Silence. I hate this word. Silence. Makes you invisible. Silence. Illuminates you from the precious present. Silence swallows your voice and makes you vulnerable. Silence is always there for those who live in fear. Once you are caught by silence, you are a victim.  The victim of your own choice of being silent.

Strangers came to our house as if it was a slaughterhouse. They brought the death of humanity with them. I knew that the end was inevitable, but one can never be ready for it. And then I understood that I was not afraid to die and to join the most of my family and friends. I couldn't accept one thing – the loss of my husband. It meant the end of the world. Apocalypse of my being. As soon as this thought broke into my mind choking their voices, I saw my beloved and heard one word: “silence“. He showed me with gestures that I had to hide in the cellar and then he just pushed me there because I could not move. I was devoured with fear. Everything happened in several moments. I was silent. They left. He was silent as well.

I hate silence.

Ekaterina Zarhyvilova