Scout - Silence

Scout was a Sedatephobic.

He could never stand silence, no matter what it was. Every time the emptiness came upon the area, he could feel it press against his lungs and heart. It wrapped around him and squeezed tightly against his form…

That's why he wouldn't stop talking.

Whenever silence tried to sneak up to him, Scout would start speaking about something, even if it was unrelated to the situation; whether it be about baseball, his family or any other topic he could think of.

It all started when he was about 15 years old.

He had been in a car with some of his friends, all of them driving home after a particularly wild party. His best friend, Damien, was driving with a beer-fogged brain and the taste of some sort of drug on the tip of his tongue. He was the only one with a licence, so he was the only who could drive.

That's when it crashed.

When he came to, he was lying in the shattered husk of the cars and blood ran down his face and fingers. The young Bostonian looked around, finding his friends all lying still and completely silent. He wanted any sound to permeate the night; an ambulance siren, loud rock music or even an angry dog barking.

Nothing.

Even after three years, he could never sit in silence without the sight of the bloody corpses of his closest friends and the car's metallic carcass. Without feeling that sick twisted feeling in the pit of his heart and stomach.

He never wanted silence to return.

But it would always try.

~*~

The room was completely quiet as the RED Team sat in their conference room, not knowing what to say to break the absence of noise.

Scout felt his heart pounding mercilessly against his ribcage, wondering if the others could just about hear it. Sweat slicked his brow and hands, the liquid running down his lithe form. His breath sped up until his chest began to burn and his head felt light.

It had to go away.

"Hey guys, did I ever tell you about that one time when I got expelled for blowing up a science lab?" Scout blurted out, unable to take the silence any longer. "Funny story actually!"

He saw the Medic roll his cold eyes, most likely annoyed about the Scout's outburst.

"What happened?" Heavy asked curiously, already interested in what the Scout had to say. His almost non-existent eyebrows were perked up, only emphasising the fact that he wanted to hear the little story.

Scout smirked with both pride and relief as he begun to tell his teammates how he 'accidentally' mixed the wrong chemicals in a Chemistry lesson and destroyed the lab he was in. But he wasn't really interested in his own words.

He was just relieved he stopped the silence for now.

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Soldier