Silence

Author: Seth

"The quiet lets me think. About everything."

For someone whose profession required an exorbitant amount of attention he enjoyed losing himself in his music far too much. Not that he really had a choice. He had precious few ways of keeping his sanity intact as it was, and he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Even so, he had to make due without that particular crutch every now and then. It wasn't so bad during the day; he could usually find some way of distracting himself. During the night though, now that was a different matter altogether.

Much as he wished he could sleep with the thing on, he had to take that damn arm off at night. Trying to sleep through the pain was a lost cause. Of course the moment it separated from his body it was about as much good to him as the hunk of metal from which it had been meticulously crafted. He'd find out how to store a charge in the thing someday if it killed him.

Sure he could play his harmonica, and he did once. The only problem was that he just… kept… playing… He never got to sleep that night. Judging by the black rings encircling Shadow's eyes the next morning, and the fact that she nodded off, falling face first into her porridge, neither had she. He didn't try it again.

Some nights he's so tired it doesn't matter, and for that he's grateful. Other nights though, other nights all he can do is lie in his bed and face the silence.