- Apeirophobia -
The fear of infinity…
The phone crackled, as if opposing the deathly silence on both ends. Silence taunted both the ear of the broken girl and her sister. Swirling, deathly silence. Reeking of power. Threatening to control.
Sadistic and manipulative.
An inquisitive tongue nuzzled its way out from behind dry lips. Tasting the damp staleness of the air, it traced nervous lines upon the cracked redness.
Still, the silence reigned.
The world has lost its head
Every evil hour is filled with dread;
I'm floating on a lake, but upside down
And when I try to breathe I start to drown.
Once again abandoning their defences, the lips parted and allowed a small sigh to escape from their safety. The only weapon against silence is sound. Sure enough, fragments of the wicked stillness flew in every direction.
sHAtTerEd
It was now conceivable to speak.
"Piper……….why?"
The natural instinct is to ask why. And fair enough, very few people can form logical thought patterns when they are told of something like this. But why, why? Is it the false idea that years of self-loathing, secret torment and silent terror can be quite simply summed up into a brief monologue to satisfy the curiosity of the questioner? A few words to explain a person's unspeakable desire for death and equate the questioner's overwhelming feelings of betrayal and anger. It is not possible to devise such words. 'Rape' just doesn't cut it. 'Incest', 'abuse' and 'torture' are nothing but expressions. 'Worthlessness' can be argued against, and 'misery' creates irritation.
There is no insult greater than the word 'why'.
"Why not?"
"……………….Piper, I…I have to go now. Paige says 'hi'. She misses you a lot and wants you to come home soon. We'll, uhh, we should be around there to visit you in a week. Okay, sweetie?"
Sometimes silence can convey the most powerful of messages.
Piper listened to a sigh of defeat followed by the rhythmic and melodic ostinato of the beeping. Each tone identical to the last. Identical pitch. Identical sound waves. Identical air particles…..
Twice the pace of her heart beat.
The world has gone insane.
*******
