Silence

WEDNESDAY

Vai rolled over to look at the clock. 1:27 am. She didn't normally have problems sleeping through the night. She must have heard something. She rolled over and went back to sleep. 

THURSDAY

Vai sat up with a start. She looked at the clock. 1:27 am. Two nights in a row? There has to be something making enough noise to wake her up. She got up, deciding to take a quick walk through the house. Maybe the coffee machine timer was off, maybe a smoke detector needed a new battery. 

After a thorough check of the house, Vai thought about walking the perimeter of the house. She decided against it. It wasn't that she lived in a bad neighborhood, she just never really liked the idea of being alone in the dark. 

FRIDAY

Ugh, are you kidding me? 1:27 am AGAIN. This was getting ridiculous. She slipped on her robe and an old pair of sneakers and went to the kitchen. When she moved in here, she bought one of those girly pink toolboxes. She pulled out the hammer. She grabbed a flashlight too. 

She walked out of the back door trying to convince herself she was not afraid. 

As she walked the perimeter of the back yard, she realized that there was no sound waking her up. 

There were no sounds at all. Not even the sound of her own footsteps on the ground. The deafening silence was even more frightening than any sound she could have heard. She ran back inside but when she woke up, on the couch, she didn't remember falling back to sleep. 

SATURDAY MORNING 

Vai walked into the coffee shop looking groggy. She didn't even see Mel and Livey until Mel stood up and waved her over. “Jeez, how late did you stay out last night?!” Livey loved to pick on her about her lack of a night life. Vai ignored the comment while she took a long, satisfying drink of her coffee, a blonde roast with an extra shot of espresso. “Ha ha, Livey. You know I hate going out after work. The last three nights, something has woken me up at 1:30 in the morning”, Via came back with a little more bite than she intended. “Ouch”, Mel chimed in, “now we know why you don't go out - girl needs her 8 hours.” Vai just rolled her eyes.

Livey ordered a pastry sampler, the only reason Vai agreed to meet at this cafe. “So what's going on? What is this noise that is noisy enough to wake you, of all people?”

Vai sighed, not really wanting to get into it but she knew her friends would not let it go. She started with Wednesday and told the short story that ended early this morning. Mels’ eyes lit up, “Oooh, spooky! You know what this means? SLEEPOVER!” 

Other than the men from the moving company, there hasn't been anyone in the house since Vai moved in six months ago. It wasn't that she didn't want her friends to visit, she had just always preferred being alone. 

But Vai reluctantly agreed. Mel and Livey had been her friends since she left foster care for a college dorm. They just wanted to help. 

SATURDAY NIGHT

Mel and Livey showed up before the sun set. Vai had ordered takeout from a half dozen of their favorite restaurants. Mel and Livey brought the equivalent of a small winery. Vai just laughed. She didn't understand how they were supposed to treat tonight as a normal night if they were up all night drinking. 

Mel was an avid fan of all things weird, all things paranormal, all the witchy things. She lived for it so she was excited to “take point” on tonight' s activities. She thought we should stay up all night so they could be awake for whatever happened at 1:27 am. Vai personally thought they should go to bed as normal, she was tired. 

SUNDAY

You guessed it… 1:27 am. We, of course, had too much wine, and fell asleep long before 1:27. But here we were. Vai slipped her shoes on again, looking at Mel & Livey hoping they would follow suit. As she stepped out of the back door, Vai once again heard the deafening silence. She looked to her friends, to see if they didn't hear what she didn't hear too. Mel looked pure terrified, Livey just giggled. 

There was absolutely no sound. No bug chirped, no bird tweeted. There were no cars on the road. There was no sound from any neighbors’ homes, not a bug zapper, not even the hum from a porch light. 

Mel looked around awestruck. She walked towards the gate to the front yard. Vai looked at her, begging her not to open it. Livey put her hand on Vais’ arm in an attempt to calm her. Mel and Livey knew her better than anyone else on this planet. She had no parents or siblings, and had made no close connections in foster care. These two women shared a dorm room and found permanent places in her heart. She trusted them. 

As the three women walked to the front yard, Vai made her way to the middle of the group, the place she felt safest. It was darker than dark should be.

There was a lone light in the sky. It looked like a spotlight. It was so dark, Vai couldn't see where it was coming from. It just came down from... somewhere. She looked towards Mel and Livey again but they didn't see it. 

Vai ran back to the door, Mel & Livey followed closely. They seemed to be more concerned about Vai than the light or lack of sound. 

SUNDAY AFTERNOON

The three women woke up a little before 1:30 pm. None of them noticed the time. 

They hypothesised about the lack of sound. They joked about the light Vai saw. They drank more wine and talked about the good ol’ days. 

MONDAY

After her friends had left, Vai was feeling nostalgic. She pulled the box from the top of her closet. It was the only thing she had from foster care. 

Whomever had left her at the church, had done it at 1:27 am. They left a note. There was a copy of her birth certificate with all important information literally whited out. There were only a few lines still visible, her birth length and weight and her birthdate and time. 

When she woke up, Vai didn't even have to look at the clock. She knew. It was 1:27 am. 

She put her shoes on and walked outside. She went out the front this time, no hammer, no flashlight. 

Vai was aware of the same conspicuous absence of all sound. She saw the spotlight. It didn't look like one that was shining from a building to the sky, but instead one that was shining from the sky to the ground. There was no origination point for the light. 

She walked towards it anyway. 

Vai didn't know why but she wasn't afraid. She had spent most of her life uncertain of most things but this was different. When she reached the place where the light was shining, she saw no significance, nothing out of the ordinary. It was just a street corner. The spotlight was just shining in the middle of the intersection. 

Vai hesitated but only for a second. She walked into the light. 

WEDNESDAY

Mel had been trying to call Vai for days. She waited for Livey in front of Vais’ home. Neither of them had heard from her since their sleepover. 

The whole house smelt of burnt coffee. Livey ran to check the upstairs while Mel checked down. The bed was unmade, there was no evidence of a recent shower. There was a half glass of milk on the counter and the half gallon still sat on the counter.

As she entered the living room, Mel noticed the memory box on the table.

Mel picked up the strange looking birth certificate and noticed the time. “LIVEY! GET DOWN HERE NOW”. Sensing the panic in her friends’ voice, Livey flew down the stairs. “What time did Vai keep waking up?”, Mel asked with alarm in her tone. Livey shook her head. She was never good with details. “I don't know, 1:00, 1:30?” Livey asked, with a hint of doubt in her voice.  

Mel showed Livey the birth certificate. 

1:27 am