Silence Use to Scare Me
City life makes you find comfort sound unlike anything else. It fills the silence with suspense, fills your head with images only city slickers or storytellers could conjure up so fast. We lose comfort in the nothing, forget that quiet is a state of being that is warm and welcome. School got me accustomed to the stillness, but it took work. It took walking inch by inch, fighting panic attacks rising my throat and blinking away tears that felt irrational. It’s the fear of the unknown, influenced by all the wack stuff you do know. In the city, you have to be careful, aware. You learn how to sense people around you, hear them over the rushing of crowds to move out of their way. The echoes of the woods are very different from the banging hum-drum of city streets. My lack of familiarity filled every crack and shifting leaf with images of attackers and assaulters because while the woods might be safe, in the city you know You Never Know what could be around. So, wherever you go you stay aler...