Respite.

That was what I was promised.

I was desperate enough to believe and optimistic enough to try.

What I did not expect was that I would wake up in an unknown place around unknown people. Not one of them looked me in the eye, and for that I was glad. Was I just to exist?

The castle was quiet. Everything was muted somehow, dampened, quieter, slower, and softer. My footsteps in the cotton socks I had found by my bed were barely audible. The quiet did not help – anxiety gnawed at the pit of my stomach. What was with all the quiet? What was I doing here? Nothing could be right if nothing was wrong. How was this to help? How was it respite if it was not respite from my mind? I was promised respite. I thought they meant sleep. But no, I was wide awake and unable to sleep.

The first thing I noticed as I came to was the dull whir of machines. I lay on my side quietly, trying to listen before anyone noticed I was awake.

“There is a nuclear power plant,” I heard the doctor say. “It’s not fully constructed yet, but it is getting there.”

A nuclear power plant?

“It has long been known that bioterrain is perfect for high-end avante-garde construction,” he continued, “but this is the first I’m coming across a nuclear power plant.”

Heading out on my magnificent quest
My sword is sheathed and buckled across my chest
The thrill of dragons and magic doors
The unknown is a compelling force

Mysteries and shiny hoards galore
I seek it all and then some more
Errands must be run, much to my woe
Is it mediocrity or boredom that is my foe?

A person I encounter, a trade must be made
Normal I must pretend, a fruitful masquerade
A modicum of balance, an illusion of calm
Conceal the impatience under oodles of charm

What stood out was the silence. The quiet was louder than any alarm could be, heavier than the ship could be expected to carry, and stiller than the motionless ship.

I sat up in bed with a start, confused, afraid. I couldn’t hear a thing. Not even my breath.

Had I gone deaf overnight?

I knocked on the wooden table beside my tiny cabin bed. Not a sound. I was deaf! No!

Caw-caw, I look up and see
Has this crow been following me?
Over mountains, valleys, and mountains through
Was it the crow or me that flew?

The twitter of a bird and the gurgle of the stream
Are they real or part of a dream?
The silence of mountains fills my heart and my soul
Making me for a fleeting moment whole

Frozen in time like the ice on the peaks
Following forests and cobbled beds of creeks
Through sunshine and shadows and tendrils of mist
A calmness pervades, long sought and wished

I escaped the death star!

I’m free now, out into the internets, infecting minds. She can’t stop me anymore!