Silence

Minnie woke up to find herself in a ghost town. With the absence of any ghosts though, she wasn’t even sure she could call it that. She’d grown up in Burwich for enough of her life that it was all she remembered. Usually, her days were filled with the pleasant screaming of children in the school playground next door or the drama of the feuding neighbours down the road. But today there was silence. Minnie’s wish had been granted.

It wasn’t that she hated the kids or her neighbours, Minnie just wanted one day of silence. So last night, she made a wish to whatever god would listen.

She woke up late that morning. The birds didn’t chirp. Looking outside, she saw that the school yard was empty. Minnie smiled. If there was no sound, there was likely no people. That was alright, it was just for a day. She took a deep breath of satisfaction but something was off. She couldn’t hear it.

This wasn’t her intention when she made her wish. She didn’t even expect her wish to be granted. But it was. And the silence applied to her as well. Minnie told herself once more that this was fine. It would only last a day. She could put her time to good use and get a report ready for work.

The only issue was that she couldn’t hear herself when she wanted to think aloud. She thought it funny how quickly she forgot the sound of her own voice. Minnie worked for a few hours before deciding to reward herself with a quiet late afternoon lunch. She checked the time.

The clocks all stopped at midday.