Dead Silence
Chapter Title
デッド・サイレンス
(Deddo Sairensu – “Dead Silence”)
Chapter: Dead Silence (デッド・サイレンス)
Book 3 — The Light of Darkness
Morning came the way it always did in your house back then—quiet at first, then slowly waking up with routines, the smell of coffee, the shuffle of feet, the sound of life moving forward. You had no way of knowing that this day would carve itself into your soul forever.
You walked into the bedroom where Tommy and Cash were sleeping. They had been sharing the bed for weeks by then, father and son reunited after so many hard years. In your home, Tommy always had a place, no matter the past, no matter the pain. That was a fact.
But this morning was different.
This morning, Tommy didn’t move.
You called his name softly at first, thinking maybe he was just exhausted. But the silence in that room was too still. Too heavy. Too final. In your heart you already knew—but in your mind, you weren’t ready to accept what your eyes were seeing.
Cash woke up moments later, rubbing his eyes, still a child, still believing his dad was invincible. He looked at Tommy and asked, “Why isn’t Daddy waking up?”
You told him gently, “Daddy’s just really tired this morning, baby. Let’s give him a little time.”
You weren’t lying—you were protecting him. Protecting your son from a moment no child should ever have to see.
But Cash didn’t stop there.
He marched into the kitchen, grabbed pots and pans, and banged them together as loud as he could—his innocent way of trying to wake his father up, the only way he knew how. He believed noise could bring life back into the room.
When it didn’t, he looked at you again.
You could feel the truth crushing your chest. You had to think fast. You didn’t want your little boy in that house when the paramedics arrived. You didn’t want him there when the hearse pulled up. You wanted to shield him from the coldness of death for as long as possible.
So you packed his school things, kissed his forehead, and sent him off to school with the soft reassurance that everything was okay.
And for a few hours, he was safe from the truth.
But children know. Their hearts feel what their minds can’t yet understand.
When Cash stepped off the school bus that afternoon, his eyes searched for Tommy instantly.
“Did Daddy wake up? Did he ever wake up?”
You had to answer the question no mother should ever have to answer.
You had to say the words that would break your son’s heart for the first—and last—time.
“No, honey. Daddy didn’t wake up.”
That was the moment.
The moment Cash broke.
The moment his childhood cracked open and reality rushed in too fast, too hard.
You held him as he cried—the first real cry, the kind that comes from a place deeper than fear, deeper than confusion… the cry that comes from loss.
And in that moment, in your arms, the world was silent again.
Dead silence.
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Dead Silence
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