Member-only story
The Night the Noise Died
When sound is gone, only the horror remains
At precisely 3:14 a.m., the world went silent.
And by silent, I mean we, my brother and I, were sitting around the bonfire enjoying the sounds of a late night summer evening when sound simply ceased to exist. At first, we both put it down to slight hearing loss from the fireworks earlier in the evening. After all, it was July 4th, and the fireworks were loud.
I watched as Chad rubbed first one ear, then the other as if he were trying to clean them. I can't say I was surprised when he spoke and I could only see his lips moving. Not even a minute before, we had been commenting on how the summer night felt alive, amplified even.
I grew up in Savannah, so the sounds of crickets chirping, frogs croaking, and even the occasional splash as an alligator slid into the swamp behind our home was nothing new. To me and Chad, those sounds were just part of a southern summer evening in the backyard of our parent's home.
Chad had just commented on how hot it was when sound just stopped. If you've ever spent any time in the south you know that during the summer months, it can easily hit 100 degrees in the shade, and it doesn't get much better after the sun goes down.
