Before they tried to control her, Elena Voss believed silence was empty.
Now she understood—
Silence was pressure.
A force.
A weapon.
---
It pressed in from every side.
Thick.
Absolute.
Unforgiving.
---
No sound.
No light.
No sense of time.
---
Just the steady rhythm of her own breathing.
And even that felt… monitored.
---
Elena didn’t move at first.
She stood in the darkness, eyes open, seeing nothing.
Feeling everything.
---
The pain had faded.
The fear hadn’t.
But it had changed shape.
---
Sharper.
Controlled.
---
“Isolation protocol,” she murmured softly.
---
Not a punishment.
A method.
---
They wanted her to break.
To panic.
To beg.
---
She didn’t.
---
Instead—
She listened.
---
Beneath the silence… there it was.
Faint.
Almost nonexistent.
