The first thing that hit me was the silence. Immediately after the rumble of the car engine evaporated with a unceremonious squeal, all the familiar discord of civilized and natural life seemed to just… disappear. During the first ten seconds I sat upright and stiff, pressing my back on the archaic scruff of the leather seat upon which I had been for the last four hours. I was in the most unusual state of shock as I attempted to locate any sort clue that would somehow lead me to wherever sound had been taken. For in those mystifying ten seconds I was so utterly befuddled that the only logical conclusion I came up with was that someone had stolen sound. It was only after those long and painful seconds that I suddenly and very thoroughly shook the ridiculous thought out of my head and came to realize that whoever or whatever had stolen sound had made a terrible mistake: the thief had left some of it behind!
Yes. Faint and yet clear as the cloudless blue skies above me, distant drumming battled the eery silence. Thud Thud. Thud Thud. Thud Thud. It seemed to me that the thief had reduced the world, the cosmos, all of existence to nothing but the beat of an invisible heart, someplace far beyond the reach of my meagre eyes. There was a certain appeal to the sound, a relaxing tone. Perhaps my muscles would have loosened or a quaint smile would have joined the curves and lines of my visage if I had not run out of gas in the middle of nowhere in a foreign country over ninety miles from the nearest upright building and God knows how far away from a living creature that speaks a word of english… or a word for that matter.
Carefully, as I hadn’t a clue how thorough the sound burglar had been, I tested whether I myself could produce noise: “Aaa… Aaaaaaa. Ehm ehm. Aaaaa. Brilliant.” Clearly, the crime had taken place before I arrived. But the question is how long before?
Releasing my seatbelt and wrenching open the old car door with as much noise as I could make so as to make sure it still exists I made my first steps onto the inaudible world beyond. I closed the door behind me more fiercely than usual. The dented piece of rusty blue metal crumpled into place and echoed like a gunshot in all directions. Startled but dismayed by the eventual decline of the sound, I sighed. Slowly, I turned my attention to the soundless landscape and the most mundane view I had ever seen.
As my languid eyes explored the vast area that stretched out in all directions, I wondered once again if I was dreaming. Three forceful slaps and a cringeful pinch later, I set aside my swirling thoughts and focused on what lay ahead. The hard ground, dry and featureless, stared back at me. There were no trees. Neither were there hills, animals, clouds, or even a distant haze, for it was not hot, but neither was it cold. There was a breeze, smooth but not cool. It lifted the curls of my hair just enough for them to fall back downwards. Above me the sun gleamed cold. There were only rocks and bushes, along with the occasional tuft of grass. I shivered. As I said, I wasn’t cold. Something about this place was not right… not right at all.
Behind it all, hidden straight ahead of me, just out of sight, just loud enough to reach my idle ears, the thud thud, thud thud, thud thud continued without pause or fluctuation, no longer a sweet thump but a chilling hammering.
It’s strange how such a simple sound can change you. So little time ago it evoked a sort of ease and relaxation. Now I felt tense, as if someone was watching me. Far and yet nearer than any other thing in my view, it wrapped a firm grip around me and pulled. I left the road and began to walk towards it. Deep within me I felt a growing presence of fear. Somehow I knew it was dangerous. I could feel it. It was as if it was alive, like a beast it drew me in; its oblivious prey. I had to stay away from it but I could not deter from the pull. Whether it was because it was the only path I saw out of this mess, or some other stranger reason, I pressed onwards.
The walk through the arid emptiness was as long as it was noisy. Just as my steps did not chatter on the grass or did not tap on the dry ground, my journey on foot did not last more than a few minutes.
Out of the corner of my eye, a shape appeared on the flat horizon, then another, then another. It was a pair of horses. Tall and graceful, their coats glistened white like freshly fallen snow. Leisurely, they made their way towards me across the plain. Rocking on the back of one of them was perhaps the most peculiar little boy I had ever set eyes upon.
To be continued…
