A voice in the silence
1709 Words
Hatred thrives where no one dares to look.
Kael barely made it through the front door before Mr. Matthison's voice hit him.
"Where have you been?"
The smell of alcohol filled the house.
Mr. Matthison stood in the living room, a half-empty bottle hanging from one hand.
Mrs. Matthison sat on the couch, her lips pressed into a thin line.
Neither of them looked concerned.
Only angry.
Kael should have expected that.
He said nothing and headed for the stairs.
"Don't walk away from me."
The command echoed through the house.
Kael kept moving.
A mistake.
Heavy footsteps thundered behind him.
A hand grabbed his shoulder and spun him around.
"What did I just say?"
Mr. Matthison's face was inches from his own.
Red.
Drunk.
Furious.
For years that face had terrified Kael.
Tonight it only made him tired.
"I said leave me alone."
The room fell silent.
Mr. Matthison's eyes widened.
Kael had never spoken back before.
Not like that.
Then the man smiled.
A cruel smile.
The kind Kael knew too well.
"You think you're a man now?"
The first punch struck his stomach.
Kael doubled over.
Pain exploded through his body.
The second blow caught his jaw.
His head snapped sideways.
Mrs. Matthison watched from the couch without moving.
Without helping.
Just like always.
Something broke inside him.
Not a bone.
Something deeper.
Years of fear.
Years of humiliation.
Years of pain.
All at once, it came rushing to the surface.
The lights flickered.
Nobody noticed at first.
Mr. Matthison grabbed him by the shirt.
"You ungrateful little freak."
The lights flickered again.
Harder.
The television switched off.
Mrs. Matthison finally looked up.
"What was that?"
Kael felt a strange pressure building beneath his skin.
Like a storm trapped inside his chest.
The room suddenly grew cold.
Very cold.
His foster father hesitated.
For the first time, uncertainty crossed his face.
Kael's breathing quickened.
The shadows around the room began to stretch.
Thin strands of darkness crept along the walls.
Across the ceiling.
Across the floor.
"What is happening?" Mrs. Matthison whispered.
Kael didn't know.
He couldn't stop it.
The shadows moved faster.
Furniture rattled violently.
The windows shook.
A picture frame crashed to the floor.
Mr. Matthison released him and stumbled backward.
Fear filled his eyes.
Real fear.
The darkness surged toward him.
Like living smoke.
Like hungry hands.
Kael watched in horror.
"No."
The shadows ignored him.
They wrapped around Mr. Matthison's legs.
The man screamed.
A chair flew across the room.
Glass shattered.
The entire house seemed to tremble.
"Stop!"
Kael shouted.
The darkness tightened.
Mr. Matthison collapsed.
His face had gone pale.
His breathing became shallow.
For one terrible moment, Kael thought he was going to die.
The realization hit him like ice water.
He didn't want this.
He wanted the pain to stop.
Not murder.
Not death.
Summoning every ounce of strength he possessed, Kael forced himself to focus.
Slowly.
Painfully.
The shadows retreated.
The cold disappeared.
The room became still.
Silence filled the house.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
Mr. Matthison remained sprawled across the floor, gasping for breath.
Alive.
But barely.
Kael stared at his trembling hands.
Then he ran.
Mrs. Matthison screamed his name.
He didn't stop.
The front door slammed behind him.
Cold air struck his face.
His legs carried him forward.
Past houses.
Past streets.
Past everything he had ever known.
He ran until the town disappeared behind him.
He ran until the road became dirt.
Until the dirt became forest.
Until darkness swallowed him whole.
Only then did he stop.
Only then did he allow himself to breathe.
The forest stood silent around him.
Watching.
Waiting.
And for the first time in his life, Kael truly had nowhere to go.
The forest didn't welcome him.
It swallowed him.
The dream stayed with Lior long after he opened his eyes.
Not the images.
The feeling.
A cold emptiness settled in his chest as he sat upright in bed.
The room was quiet.
Morning sunlight spilled through the curtains.
Everything looked normal.
Yet something felt wrong.
He rubbed his temples.
For weeks now, strange things had been happening.
The silver mark.
The dreams.
The whispers he sometimes heard when no one was around.
And now this.
A nameless sense of loss.
As though someone, somewhere, was hurting.
Lior shook his head.
He was imagining things.
He had to be.
A knock sounded on his bedroom door.
"Lior?" Miriam called. "You'll be late for school."
"Coming."
He got dressed quickly and headed downstairs.
The smell of toast and coffee filled the kitchen.
Normally it would have made him smile.
Today it didn't.
Miriam noticed immediately.
"You look exhausted."
"Didn't sleep much."
"Bad dream?"
Lior hesitated.
Then nodded.
Miriam placed a plate in front of him.
"You've been having a lot of those lately."
The concern in her voice was obvious.
Lior forced a smile.
"I'll be okay."
But neither of them truly believed it.
---
Deep within the forest, Kael sat motionless beneath the twisted tree.
