I stretched and lifted myself out of bed. Yep, this was definitley not the village of Silence. The bed creaked as I got out. There was sound here.
I opened my bedroom door and saw them.
My parents. At the entryway of my bedroom, my parents were hung from the ceiling. Thick rope was tied around their necks, and a pool of blood, now dry, had formed at their feet.
In my mother's jacket pocket, a note.
Dear Paulie,
Here's a little gift for you. Now they can't ignore you any more!
We trust you'll keep quiet.
If not, we're watching.
I dropped the note, taking it all in.
Finally, everything came to me.
And, without thinking, I screamed.
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