The Sound of Silence

Chapter Ten

Word Count: 3,726

Four days later we finally arrived close to eleven thirty at night. It was a brief reunion. The five of us were given food, told where to take a shower, and where our cabins were. I hardly registered any of it before stumbling into my room, and collapsing on my bed. I thought about everything that had happened for a brief moment, my brain instinctively wanting to reflect, but I shook it. No need for that now. I let myself drift off, and just as sleep came, so did the dreams.

The humming came back. It was light and breathy, almost panicked. I reached out for the invisible singer, but I could not reach her. My voice wouldn't work, and my hearing began to fade. I started running, spinning, trying to get my good ear to pick up her location. The dream slowly dissolved and I woke up thrashing under my covers. I pushed myself to sit up, blinking rapidly to let my eyes adjust to the early morning light. I felt a light tap on my hand and on the bed in front of me was Emily, eyes alight in concern.

I was finally able to get a good look at my surroundings. I was in a cabin with six sets of bunks, I was in the bottom one in the back of the cabin. Beside the window on my side of the cabin was a bare desk. On the foot of my bed next to Emily were folded blankets and a pillow. It confused me slightly, considering she was supposed to have been here much much longer than I had been. I shook my head. Maybe she had moved or been forced into a bed and with me here she knew she would be okay to sleep in the window; either way I didn't need to think about it now.

"I'm okay," I whispered, giving her a smile and a small pat on the hand. Her eyes narrowed, reaching towards my ear, before drawing it back sharply. She pointed to her own ear, then drew a line across her neck, cocking her head to the side as if asking a question.

"Yeah, I can still hear." I was nodding and responding before I even realized that I had understood what she meant: asking whether or not I could hear. She took a deep breath, smiled a little, before picking her stuff up and moving towards the window. I watched as she climbed up, set the pillow against he window before leaning on it, then pulling the blanket up to her chin. She curled in towards the window and soon her breathing evened out. I thought about trying to sleep again, but the unease from the nightmare had gotten my blood pumping. Instead I pushed to my feet, looking through the trunk at the foot of my bed with my name on it. I changed into the jeans and a white sweater, pulling my boots back on and grabbing my coat that was on the bed.

Outside the temperature was bitter, my breath hovering in the air barely visible in the low light. There was six cabins that were the same size as mine and another twenty that looked much bigger. Despite this there were still rows upon rows of tents. There was a one story main house off to the side in addition to another building that was surrounded in boarded up windows. I drew close and looked inside to see it was a mess hall and kitchen. I let out another puff of air. The whole camp grounds was run down and seemed to have been abandoned. Parts that were repaired were clearly done recently, most likely by us. I trudged towards the main house, stomping my boots off as I came through the door.

"Well look who's up early." I smiled and turned towards Don who was leaning against a door frame almost like he was waiting for me.

"Couldn't sleep. How have you been holding up?" He shrugged.

"I've been better, but given that we're leading a rebellion, I would have to say I've been worse too." I chuckled. "Actually, I'm glad you stopped by, I was going to see if I could catch you after breakfast to check out your ear."

"Oh, yeah. Sure thing." I followed him through the door way to see a few people on cots, but most were empty. I cringed at the sight of the sad infirmary, hoping that we'd never need to use this under resourced place to try and help people wounded by a major battle.