The Sweet Sound of Silence

The world was moving. Or maybe it wasn't. She couldn't really tell, but the white doe felt her body shift as the ground seemed to bump and shake. She didn't really understand it at first, why things didn't feel right.

The howling of wind, along with a constant 'clunk clunk' sound echoed in her ears. She opened her eyes from all the movement and commotion, and at once sat up.

Her eyes adjusted to the dim setting. She was in some kind of strange metal box, and it was moving wildly, making terrible noises. Was she in the belly of some creature...or...?

"Oh Twin Gods, where is this?", Exile cried out. There wasn't a soul around her. She stood, trying to keep her balance on the constantly moving floor, and making it to one of the little windows on the side of the box, she could see clearer what she was in.

A great metal serpent followed tracks on the ground. She had heard tales of these things, but had never seen one in person.

She was inside a train.

Exile at once began to shiver. She hated being alone, and worse, the moving box was making her sick. If that wasn't enough, the loud sounds of the train ringed in her head. She could barely hear herself think.

The sky looked like it had been early morning. There was a slight smell of water in the air, like the morning dew was just beginning to evaporate from the strands of grass on either side of the rails. She saw that the surrounding field seemed to go on for miles. She began to wonder where she was, and how far away she was from the Endless Forest.

With each passing second, Exile felt her hope of ever returning home diminish.

A loud bang hit the side of the metal box she was in. The sound made her ears go out for a second, and her mind went from helplessness to rage. The doe cried out, running at one of the sides of her cell and hitting it with a loud crash. The sound of bone hitting metal was deafening and would have been heard for at least a mile around.

She rammed into the side again, denting it a little more. Her head ached from the attack on the metal serpent, and with a third attack, she broke a small hole in the side of the cell.

Her head began to bleed, and feeling dizzy, she stumbled back and collapsed on the barren floor. Gasping for air, the doe closed her eyes, and began to dream about the Endless Forest.

The playful little fawns and their questions.
The beautiful landmarks of the Forest.
Her friends, and the company of the other deer.
The silence and peaceful nature of the land.

I can't give up! I can't!, she thought, and standing, she attacked the wall again. The scratch on her head became deeply cut with each attack on the metal, but she was completely determined to escape this nightmare. One attack after another, the hole became larger and larger.

Until...

Her head hit the hole so hard that it twisted and bent so much that she flew right out of the side of the train.

The doe hit the earth hard, her landing only being broken by a little of the grass. She was in pain, but she was free.

And as the train roared away, she heard the most beautiful music.

Silence...

She closed her eyes, and no longer worrying, waited for her pain to go away. She no longer considered trying to walk back on the tracks to find her way home. Her body wouldn't carry her.

She just wanted to rest...and listen to the silence...

Opening her eyes, the pain was completely gone, though the grasses were much taller and seemed to glow a beautiful golden hue. She sat up, hearing the sounds of other deer nearby.

"Exile?", Noelle asked the newly appearing doe. The others looked to see the white creature emerge from the grass, her face looking just as confused as theirs were when they first arrived to this new plain.

The end of this chapter...