Silence is a Tyme setting story by Terri Pray
Artwork by Samuel Pray created using Dax3D, Filter Forge and Photoshop
Her hands clenched, nails digging into her palms, jaw tight as
she tried to shut it out. It didn't work, the high-pitched screech of a voice
that rose and fell at odd points in time, continued to plague her. Brenda
closed her eyes, breathing slowly in through her nose and out through her mouth,
counting under her breath to twenty before she gave up. She glanced up, watching the play of clouds
across the sky. Large, white, fluffy, they stood out against a brilliant blue
sky. Trees rustled behind her, heavy with deep green leaves, the first hint of
apples here and there, and bright blue flowers growing beneath their glory.
Beautiful.
A place of peace in an
otherwise busy world.
Her gaze shifted, for a
moment, to the outline of the high temple of Thanatos, a mix of elegant spires
and black stone. Like the park it was one of the few places she could relax,
away from the stress of it all.
"Are you listening
to a damned word I'm saying?"
Brenda flinched.
"What do you think
this is? A fucking game?" The woman continued to pace her way through the
small park. "This isn't a joke. I've spent the last three days trying to
get an answer from you people and all you have to tell me is the results aren't
in yet."
She had to remain calm.
Losing her temper wouldn't help. The woman wasn't the type to care who she
upset or what she did, as long as it got her what she wanted.
"Fuck you! Get me
your goddamn supervisor! Now!"
Brenda reached for her
sandwich, breaking off a small piece before she tossed it toward the gathering
of birds. The largest broke off, lifting into the air before it dived down onto
the piece, pinning it to the ground before he attacked. Small beak tearing the
bread apart with obvious glee. A dozen other birds followed him, pushing and
shoving in an attempt to grab a piece, their calls ringing out, adding a
natural background noise she could live with. An hour a day, that's all she
ever managed to steal for herself out here. Her lunch, five days a week, a
break from the office and the constant jostling for power that took place
between the men and women working there. Oh, sure, they'd try it on each other,
that was just a part of their nature, whereas she was a welcome distraction.
High heels clicked their
way along the path, long legs, an expensive business suit, perfectly coiffed
hair and an attitude that made it clear that she didn't care who got in her way,
she'd walk over them, through them or on them, as long as she got what she
wanted.
Don't look at the woman, it won't help the
situation.
Brenda glanced at the
birds and then back at the woman, despite her desire to ignore the loud
presence, and frowned. She paced, her steps angry and determined, never faltering
as she advanced along the path toward the birds. Would she give them a chance
to move?
The click, click, click
sound drew closer and the first of the birds lifted from his place, taking
flight, circling once before it found a safer place among the trees.
Tension built across
Brenda's brow, crawled down her neck and into her jaw. She shot the woman a
look, one the suit wearing, loud voiced, intruder ignored. Just as she ignored
the fact that the park was a quiet zone. You had a call, you placed it on pause
and moved elsewhere, out of the park.
Not according to this
woman. Either she hadn't seen the rules or, more likely, didn't think they
applied to her.
"Nasty, dirty
things," the woman hissed, kicking at the birds as they scattered, lifting
into the air in a cloud of colorful feathers and noise. "Shouldn't be
allowed."
Brenda's fingers
clenched on the box holding the remains of her lunch.
"No, not you."
The intruder hissed at the person on the other end of the call. "Are you a
supervisor?"
Brenda looked away from
the woman. She wasn't there. No one was there with her. It was just Brenda and
the birds, nothing else mattered.
"Then get me a
goddamn supervisor!" The woman turned, stalking back down the path. "What
the seven hells is wrong with you people?"
Perhaps they were tired
of dealing with people like this woman? She looked back down at the path, at
the remains of the crumbs. Sooner or later the birds would return, but with the
way the woman paced, she'd walk back through the flock, scattering them again.
What had they done to
her?
Brenda scowled at the
woman, her gaze fixed on the communicator. The rules were clear, the silence
code enforced here, but where was an officer when she needed one?
"If you think I'm
going to call another number, you're insane. Escalate the call, you know how to
do that, don't you? Or do you need written instructions!" The woman's
voice rose to a shrill scream.
Brenda pressed her hands
against her ears, covering them. Shut up, the woman had to shut up. Didn't she
understand why people came to the park?
Pain, pressure and
tension warred behind her eyes. Her chest tightened, sweat beaded across her
brow and across her breasts.
"If you hang up on
me, I'll call back again and again until you deal with this mess!"
Tears burned in Brenda's
eyes, pain lanced - sharp needle points - into the back of her eyes and she
hissed, trying to breathe through it. She wouldn't lose control, not this time,
this woman wouldn't push her to breaking point. She was stronger than this,
better, she'd learned to control her temper but the migraines were another
matter. God, she needed silence, blessed peace and quiet, just enough time to
resettle herself before she returned to work.
"You piece of shit!"
The woman pulled the communicator away from her ear and glared at the small
piece of plastic. "You hung up on me, you ignorant…oh it's on. It's so on."
"No more,"
Brenda whispered. "Please, no more."
It wouldn't stop, no
matter what, the other woman wouldn't stop. Anger, aggression, frustration,
they rolled off the stranger in dark, sullen waves. Pain and nausea mixed,
turning Brenda's vision into a kaleidoscope of mud touched colors with flashes
of brilliant white.
"This isn't over,"
the woman growled at the communicator and stabbed a finger at the control. "Hang
up on me, will you? Let's see how this works for you."
No, no more, she couldn't
handle it. Peace, silence, relaxation, that's what she came here for, not this,
not the shrill cries, the angry words, the ignorance and hatred that emanated
from the woman and her conversation with the stranger on the end of the line.
Stop it, don't let it happen. Go to the
temple, they can help, can bring it under control again.
Vibrations ran through
her body, her vision narrowed, pinpoint focused on the communicator. Light
blinded her, bright, sharp, needlepoints that pierced through her eyes and into
her skull. Pressure exploded through those points, burning a path until she gasped
and rocked back on the bench she had claimed as her own. Fire and darkness
consumed her, eating her from the inside out only to vanish, die in the moment
between one heartbeat and the next.
A scream, high and pain
filled, broke through the daze that followed and she blinked, trying to focus
on the source.
The woman curled on the
floor, one hand stretched out, the melted remains of the communicator smoking
in the palm of her burned and blackened hand, the scream fading, easing into
hysterical sobs and gulps for air.
Brenda rose, rubbing one
hand against her temple as she turned and walked away from the woman, following
the path out of the park before she activated her communicator. Her gaze fixed
on the Silence ruling at the top of the park regulations and a slight smile
tugged at her lips. "Hello, yes… can you sent a medical team to River
Park…yes, I'm afraid there's been a small accident… stay, no I'm sorry, I need
to be elsewhere…. Where? Oh, the temple. Yes, that's right, I'll be right there
if you need me."
Where else could she go
now, except to the only place that would grant her the silence she needed…
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