Six Years of Silence
The silence hung heavy after Talia’s last words. Sophie’s hands trembled on the table, her eyes rimmed with tears. She tried to blink them away, but they fell anyway, warm tracks running down her cheeks.
Talia looked away, bracing herself, but Sophie pulled her chair closer to her . She sat beside Talia and, without hesitating, drew Talia’s head against her chest.
Talia froze. She tried to pull herself away, but Sophie placed her hand on her hair, rumbling through it, patting in small, steady circles. Her whisper slipped past whatever defenses Talia had left.
“It’s not your fault,” Sophie said, her voice shaking but honest. “You didn’t kill her. The world knows, social media knows, but they are just cowards. They’re all afraid to admit their mistakes.” She rubbed Talia’s scalp gently.
For a moment, Talia let herself sink a fraction into Sophie’s warmth. After a minute, she straightened, pulling back and hardening her face back into the mask she had worn for years.
“Thank you, Mira,” she muttered, brushing Sophie’s wet cheek with the back of her hand. She tucked a damp stray hair on sophie’s face behind her ear.
“Thank you for listening and for your kind words…” she paused, straightened her back, and continued. “But you should start preparing to go back. Take back what’s yours. The sooner you leave, the sooner you take control of everything .” She said, trying to change the discussion.
Sophie wiped her face, surprised at how quickly Talia could shut down. “Return?” she repeated, eyes searching. “Without you?… what will happen to you if I leave you?”
“Whatever was happening to me before you came will keep happening,” Talia said, forcing a small smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “I’m staying here. I’m not going back to the outside world.”
Sophie stood up, her voice low and suddenly fierce. “Why won’t you come with me? Why are you choosing to stay away when you could come? I need you, Talia. And you need yourself more than I need you. You should come out of this little village and rise again. You belong to the world not to be trapped in this place.”
“No,” Talia said, flat. “I’m done. I left that place for a reason, and I’m not returning even with a reason.”
“Are you letting yourself remain trapped in this village and waste your ability here? It’s been six years, Talia… six years.” She raised her fingers, counting them one by one. “It’s time to let go and start over again.” Sophie said her face carrying pure worry.
Talia stood up , pushed her chair back in place, and said as she turned to leave, “It’s not trapped it’s abstaining …from those who don’t want me. Since the world doesn’t want me, it’s fine if I stay away from it. I’m doing good here, and nothing will make me return to the outside world.” She forced a smile and headed toward her room.
Sophie’s voice cut through the air, strong, deep, and commanding. “Then why…?” She paused. “Why do you want me to return to it when you don’t have the courage to?”
Talia froze mid-step, her back still turned to Sophie.
For a moment, silence claimed the room.
“I thought the world was the coward for blaming you for what wasn’t your fault…” Sophie’s voice broke through again as she walked slowly closer to her . “But it seems you are the coward not the world. Yes, you are the one. You left everything because of what people said, because of what social media said. People who wouldn’t even dare face you and say it to your face.”
Her steps grew heavier. “You killed your bright star because they wanted it dead. You let yourself be controlled by them. When they praised you, you accepted it. But when they tore you down, you ran away.”
Talia stood still, her long dark hair glimmering under the light, Sophie’s words cutting deeper with each step.
“You let the guilt that was never yours rule you for six years. Six damn years! You wasted it, when you should have fought for your spot!” Sophie reached her final step and shouted, her voice exploding like thunder
“COWARRRRRRD! YES, YOU ARE A COWARD! A COWARRRRRRRRRDDDD WHO LET OTHERS DECIDE HER LIFE! YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A COWARD!”
Talia didn’t let her finish.
She turned in a flash, her eyes blazing red, her face wet with sweat. Her hair whipped behind her as she spun. Sophie froze when she saw those eyes burning, fierce, untamed.
In a jolt, Talia grabbed Sophie by the neck and shoved her to the wall.
“Enoughhhhhhh!” she screamed. Her voice was firm, flat, fierce and different. Not the Talia Sophie knew, but something darker she never saw before . “Coward, you say?…”
Her grip tightened as her words cut like knives. “Do you even know what it feels like to be a boxer who loses her composure at the sight of mere boxing gloves? A boxer who fears the ring? Who fears blood? Who can’t face a fucking croooowwwwwwwddddd?” She pushed Sophie harder until her back slammed against the wall.
“The world took everything from me! Do you think I wanted this? Do you think I wished to leave it all behind and become a lonely ghost in this village? They took everything away from me , leaving me with nothing but my life , and I walked away with my life only ! And here you are…calling me a coward?”
Her grip loosened, leaving Sophie choking, trembling, drenched in sweat. Talia leaned close, lifting Sophie’s chin with her fingertips. She bent slowly, her lips nearly brushing Sophie’s, her voice a whisper that rattled the air louder than a storm.
“Who are you… to call me a coward? Tell me who are you? Didn’t I deserve a life? Tell me—didn’t I deserve to liiiiiivvvveeee?” she roared, her voice breaking. “When the world wanted me to die and burn, I chose to live. I left that world behind and found peace here. And after all I’ve done to survive you dare call me a coward because I lived when they wanted me dead? Who do you think you are to lecture or scold me ? TELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL MEEEEEEEEEE!”
Her scream echoed as she dropped Sophie, still keeping close and breathing heavily .
Talia’s fists tightened. She swung with all her strength , Sophie shut her eyes, bracing for the blow.
But the punch never came.
Instead, Talia’s fist crashed into the wall, splintering the silence. She spun away, her breath sharp, and stormed off, leaving Sophie shaken, her back still pressed against the wall.