The daughter of silence
short story
It all started when Echo was five. She kept having these nightmares where she would fall into a dark pit screaming, yet no one, not even her parents would hear her. It was terrifying. But the most horrible part was that when she'd wake up panting, her parents were nowhere to be found, just like in her dream. She'd always cry herself to sleep alone.
As Echo grew older, her life began to get harder and harder.
A few years later, when she went to school, she noticed that her friends kept ignoring her, just like her parents had back then.
Once, when her teacher wasn't able to look at her after long minutes of loud shouting, the girl got so angry that she left the class crying.
Echo ran home heartbroken. However when she entered the house, she found no one, just a little note taped to the fridge:
"Dear Echo,
if you're reading this, we probably haven't seen you in a while. That's why we're writing this letter.
We hope you're okay and we're sorry that we haven't told you about this before.
Since you were a baby, you were fading in front of our eyes. We've been to so many doctors, but no one knew how to cure you. So we decided to live with this special power of yours.
But soon it got worse and we knew that the time to say goodbye would eventually come.
We don't know if your power can be controlled. We'll need you to find this out.
But until then we want you to help others in need in the best way you can, using this amazing gift!
We're proud of you, even if we cannot see you. Take care until we talk next!
We love you,
Mom, Dad, and Sis"
About the Creator
The daughter of silence
It all started when Echo was five. She kept having these nightmares where she would just fall into a dark pit, screaming insanely loud, yet no one, not even her own parents would hear her. It was terrifying. But the most horrible part was that when she'd wake up panting, her parents were nowhere to be found, just like in her dream. She'd always cry herself to sleep alone and helpless.
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Comments (8)
This is an interesting take on the superpower narrative, one that doesn’t sound all that desirable…
An intriguing little story!
So I have just read the longer version and I liked it so much. 🙂
I remember as a child I had a recurring nightmare. I kept falling into a bottomless pit. At some point I never had a dream like that again. Maybe the fear that caused the dream has gone. But I am still visible. 🙂
Anna, this story was so expertly maneuvered which must have been hard to do given it had to be done in 300 words or less. You gave us, the readers, a slow drip of information, delivering only what you wanted us to know and only when you wanted us to know it. Finally, when the reveal came, it was so unexpected. Fantastic work.
Whoaaaa, now this is a winner right here!! This was soooo unique and creative. I feel sad for Echo but I hope helping people out would make her feel better. Loved your poem!
Loved your story, Anna! Not sure I would want true invisibility as a superpower, though. It seems super lonely.
Hi Reader! I hope you enjoyed my writing. This story was submitted to the Epic Beginnings Challenge with a total of 300 words. Originally I had an idea of a longer story, and I'm really sad, that I couldn't post that one as an entry. However I saved the original one too, and published it as an Exclusive Story, so if you're a paid subscriber, then go ahead and check out that one! If you're not a paid supporter of mine, but want to concider becoming one, I'll be happy to have you in the team! If you're not planning on pledging, then thank you so much for your attention, I loved to see you here, and appreciate your feedback on the story! :)