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 door slammed shut behind me, and I was left alone in the hallway. My legs felt like they would give out beneath me, my breaths coming in sharp, ragged gasps as the weight of everything Aiden had said crashed over me like a tidal wave. I pressed my back against the cold wall, my hands trembling as I hugged myself tightly. 


I felt hollow—like his words had scraped something out of me, leaving only an aching void. I wasn’t even angry at him. How could I be? He wasn’t wrong about anything. I was guarded. I was broken. And I did and will push him away. 


I closed my eyes, trying to steady my breathing, when I heard the sound of the door opening behind me. “Raven, wait,” Aiden’s voice called out. His tone wasn’t sharp or pleading—just soft, almost hesitant. 


I froze, my back still turned to him. “Please,” he said again, his footsteps nearing. “I don’t want you leaving like this.” 


Warmth in The Wake