My first A Quiet Place stories. I hope you enjoy it. When I first saw it, I thought it was spectacular.
Please let me know what you think.
Silence is far from Golden.
They said silence was golden.
Reagan had no idea who had come up with that belief, and truthfully when she heard it the first time around she had wondered if the philosophy came from a deaf person, who had come to enjoy what they had rather than what they didn't have. She knew history was full of examples of people who yearned to be more than what they were without even bothering to better themselves. But the idea of someone deaf who'd say something like that in that way would make sense, to a degree. Walking on the sand was, despite the circumstances, actually very comfortable for Reagan since she'd regularly walked barefoot at home anyway long before the things appeared in those falling meteors, and all life on Earth changed. Ever since the day when sound was discovered to be the way the creatures hunted and tracked down and killed anyone who ran, yelled, screamed, a car or a bus speeding nearby, the entire world had become silent.
For someone who was deaf like Reagan, the world only became even more silent. Her parents and her siblings had learnt American sign language from the start the moment her parents had learnt of her deafness; they had known while hearing aid technology existed and she had used it herself to better understand the world around her, she and her family remembered only too well when one aid failed…
Reagan was just relieved the fallout was limited, but she doubted herself or her mum would forget the way some kids mocked her for being unable to hear them; it had taught her and her family a lesson, and one day they had begun learning American sign language to teach them all a language that she could understand should her hearing aids fail even if they wouldn't be speaking, but using their hands to make gestures they could understand. It had taken time to properly learn how to use sign language, everything new took time to learn, but when they did it wasn't long until it became second nature, and pretty soon Reagan and her family understood themselves on a level they'd never imagined possible.
Sign language had allowed her and her parents to communicate in ways they'd never had before, but nowadays it had become the only way she and her family could even speak without getting them killed.
A low sigh escaped her lisps she followed her parents through the town, walking along the sand scattered across the ground to further kill whatever sound they made with their feet. Reagan was just…amazed by how much the world had changed. However, she wished she could hear it.
She hated how her parents and her brothers reacted whenever a sound was made, and she didn't even know anything was wrong until either she was told or she saw their terrified expressions.
But at the same time….Reagan was deaf, and there was nothing she could do about it. At the same time, her deafness allowed her to see the world in a completely different manner from ordinary people, and since she liked who she was, she didn't hate her deafness.
As she followed her family through the town, Reagan looked around at the empty and deserted stores - she remembered coming to the town many many times over the course of her life, where it was bustling and full of life, she remembered how her brothers and her parents had conversations with the shopkeepers and with their friends.
But now the town was empty, putting her in mind of those ghost house stories she had read and seen in movies. There were a few smashed cars and trucks, and patches of nature were growing over them as if nature was taking the opportunity to transform the metal vehicles into plants like themselves. It amazed and fascinated Reagan nature tried to reclaim everything humans had worked so hard and so long to hold back. Even the air smelled sweeter, fresher without the stink of pollution; her family lived outside of town and the air was quite fresh, but Reagan could still appreciate the appealing difference, she only wished the world wasn't crawling with vicious predators that hunted via sound and tore everything that so much as squeaked.
So far they were in the clear. Reagan knew her parents would stop and they'd wait for the thing to leave, or one of them would throw something far from the creature to attract its attention, so they could make their escape. It was a tactic they'd used many, many times before. It was always a terrifying risk, but one they had to take if they wanted to live.
Her parents were desperate for them to stay alive in this unkind, quiet world where silence had been imposed on them all, and so they'd come up with dozens of ideas to defend themselves with. Reagan hoped the tactics held out, but since her family took every precaution imaginable there was hope. But she was old enough to know nothing usually went according to plan.
As they were walking home across the bridge, Reagan stopped when her mother ahead stopped. She looked on in confusion as her mother turned, and Reagan knew they had heard something that was terrifying even before her mum silently placed her hands to her mouth, desperate to scream even as dad ran past her. Even worse, her mother was looking in her direction, but what could be producing a sound?
Reagan turned around…and her eyes widened in horror. Beau was playing with that spaceship toy from the store, the one they knew made a sound loud enough to attract the things. Their father had taken the toy from him and had even taken the batteries out. Reagan had, foolishly looking back on it, given the toy back to her brother to ease his feelings, but what was Beau thinking putting the stupid batteries in?! It was obvious he had, otherwise why else would dad be running for him?
There was nothing she could do.
Reagan was frozen stiff with terror even as dad raced towards the youngest in the family while he played with that stupid toy. She opened her mouth in a silent scream of heartbreak as the thing slammed into Beau, disappearing from sight seconds before dad reached them.
Reagan could barely move.
All your fault! She screamed to herself in her mind, already blaming herself; she had given Beau that stupid toy after all, but while she knew she hadn't given him the batteries that were still no excuse for tearing their family apart.
She wished for a moment she could have heard the sounds, that way she could have thrown the rocket away and saved Beau's life.
The silence was far from golden.