I don't know where I am. I blink blearily, the world is silent. Three moons, I have been awake. Three moons, I have lived in Quiet. All I know is Mother. Mother will help me. She mouths things at me sometimes. She seems to forget that I can't hear. She gets very sad when she realizes. I don't like her to be sad. I don't want to be a burden. They give me strange looks when they see me. I don't know who They are. Mother calls me Clam. She gestures with her tail, with her ears. If there is another part of my name, I don't know it. Why is everything so Quiet?
I recognize Them by organization. They have groups. The Plant-ones are shades of brown. Ivy is the darkest of the Plant-ones. Ivy is a plant. Mother taught me the plant names. Mother wants me to Use the plants. She says she won't have me being a Useless. I wonder, what is a Useless? What is a Clam? What is a Quiet? And why... Why is it so, that everything must be Quiet?
The yellows are called the Bright-ones. Golden is my favorite. He's like the sun, in a way. He makes me feel warm inside. Today Ivy and Golden take me out to play. They know that for me, everything is Quiet. So do the Others, but They forget. We play, but my mind wanders, like always. Golden tells me not to worry about the Quiet. I must have given my thoughts away. I wonder how he reads me so well. He tells me that I'm smarter than most of the Others. I wonder about words. I think them, Golden tells me, but in a different way. Colors and shapes are my words. They are my world. Even so, sometimes I hate the Quiet.
I love Golden, I realize. Golden does not love me. I've seen the way he looks at Ivy. And what is love good for, anyways? Heartbreak will always find you. Sometimes, when Mother thinks I'm asleep, I see her say that she might've called me Heartbreak. I do nothing but hurt her, and I never leave. I don't have to worry about leaving anymore. I am well aware of the shadow that circles us before any of the Others. I don't fight when it takes me away. My only regret, as I leave, is the Quiet.