By A.L.M from the site http://silentsorrows.wordpress.com/

Rain was falling off the building of the abandoned church that used to belong to a minister that died a few years back, and since then they never used it. Nothing seemed to be used nowadays...

The old bell on top of the church rang. It was now midnight. But nobody cared, they were all used to it. No one seemed to get a lot of rest nowadays...

The woman stirred in bed. She was having a tiring night, as usual. But this time, she was worried. Not worried about her job, teaching the 6th graders at Clarkson Middle School. Not worried about her family, all probably asleep (or probably not). She was worried about her secret. The one she kept from everyone she knew and didn't know. The Secret...

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The streets in the town the old woman and her family lived in were always dark and eerie. No Sound. No Movement. Just plain Silence.

The woman hated it, and she knew her family of 5 children (1 in college half across the country) hated it as well. She wanted to leave so bad. But where would she go? All her side of the family have died, except for her aunt. She went missing a couple months ago and only found her purse around a tree limb. The woman and her family were stuck there. Unless...

There was always her divorced husband's mom. She had always been nice to her, even when she divorced her only son. The children's grandmother wasn't too far away either, and had a house that made the woman and her family's town look like hell. She guessed that they all needed a vacation, and decided take her remaining family down south.

----------

Everything was packed (which wasn't much) in the old taxi driving them to their Grandmother's house. They passed grey and dull buildings, beggars, and the occasional lost cat. The city of Tormenta wasn't much of a thrill ride, except for trying to survive. Thieves and crooks were everywhere. It wasn't safe. But they had all managed to survive.

"Gotta dollar?" a young man smoking a cigarette said on the side of the road. "Howwa bout some coins? Ah, fuck you..."

"Just ignore him, Sweetie." the woman told her daughter.

"When are we gonna get there?" one of the woman's seventeen year old daughters asked.

"Soon, dear. Real soon..."

That was a lie, though. It would take many stops and vehicles to reach where they were going. Going in one vehicle was dangerous here. They would follow you, get out when you stopped, and the rest, is what they say, history...

 

It took exactly 3 taxis, 1 train, and a really dirty pickup truck to get them where they were now, which was barely half way towards their destination. The teenage boy in the back looked outside their 4th taxi to see darkness. Not just any darkness. The kind that gets in your skin and makes you want to not go to sleep at night. The kind that keeps you up at night, because you know someone is watching you. The kind that gets inside your brain, and then decides to take over.

Behind the darkness were a lot of trees, probably the reason why it was dark. The had no leaves what so ever, and it wasn't even close to becoming fall. But the wind didn't care. It brushed the side of the taxi every now and then, each time becoming stronger.

The woman was sitting next to the right window, with the sleeping 5 year old in her lap, the girls in the middle, and the boy on the left. The driver hadn't said much during the trip. Now, it was just the wind and Silence.

The Taxi stopped.

The driver got out and opened the trunk and started unloading the back. The woman noticed, and slipped the little girl in her seat.

"Why are we stopping?", the woman asked the driver.

"About a half a mile up ahead is a town that I don't dare ta drive past."

"Are you saying that you're just going to drop us off here, in the middle of nowhere?"

"That's right, Missy. Don't worry, don't have ta tip me or anything."

The woman sighed. She supposed it was better then being back in Tormenta. She grabbed her bags, and told the kids what was going on.

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"We have only one room left with 3 beds. Enjoy it while you can."

The man said it with an American accent. He had tried to say it with enthusiasm, but it didn't show. The name tag on his jacket said "Maurice", but it looked old, just like the man who wore it.

"Thanks...", the woman said. She wasn't too thrilled to be dropped off at an abandoned town, but she suppose that it was better then Tormenta.

The woman and her children climbed one flight of stairs before they reached the first floor. It was actually hard to believe that the hotel was full of rooms with 3 beds in them, unless they were full of this that weren't people.

She shuddered at the thought.

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Midnight.

The boy had awoken, used to waking up at this hour. It was part of his nature. Go to sleep, wake up at midnight, try to go to sleep again.

He was getting thirsty, and didn't know where to find something to drink. He decided to go downstairs and see if Maurice was at his desk this late at night.

He quietly walked down the stairs, imagining what life could have been like for him if he ever knew his father. He lived with his father for about 4 years until his parents divorced. He hadn't seen him since. He barely remembered him. Now, the only thing that really mattered to him was to find a permanent home, for himself and his family.

