Silent Morning

         

Silent Morning

By: Heather Hawkins

         I woke up one day and the world was different. Honestly, I couldn't be certain the entire world was different, but mine certainly was.

         The first thing I noticed was the silence. Complete and utter silence. The static whir of electricity was no longer present. The quiet was an eerie veil over our home. I could hear the shuffle of our dog's paws on the hall floor. My parents were in the kitchen, talking in whispers. The wind rustled the leaves of the trees outside my bedroom window. One overgrown limb scratched the window pane. The birds were chirping excitedly. Did they always chatter so loud?

         I rolled over and sat up. The sunlight streamed into my room, bright as ever. I scratched my head and stretched. I'd slept so hard the night before, today still didn't feel like anything other than something in my dreams. I wasn't processing anything other than the heaviness in my head, that little voice telling me to return to my slumber.

         Instead, I pushed on through the cobwebs of semi-consciousness. Looking outside, nothing looked different. I rubbed my eyes and peered to the right and left, both ways up our street. I saw the same familiar sights. Our neighbor's cars were parked in the same places. There was no devastation to be seen., no chaos abound. No fire trucks, ambulances...not even a cloud in the sky.

         What was missing here? Sometimes the things that grab at your subconscious instincts, the things that make that little voice scream at you, are the things that are missing...

         Then it hit me.

         Typically, the rush of the city can be heard from my house. Loud diesel eighteen wheelers moving along, switching gears and squealing brakes echo from the metropolis. We reside in the outskirts, but still the roar of airplanes taking off and flying over is ever-present. The train can be heard along the tracks, clacking through to its next destination. Horns and sirens can be heard at almost any moment. This morning, there was nothing. Just silence.