I can’t hear anything
Flash Fiction Friday: 5 September 2025
I can’t hear anything
You know those moments when time seems to stop? Where are you suspended— trapped—yet the world continues to move around you? Oblivious to you, to your stillness, your immobility to interact. A stasis not of calm but of inactivity. A prisoner of… something. You get the idea. That’s me. Right now.
Darkness surrounds me. A blackness so complete I’m not sure if my eyes are open or closed. I blink and sense my lashes resisting the effort to spread apart. The depth of opaqueness does not alter or shift.
Lack of visual inputs doesn’t send my heart racing. Not yet. I’m distracted by another sensation. Spreading my fingers apart, a ripple of movement sends a viscous goo sliding over my skin. My body both floats and sinks. I want to reach out and explore through touch what I cannot see, but my arms and legs refuse to budge.
Unable to open my mouth, I pull the flow of oxygen in through my nose. These tactile details fade to the background as I strain to hear past the pulsing woosh of my blood in my muffled eardrums. But I can’t hear anything. The silence is deafening.
A light blinds me, and I want to recoil, but my body refuses to respond. Agony screams through my system, combusting before my vocal cords can respond. My pupils dilate to pinpricks, or maybe I’m losing consciousness. The blue-white flame recedes down until my tunnel vision extinguishes it completely. Darkness returns.
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FFF - Flash Fiction Friday
This post was written in response to a prompt for Flash Fiction Friday. Thank you, Scoot, for the prompt: “I can’t hear anything”
What’s next
Where is our protagonist? I have two thoughts on this matter, but I’d love to hear your ideas. Share where you think our new friend might be or why these sensations might be felt.
Should I explore more? Or move on?
Other Writing
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I thought for a while that perhaps the narrator is in the womb? Though not sure that works with the last ppg as is. Keep going!
Hmmmm.... I'm curious! You wouldn't want my opinion, because I'd guess extraterrestrials or giant insects, but that's just me. I'd vote for you going on with it, I'd be interested in seeing where you go with this.