He walked down, and looked at the desk to only find scattered papers and a telephone answering machine, but no Maurice. There was a red light blinking on the receiver. Instinctively, he pressed the red button...

The voice he heard was talking very rapidly and didn't stop for a breath. It had no trace of an accent, except for what the boy guessed was a little bit of French.

"Listen Maurice, the man is coming tonight and I don't have the time to give him the stuff. I'm on the other side of town, but I think he is close. I don't have much time to explain but the family that came in the hotel earlier is not safe. He might think that-" There was a pause and heavy breathing. "...He might think that- Maurice! Get them out of-"

The message stopped there.

Before he had any time to think, the boy heard two words behind him, each one as deadly as the voice saying them.

"Don't Move."

 

At this time of the day, the birds would being humming a graceful tune waking you up towards the fresh morning air.

The birds in this city couldn't, because they were dead.

The boy had awoken sweating. Was it a dream? It seemed so real.

In most of his dreams, they would always end with a man saying "Dont Move.", but he didn't know why. If it was from an old memory, where did it fit into place with his life?

It didn't matter. All he needed to do now was to see if it was just a dream, or not.

He left his room and walked down the stairs, trying not to make them creak to much. Creaking is man's worst enemy. It can alert your enemies, can give you a heart attack, and is annoying to most people. It is considered a sign that the place you stepped on was old, but it also means the place you stepped on was a trap and that they're watching. They're always watching.

He never got to the desk. He never got to the fat man who called himself Maurice. He never got to the phone. No, it was because he died or had a sudden stroke. It was because the desk, phone, and fat man were... Gone...

He knew something was wrong. What did his dream tell him? "...the family that came in the hotel earlier is not safe"

He ran upstairs, heart pounding. He had to warn his family, that was first. Then they had to get on the next train out of here. When was that? He cursed under his breath in frustration.

When he opened his room, he was shocked in what he saw. There was no furniture, no signs of living, no signs of his family. All there was was a chair with a nail through it, and pinned though the nail was a letter.

"Dearest Son,..."

"You mean the world to me and our family, and I know the last few years has been rough on you all. Here is the truth..."

"Your father and I never divorced. We... never got the chance. He was murdered by a man whose name he did not mention. We didn't think you and your siblings would be ready for the truth, but I think it's time you knew."

"There isn't much time, I hear footsteps in the distance. At 3:00 today there will be a train lea-"

That was all that was left of the letter. Everything became real Silent...

 

"Hush, leettle baby, don't say a word.

Mummy's gonna buy you a mockingbird..."

Where were the words coming from? Some where in the old city that has caused him so much frustration? Ugh, he hated this place. He was supposed to be miles away at his Grandmother's house down South.

Ok, so first he needed to find out where that noise was coming from. It was his only way to find someone who could help him. He really needed the help.

He ran down the stairs and out the hotel door. It was maybe 10:00 A.M. and the skies were as cloudy and mysterious as ever. Matched the town...

"... And if that looking glass gets broke..."

He was getting closer, that's all that mattered... The song was getting louder, as he approached an old bar. A bird cawed in the distance. This wasn't a vacation, this was madness...

He kicked open the bar door, to find a woman (about the age of 31) holding his little sister, fast asleep, in her arms.

"Ahhhh... Ees she yours?" The woman said, looking more like a gypsy then a bartender.

"Yeah, she's my sister..."

"Den I be guessing you want her back..."

She put the girl in his arms, went to a table, and sat down.

"You have a touch of destiny in you, I can feel it," She whispered. "You, your sister, and whatever family is remaining with you- Oh yes, I know about them- is not safe..."

She got up from her seat and gave the teenager two pieces of paper.

"You don't belong here. We both know that very well. Dees here eesa dark place. Deh spirits dwell over, frighten the young, scare away the old." She looked at the papers. "Dee last train for dees month comes tonight at Six O'clock. Be ready. Find a place for you and your sister to hide. When the time is right, the spirits will find you..."

 

Rain. The Mastermind of all things... wet. It comes when you do and don't expect it. It falls down, in either small showers, or like the world is coming to an ending, just like this story is about to...

