"It's like…it's like you stop the Noise. Everything is peaceful when I'm with you." I stutter out loud.
Viola stares back at me, her mouth moving but no works coming out. Her eyes are dark with the thoughts whirling around in her mind. In times like this I wish she had Noise so I knew exactly what she was thinking, exactly what she was feeling. But she is silent. And I am silent. And the woods are silent.
"Please, say something." I finally break the long pause.
"What…what is there to say?" She says slowly, steadily. She concentrates on my face, analysing my expression.
"I…don't know. Anything. Tell me I'm stupid. Tell me that it's dumb that in a world full of noise and chaos there is one person that just takes away everything."
"Why is it like this? Why me?" Her eyes shimmer with tears.
"I don't know." I lie to her.
"Maybe you think it's me that makes you stop seeing Noise but it could be something else. I'm not doing anything."
Her voice catches in her throat. The wind blows across her hair and strands brush against her face. They get caught on the side of her face. She hastily brushes the hairs away back behind her ear. The hairs fall past from her ear again. Her lips are chapped and her eyes are tired. Her skin is pale in the dark and her nose is red with the cold. I just want to pull her in close, and brush her hair behind her ear and-
"I'll walk you home." I say.
She nods a small nod.
We stride back home in silence but with our minds busy with unspoken words.