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

Elias’s voice broke the silence, low and steady but tinged with regret. “This won’t happen again.” 


His words hit me like a bucket of ice water, cutting through the haze of warmth and desire still buzzing under my skin. I blinked up at him, still sprawled on the floor, and for a moment, I wasn’t sure I’d heard him right. “What?” 


He exhaled, leaning back on his hands and looking anywhere but at me. “I mean it, Raven. I shouldn’t have—” He stopped himself, his jaw tightening as he ran a hand through his tousled hair. “It was a mistake.” 


A mistake. The words settled like a weight in my chest, and I struggled to keep my expression neutral—a mistake. My lips still tingled from his kisses, my heart still raced, and he wanted to call it a mistake? 


I sat up slowly, feeling a mix of embarrassment, frustration, and confusion churning inside me. “Is that really how you see it?” I asked, my voice quieter than I intended. “A mistake?” 


A Beautiful Mistake