The music was up to full volume, all the students around me were jabbering, and I was tapping my desk in rhythm with the song.

Noise. All part of my life. I loved noise.

The teacher asked us to quiet down. We did, of course.

”We have a special guest today. Please welcome Sarah Harbinger.”

She walked into the class.

”Hello, everybody,” she started. “Today, I’m going to talk to you about silence. I heard all the noise before I walked in. Now, which one of you is the loudest in this class?”

Instantly, all the students started screaming, determined to be the loudest. I kept quiet.

”You.” She pointed at me.

The other students started complaining.

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I got up and walked to the front of the class.

Sarah quieted the class again.

”Usually the loudest can often act quiet. Tell me, child, what do you like most?”

”Noise,” I responded.

”See, students? This child might as well be the loudest.”

”What do you fear most?” she asked, turning to me.

”I don’t know,” I said.

”Let me look.”

There was a sudden, sharp pain in my mind. I nearly cried out in pain. I saw things that scared me.

Loss of my parents.

My friends turning me away.

A demon, so bloody and scary, it would haunt me the rest of my life. Talons as long as a full-grown man. Teeth twice the size of that. Four legs, each twent feet. It glowed the color of darkness.

Then I saw myself sitting in complete solitude, and then I felt fear.

I was back in the classroom instantly. Sarah smiled at me.

”Got it.”

Suddenly, there was no noise, and everything was frozen around me.

”An ounce of silence,” I heard Sarah ay, though she didn’t move.

I felt this ounce of silence as though it were glue. I was stuck in place, watching this still-life painting.

No movement.

No sound.

Just fear.

Out of my chest arose the beast I had seen just moments ago. I tried to get away as it spanned the room, filling it yet not filling it. Nobody was harmed and nothing was shifted. It only looked at me.

The target.

I tried to scream, but couldn’t. Run, but couldn’t.

I could only let the inevitable happen.