Prison of Silence

Story about two young men at a diner, knowing that inside one of them is dying, but not knowing how to talk about it.

The two sit across from each other, staring into a sunrise that casts pink waves over the clouds, and orange fantasies onto the sidewalk outside the diner window.  They take sips of their coffee, one drinking strong and black; the other delighting in a lightly flavored cappuccino.  They look at each other, briefly, the before and after blinks lasting longer than their eye contact. 

 

Finally, a cigarette is lit, smoke rolling into the air as one slides the pack over to the other.  He declines with an upheld hand and a quick shake of his head.  The first withdraws his offer, motioning for more coffee from the waitress.  His smoke rises upwards, as if attempting to escape something more poisonous than itself that surrounded these two. 

 

The fresh coffee is poured, its blackness reflecting faces and stares and silence.  It seems the air between the two has spread throughout the entire diner, and the molecules of tension now locked the jaws of everyone whom fate had placed there that morning. 

 

The smoker snuffs out his cigarette, but not before using it to light another.  The other glances across, raising an eyebrow, and then turns back to stare out the window; oranges, pinks, and purples becoming the blue-turned-grey that the city seemed to love to produce.  He looks back as the last drag is taken off his companion's cigarette, breaking the silence with, “You gonna’ get over her, brother?” 

 

“No.” the response comes, low and grumbled over a week old beard, carrying the stench of smoke and coffee.  The coffee burns his tongue before he lights up another cigarette, condemning two more young men to a prison of silence—where one will die and the other grow insane.

Reviews

[Lydia]

beautiful.
truly.