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

I stirred myself awake, the stiffness in my neck reminding me quite dully of how long I’d been lying down. 


For a moment, I stared at the ceiling above me, my thoughts lazily trying to fit together just where I was. Then the ache in my head intensified, and as I shifted slightly, my fingers lightly brushed against the bandage wound around it. 


"Guess I wasn’t dreaming," I mumbled to myself, the events of the past day flashing back like broken fragments of a nightmare. 


I raised my head slightly, checking if I had complete control over my movements. Yet, it was the same dull ache in my head. 


Before I could react further, the door creaked open and Elias entered, followed by the doctor. A whispering conversation passed between them that I could not hear before the doctor turned to me. He gave me a small smile, professional but kind, as he walked over to the side of the bed. 


“How are you feeling now?” he asked, his tone light yet concerned. 


Threadbare Ties