The Storm That Took My Voice

One more day, just one more day. Come on, you can do it, you can survive it. That`s what I tell myself, over and over, like a broken mantra scraping the inside of my brain.

It`s hard, God, it`s hard, but it can`t rain all the time, right?

That line spins in my head like it`s trying to hold me together.

I love that quote, I love that movie "The Crow", the rain, the grief, the hope crawling out of the wreckage. Some days I feel like I`m all three at once.

Today I have a very important appointment, and I wake up counting my steps, as if the numbers could anchor me to a reality that`s already slipping. I`m also counting the seconds I have left before my mind goes quiet, before the voice that has spoken inside me 24/7 is forced into silence.

The sky was dark and macabre, swollen with something unsaid; it didn`t just look ominous, it looked personal, like the heaven were mirroring the slow funeral of my own thoughts, a sky performing a goodbye for me.

And then, without warning, as if the Gods of Chaos had been watching me, waiting for me. A storm tore through the world around me.

Not just the weather, but an intrusion, a violent presence invading the space my body still pretends to inhabit.

I need to be on time for my appointment at Vordingborg Hospital, even if the storm tries to stop me, I will get there. The storm above me and the storm inside me; one crashing down from the sky, the other hunting me from the back of my mind.

Today, I have to fight both of them, Mother Nature... and the nature of my own psyche.

I get into my Cadillac, turn on the radio, trying to minimize the sound of both storms, the one outside and the one gnawing inside my sanity.

The radio crackles, and then Cruising Down the River by Russ Morgan begins to play... " Just the two of us together, we`ll plan a honeymoon..." Of course, just the storm and me.

And here we are, on our way to our own twisted honeymoon. The perfect destination where a storm and a human like me can finally relax, enjoy themselves together.

The radio cuts of mid - song, the music dies, swallowed by static, and then an announcement replaces it, flat, cheerful, inhuman.

" The government is pleased to announce the re - implementation of the old mental sanitary regulations. We extend our gratitude to all citizens who have volunteered for treatment. Your cooperation brings true harmony to our system."

Harmony.

Of course, that`s what they call it.

I park my car, and on my way to the hospital entrance the wind hits me, hard, violent, desperate.

The storm is trying to push me back, to stop me from reaching my destination, as if had waited until today to finally tear the sky open.

It feel almost personal, like the storm has no intention of enjoying a honeymoon in my arms after all.

I reach the door, I made it. The Doctor is already waiting for me in the reception hall, smiling with that clinical emptiness they all have.

" Welcome," he says, " and thank you for volunteering to help us build a better society, a more symmetric society. Come, follow me."

I walk, with every step I take, a thunderclap hits harder and harder, like an angry lover throwing a final tantrum, a lover who doesn`t want this relationship to continue anymore.

I step into a huge white room, too white, too hermetic, too cold.

A thunderstrike hits the roof so violently it sounds like the storm is trying to split the hospital in two.

Breathe.

Sit Down.

The sun will come soon, I tell myself, Though I don`t believe it.

The doctor is talking, too fast, too much, his words flooding the room, but none of them reach me.

I only catch the last sentence:

" Enjoy the process Miss, it can’t rain all the time."

I look up at the ceiling; I hear the wind screaming against the windows :

Get out.

Get out now.

The doctor says, " One... Two... Three," and something clicks, in the room, in my brain.

The storm... The wind... The world.

CLICK.

Everything is gone.

" Good morning, citizens."

" After yesterday`s storm, Central Atmosphere Control reports a 0.004% increse in national clarity.

The sun is shining today, engineered for your emotional equilibrium.

Please remember: Stability is a privilege."

Static hums like a mechanical breath.

" The Ministry of Symmetry would like to address ongoing rumors regarding yesterday`s atmospheric disturbance. The storm was not an omen, not a malfunction, it was scheduled purification event. Any interpretation suggesting rebellion, divine intervention, or emotional resonance has been classified as unauthorized imagination.

Unauthorized imagination is harmful. Harmony requires obedience."

Static long sound...

" We are also delighted to announce that 78% of volunteers in our Reinsertion Centers have reported elevated satisfacion levels. This marks a significant rise in collective compliance.

Volunteers are reminded that resistance is a temporary psychological glitch and should be ignored until it dissolves. The system thanks you for your cooperation in dissolving yourself for the greater good."

" For the remaining 22 % who have not yet reached optimal happiness:

Do not worry, your minds are adapting, your silence is progress, your emptiness is efficiency."

" Time for some tunes before more news... It can`t rain All The time by Jane Siberry."

" We are back; today national mantra is as follows:

The storm is gone.

The doubt is gone.

The self is gone.

Symmetry remains."

" Thank you for participating in the preservation of our harmonious society.

Remember... the sun is shining today because you no longer interfere with it.

Hey you, reader of another world.

If this manuscript reached you, then the boundaries between our universe are thinning faster than we feared. Consider this a warning, not a prophecy: what you witness here is not fiction but a future that bleeds outward when ignored. In our reality, symmetry became law, and choice became myth.

If your universe still trembles with possibiity, guard it. Ours didn`t. And this is what remained.