Aria Solstice

Tethered Silence delves into the fragmented psyche of Raven, a young woman bound by roles she never chose. Raised by a mother who grooms her to be both wife to her stepfather and mother to her siblings, Raven’s existence has never been her own. As her body carries the visible marks of her compliance, her mind suffocates under the weight of expectations that seem inescapable.
Raven drifts through life, detached from her emotions and desires—if she ever had any. Her days blur in a numbing cycle of caregiving and survival, and her voice drowns in a silence she has never been allowed to break. On the cusp of adulthood, she finds herself attending college, an environment that promises freedom but only sharpens her awareness of the chains that bind her.
This is not a story of love, nor is it a tale of self-discovery. This is the slow unraveling of a life that was never lived for oneself. There is no salvation here—only the echoes of a mind slowly breaking under the weight of a life never meant to be hers.

Tethered Silence

The rest of the week passed quietly, or at least as quietly as it could in my head. I hadn’t seen Aiden in any of my classes, but that wasn’t unusual. We didn’t share many lectures, and with everything that had happened lately, I hadn’t even thought to reach out. A part of me wondered if he’d noticed my absence—or cared—but I quickly pushed that thought aside. I had enough to deal with without overthinking my friendships. 


Instead, my focus shifted between the lingering unease of my visit to my family’s house and the unexpected lightness Elias seemed to bring every time we talked. Even now, sitting under the warm glow of the library’s lights, I find myself replaying what happened at the beach. 


Silence Reclaimed