Cry of Silence

Silence.

That was all there ever was for him, the silence was sickeningly loud at times. It would pierce through his ears like a blade, digging further into his mind, picking away at what little sanity he had remaining. The only sounds that Ghastly Spells would ever hear on the rare occassion that there was, would be the faint creaking of the wooden boards in the house, echoing throughout the building as it settled for the millionth time that night. Or perhaps he could catch the occassional rattle of wind outside rustling against the trees, maybe even the slightest indication of his breathing, whenever it were that he would remember to breathe at all, the silence was so suffocating that he'd often forget to make sound himself.

Creak.

Ghastly Spell's hoof pressed down lightly against one of the rickety floorboards, the noise was sudden and partially bothersome, but an odd comfort at the same time. With a swift motion, he lifted himself off of the floor where he sat dormant for a while, the sudden change in position was disorientating, but only for a short time. Once he collected himself, he began to slowly trot towards the window, adjacent to where he sat before. It was around midnight now, with Luna's ever bright moon high in the sky, shrouded by darkened clouds, nearly invisible in the dark sky. The moon had always been a comfort for Ghastly, to see anything sheild it's soft light was more than unsettling, especially on nights like this.

Tap.

He froze, there was a sudden tapping somewhere in the house, or was it outside? He hadn't quite deciphered it's origins, nor did he have the time to, the tapping was sudden as it was short, and all the more frightening that way. His mind raced, the slightest of tapping would usually be nothing more than just a random noise, it could have came from anything and anywhere, but to most it would not matter, because as quick as it came, it left, and there was no use thinking about it any further. But still, his mind pondered the reasoning behind that tap as if his life depended on it, was it from inside? Surely not, it could have been yet another tree branch against the window, right? Just as always, a light tap, nothing more than the wind picking up outside.

But was it just a tap..?

Fear consumed his every thought, his eyes darted around the window, examining every crevice and corner, focusing in on every detail of the frame, the pane, the texture of the glass, the wooden planks barricading parts of the window, the draped black-out curtains slightly ajar, every signifcance. But he saw nothing, as it were before, and as it was now, the window was normal. It was what he couldn't find that bothered him, for outside the window, he could faintly make out the night sky, Luna's moon blanketed by darkened clouds, and in the distance, large trees stretching across the farthest aspects of his vision. That was all he could see, what he couldn't see, was a tree or branch, or anything close enough to the window to produce a tapping noise, he could hear it on all the other windows in the house, as trees were closer to them, but the one in his room did not normally produce such a sound, so why now could he hear a faint tap? Furthermore, how is it he heard a tapping noise all the other times? Was the rapping against his window something else this entire time? How had it so easily slipped his mind that there wasn't a tree near that window?

Tap, tap.

Suddenly, as if in sync with his racing thoughts, he heard it again. The same tapping, this time twice, caught in the panic of the moment, he still couldn't quite tell where it was coming from, his eyes were still glued to the window, glazed over as he stood there, frozen in place, his hooves ached with each moment that passed. After each tap that invaded his ears with noise, the silence that followed seemed to get louder, and all the more suffocating, Ghastly could feel every muscle in his body tense and strain in anticipation for the next tap, they were too unpredictable, never in a rythm or pattern of any kind that he could track, and that only added to the stress of it all.

Drowning in his constant thoughts and growing worry, the silence weighing heavy in the room, he decided he had to get out of there, if not to escape the mysterious tapping, then to escape his own mind, even if for a short while.

He craned his neck towards the door of his bedroom, so close, yet so far out of his reach for a long time, it had been ages since he had went outside, or has it? Has it been days? Perhaps only a few hours? This, he simply was not sure, but it wouldn't help to dwell in the thought, as he had been many times before. Ghastly shook his head roughly, shaking him away from his aching mind, he began a slow trot to the door, the floorboards creaked and groaned under him, his heart skipping a beat with every unwanted sound he produced, although it was a slight comfort in way, whenever they made a noise, Ghastly could be sure that he was the cause, he knew of it as fact, and that was reassuring. Ghastly stopped just in front of the door, his eyes darted down to the door knob, caked with a thin layer of dust from how long it had been untouched, much like everything else in the house. He raised a hoof towards the knob, but paused, unsure of what to do. Should he open it? Should he stay? He turned his head to look back at the room he was in, there was very little in that room, but much like his mind, it was somehow cramped despite being so empty, it had been abandoned for quite some time, even despite being lived in.

With a heavy sigh he turned back towards the door, the silence was thick, broken with the occassional sound he, or something else would make. His hoof was inches away from the door knob, it would be easy to simply open the door and step outside, perhaps things were different out there, perhaps the silence wasn't so heavy as it was in the room... Or perhaps it was just as bad as it is in here, what if he never escaped it?

Tap.

Something echoed from behind him, immedietly snapping him out of his thoughts, he froze just as he had before, he dared not move, he dared not turn around, that time, he knew where it came from, it was coming directly behind him in the room, surely it was, but it wasn't a tap to him, it wasn't just nothing, he knew that.

And that was what frightened him the most.

He kept his eyes on the knob, frozen in fear, he halted his breathing for the moment that passed, it felt like ages that he stood there, waiting, but waiting for what exactly? For the tapping to return? For whatever or whoever was making that noise to reveal itself? No, no, he wouldn't wait for that to happen, he needed to get out, he needed to escape.

Ghastly Spell feverishly placed his hoof against the door knob, it felt ice cold, but that didn't matter now. He slowly began to twist the knob, his eagerness growing with every passing moment, he anticipated the tapping to come back any minute now, to sound closer than before, until it was right behind him...

But that didn't happen.

He pushed the door open with a gentle nudge of his hoof, the door ominously creaked open, revealing the dark and empty hallway before him...