Cruel Joke

Posted bywriterravenclawPosted inPoems and short storiesTags:

Written for https://girlieontheedge1.wordpress.com/2025/03/09/sundays-six-sentence-story-word-prompt-357/

As a late entry to the quiet room challenge, his dreams of breaking the record of forty-five minutes in a quiet room stealthily moved forward eleven minutes. Steve was never much a fan of noise, but a room without words was a cruel joke.

After his attempt, he was part of the noisiest football stadium. The crowd’s cheers made him feel more human.

Their chants shook the ground like an earthquake.

At least they drowned out the ringing in his ears.

I was listening to the radio about a man breaking the world record, and it got me to thinking what would he do to compete with total silence. Apparently, you can hear your own blood going around your body. Not for me.

Published by writerravenclaw

I am a fifty something mother of two grown up children, and one beautiful grandchild. I have been married for nearly thirty-four years. My first book was published ten years ago. I wrote my book Sticks and Stones because of my experience of being bullied at school.

23 thoughts on “Cruel Joke”

  3. I read that when it is really quiet that some people can sometimes hear the sound of their blood flowing through their body, particularly in their head and neck, which is often described as a whooshing or pulsating sound.  This phenomenon is called “pulsatile tinnitus” and is essentially the perception of your own blood flow due to heightened awareness in a very quiet setting. 

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