I Needed the House to Go Quiet Like I Needed Air

Dear Delyara, By a certain point tonight, every sound entered me too hard. Doors, questions, laughter, television, running water, footsteps, one spoon dropped in the sink — everything felt like it was landing directly on a nervous system that had run out of skin. I kept waiting for bedtime with this almost desperate hope for quiet. Not because I dislike my family. Because my body had reached that point where silence stops being preference and becomes oxygen. When the house finally settled, I felt relief so strong it almost made me angry.