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

His room felt quieter than usual, the faint hum of the waves outside breaking the silence as I folded the last of the clothes into a box. It was strange—seeing everything laid out like this, as if I’d been here for months and not just a couple of days. 


I glanced toward the two boxes stacked neatly by the bed and let out a breath. I hadn’t expected so much stuff—especially clothes. My mother would’ve made a snide remark about excess. But as I reached for the last pile of casual sweaters, something nagged at me. 


I pushed off the bed, stepping out of his room and padding toward the banister. “Elias?” I called out, my voice carrying into the living room. 


His head popped up from the floor, where he was busy repacking the game we’d left out. “Yeah?” 


I hesitated for half a second. “Did you… Did you have the woman who was here yesterday get me all of this stuff?” 


His mouth quirked into a knowing grin, as if he’d been waiting for me to ask. “I did.” 


Between Ocean & Snow