Rain fell upon the rooftops of the grey and dull buildings in the seemingly regular town. But this town was the opposite. There was never a sun, nor ever light. Always clouds. The brightest the area ever got was once a year when the sky was only partially gray. The rest of the time, it was as black as that thing behind you...

Made you look...

- - - - - - - - - -

Rain fell upon the boy as he ran with his sister. Hours had passed since he saw the gypsy bartender, but he knew he wouldn't see her again. They always disappeared and never returned.

"Safe place to hide, safe place to think," The boy told himself. What was the time? He looked at the clock dangling over the sad and sorry town below it. 5:33 P.M.

Time was running out...

His little sister hadn't said a word as they were walking up and down the city, looking for the train station. It was like a giant maze, only to find that your destination was a dead end.

5:46...

Puffs of smoke were rising behind an old building that looked like that place where they make old-fashioned clothes. He looked behind it and there it was, his one way ticket to freedom...

"Dat's it?" The bald man in a conductor suit said, looking from the boy to his little sister.

He thought about this for a minute. What happened to his family? He had been so busy that he had forgotten. He heard a moaning in the distance...

"Yeah," He replied. "I'll be right back, put my little sister in the next available seat."

The bald man looked from his sister to him and said "Alright, but ya best hurry up now, we's about ta leave."

The boy left his sister with the bald man, who helped her in, and ran down to where he heard the moaning. He stopped at an alleyway in between the old fashion clothing store and another building he did not recognize.

And in the middle of all of it was his mother, lieing there, half dead.

She looked up to him from the ground, and then looked at the knife and seeping blood flowing through her clothes and started to cry...

"I'm so sorry..." She wept. "I didn't want to, but I thought I had lost you and your sisters. I couldn't live with myself..."

"Mom, please..."

"Take care of them, whatever is left, help them... Please, for me. I'm sorry that I just never told you earlier about th-"

All the life the woman had slipped past her, and the boy watched her slump to the ground...

A crow got out of its nesting spot and landed a few feet from the boy's mom. There was nothing he could do... but he needed his family with him, badly...

... The train...

He ran out of the alleyway and into the streets, stepping over old cans and trash swept up by the wind.

When he stopped at the train station, he froze...

The train had left without him...

6:02 P.M.

He fell on the ground, frustrated at himself, and realized what had happened. The old town that had caused him so much pain had won the final battle. The boy wept Silent Sorrows...

 

It was 3:30 PM at the city of Ligsunburg. The sun was at its highest peek. The weather was nice, the birds were signing, and everything seemed right.

Miss Nancy Henderson was just walking out side of the school she worked out, watching the kids running out of the building towards their parents, being the last day of school. Being counselor, she was often approached with problems of the children, but what she was about to face was not what she had in her job description.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a little girl, who just turned 7 the day before, swinging slow and lonely on a swing-set, watching the ground beneath her.

Puzzled and curious, Nancy approached the girl, asking what she was doing, to which, the girl replied "Swinging on a swing-set."

Laughing, Nancy asked the girl where her mother was.

"Well, I don't know," she replied. "My brother, he left me on a train a couple of hours ago... I think... and then I came here. My family is somewhere else. Do you think they forgot about me?"

"Where was the last place you saw your family?"

"I don't know the name of it. It was dark and scary, with shadows everywhere. There was never any sun, and it always looked like the night."

The woman stood up, shocked. She had heard the description of the eerie town before, but in an old story book when she was little. The legend of Corazón del Fuego had been around these parts for years, but no one had actually reported seeing it.

"Don't worry, we're going to take you to a safe place."

Nancy knew she was lieing, and didn't like it one bit. She thought the little girl wasn't thinking straight, and took the girl up the road a bit. The Orphanage was just a little while away, but first, she needed to stop at the police station. If the parents weren't found in 24 hours, the Orphanage would be the girl's new home.

Nancy stopped in her tracks.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Amanda." The girl responded.

Feeling sad for the little girl, Amanda, she walked up the road, not knowing anything about what Amanda went through, or the Silent Sorrows that she was facing...

 

 

• Silent Sorrows I
• Silent Sorrows II: The Investigation
• Silent Sorrows III: Tristeza's Revenge

 

Disclaimer: This story is not property of Will's Tech. It is by A.L.M. from http://www.silentsorrows.wordpress.com/. Please leave any comments that you may have on this story here. Any sent in via my contact page will NOT be relayed to this site.