Silence

NaNoWriMo daily prompt for October 19th was "silence"...

There are storm clouds gathering over the city.  No snow yet, it’s too early yet, but definitely thick ominous clouds.  Sweatshirts have emerged, hands shoved deep into pockets and backs hunched over from the weight of dread.  The streets are dry, which makes the cold and clouds feel even more powerful, as though rain would somehow sooth away the destructive force of the approaching winter.

The city hangs suspended in a web of silence, waiting.  Each breath drawn brings the ice into your lungs, the scrap of a razor down your throat, but it is better now than it will be later.  You can see it in the eyes of your neighbors as you pass them on the streets, the acknowledgement that it’s coming, it’s only a few more weeks away.  Suddenly men who walk with their shoulders straight and their heads proud are pausing at doors, worrying the arms of their jackets as they look apprehensively outside.  You can smell the fear on those who are older, as the sudden realization that winter is near and what once meant mere inconvenience can suddenly mean never seeing another spring.  No one knows what to say, what magic words once whispered by witch doctors can keep the cold at bay.

A few break the silence, chuckle merrily about the weather when they are delaying at the door.  These are the ones most frightened by the approach, seeking out the comfort and warmth of another’s reassurance.  They’re the ones who feel it in their bones already, in the ache of their joints and the pressure of the hat around their ears.  They are grasping for those magic words, seeking fruitlessly for someone to say “it’s only today, it’ll be warm tomorrow, winter will not come”.  But winter comes, it always does, and they know their helpless grasping is futile.

So silence prevails.  The city surrenders to sweatshirts, then sweaters, then coats, then boots, then gloves…each little defeat is a victory for the coming season.  We dawn our armor, reinforce our homes and try to fill our bodies with the warm of each other, but the cold prevails.  There’s nothing to be said.  Winter comes.