The mouse remained frozen where he had left it.
Alive.
Breathing.
Yet trapped inside its own mind.
Kael stared at it.
Once, seeing something helpless would have bothered him.
Now he felt nothing.
The realization should have frightened him.
Instead, it made him feel stronger.
He released the creature with a thought.
The mouse immediately darted away into the undergrowth.
Gone within seconds.
Kael leaned back against the tree.
The forest had changed him.
Or perhaps it had simply revealed who he really was.
The boy who once dreamed of being rescued felt distant now.
Like someone he had known long ago.
Someone weak.
Someone foolish.
A sudden noise drew his attention.
Footsteps.
Human.
Kael's eyes narrowed.
Very few people came this far into the woods.
Slowly, he stood.
The footsteps continued.
Careful.
Cautious.
Approaching his territory.
Kael closed his eyes.
Immediately he felt the stranger's mind.
A hunter.
Middle-aged.
Nervous.
Lost.
Kael almost laughed.
The man had wandered farther than he intended.
Far enough to find things he should never have found.
Kael stepped between the trees.
The hunter froze.
His eyes widened.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Kael smiled.
Not kindly.
The hunter turned and ran.
Branches snapped beneath his boots.
Panic flooded his thoughts.
Kael felt every second of it.
Every heartbeat.
Every desperate prayer.
With a small effort, Kael reached into the man's mind.
The forest shifted around him.
Paths disappeared.
Trees seemed to move.
The hunter stumbled.
Turned.
Ran in circles.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Hours later, he would emerge from the woods terrified and confused, unable to explain what had happened.
Kael watched him go.
Then returned to his tree.
Alone once more.
Exactly as he preferred.
Yet as he settled against the bark, a strange sensation passed through him.
Brief.
Fleeting.
A warmth that didn't belong there.
A memory that wasn't his.
A kitchen.
A woman's voice.
A feeling of safety.
It vanished instantly.
Kael frowned.
For a moment, his anger faded.
The feeling didn't leave.
Kael remained seated against the trunk of the tree, staring into the darkness long after the vision had disappeared.
A woman.
A kitchen.
Warm laughter.
For only a few seconds, he had felt it.
Felt her.
The memory had not belonged to him.
He knew that much.
Yet it had felt real.
More real than any dream.
Kael closed his eyes and tried to focus.
Immediately, another image flashed through his mind.
A small wooden table.
A plate of breakfast.
Sunlight pouring through a window.
The same woman smiling.
Kind eyes.
Gentle eyes.
Eyes that looked at someone with love.
The image vanished.
Kael's jaw tightened.
Love.
The word felt foreign.
Unfamiliar.
Painful.
His hands clenched into fists.
Who was she?
And why had he seen her?
The questions burned inside him.
But another feeling burned even stronger.
Jealousy.
Raw.
Ugly.
Powerful.
Because whoever that memory belonged to had something Kael never had.
Someone who cared.
Someone who smiled when they looked at him.
Someone who wanted him.
A bitter laugh escaped his lips.
"Must be nice."
The forest remained silent.
For several moments he sat there, staring at the ground.
Then another image appeared.
A boy.
Only for an instant.
Dark hair.
Bright eyes.
A face he had never seen before.
The vision disappeared before he could get a proper look.
Kael frowned.
His heart raced.
The boy felt familiar.
Not because he recognized him.
Because something about him felt connected.
The sensation irritated him.
He immediately pushed it away.
It didn't matter.
None of it mattered.
The woman.
The boy.
The warm house.
None of it belonged to him.
His reality was different.
His reality was cold basements.
Broken plates.
Bruises.
Years of being told he was worthless.
Anger twisted inside him.
The shadows around the tree shifted.
Slowly.
Responding to his emotions.
A branch overhead cracked.
Several birds burst from the trees in alarm.
Kael barely noticed.
His thoughts remained fixed on the vision.
If that life was real, then somewhere in the world there was a person who had received everything Kael had been denied.
Love.
Safety.
A family.
The unfairness of it made his stomach turn.
"What makes them so special?
He muttered, ".
His voice sounded hollow.
The shadows stirred again.
A cold wind swept through the clearing.
For a brief moment, Kael felt that strange connection once more.
A distant heartbeat.
A distant presence.
Then it vanished.
Leaving him alone again.
The loneliness hit harder this time.
Because now he had seen what he was missing.
Now he knew what life could have been.
And somehow that hurt more than all the beatings combined.
Kael lowered his head.
Hatred settled heavily inside his chest.
Not just toward the Matthisons.
Not just toward the people who had abandoned him.
Toward the entire world.
A world that had given one person love and another person nothing.
A world that expected him to accept it.
His eyes opened slowly.
The last traces of sadness disappeared.
Buried beneath something darker.
Something colder.
"If nobody cared about me," he whispered into the silence, "then why should I care about anyone else?"
The forest offered no answer.
Only shadows.
And for the first time, Kael welcomed them.
- Writer
