🖤 The Sound of Silence

 

Levi and Peter

I never expected to meet him at a party.

I don’t even like parties.

But somehow, I ended up at one—my best friend’s party—trying to be a good sport. I was the quiet type. The guy who was always in the corner, overthinking, observing. I was also the guy who didn't know how to talk to people unless I was giving a speech in class.

So, when I spotted him, I almost thought I was imagining it.

His name was Levi. He didn’t look like the kind of guy I usually noticed. Tall, dark, kind of intimidating with his hoodie and headphones around his neck. He was standing near the back of the room, surrounded by a group, but his eyes were somewhere else, lost in thought. I couldn't look away.

It was weird—because I’d never seen him before in my life. But his presence felt so... familiar.

I ended up walking over to the snack table, just to get closer. I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, but I swear, I heard him mumbling to himself in a low voice. His lips barely moved. And then—wait—I recognized what he was saying.

It was something I said to myself all the time.
“I’m not meant to be here. This isn’t my world.”

And for some inexplicable reason, that made me feel like I was floating in space.

Maybe it was just the alcohol—or maybe it was the way my heart started to race—but I approached him anyway. “Hey,” I said, my voice too loud in the noise. “You alright?”

His head turned, and I saw his eyes for the first time—dark, almost too intense, like he was staring into the void. He paused for a second, processing me. And then, he smiled.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just... I get like this sometimes.” His voice was calm. Almost too calm.

I didn’t know what to say to that. But there was something magnetic about him, something that tugged at me like an old memory I couldn’t quite place.

We started talking. At first, it was about random things. But somehow, it slipped into deeper waters. He didn’t ask me questions that felt forced, like everyone else at these parties. Instead, he said things like, “You ever wonder if you’re living someone else’s life? Like, you’re just playing a part in a story that’s not yours?”

I blinked, surprised.
“Yeah, actually. All the time.” I couldn’t even believe I was saying this to someone I barely knew.

Levi nodded like I’d just shared a secret with him. “I don’t know. I feel like I’m always looking for a way out of this... game we’re all stuck playing.”

And just like that, everything around us faded. The music. The chatter. The party. It was just me and him, caught in a conversation neither of us fully understood, but both of us needed. It was like an unsaid truth had settled between us, one I couldn’t shake, and neither could he.

The night went on, but I couldn’t stop thinking about him.

—

A few days later, I ran into him again. Only this time, it was in the library. He was sitting at a table in the corner, headphones in, scribbling in a notebook. He looked just as out of place as he did at the party. And yet, he fit in perfectly.

I walked by, pretending like I didn’t notice him. But he looked up and caught my eye, a tiny smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “You don’t have to pretend,” he said. “You’re the only person in this room who isn’t trying to fit in.”

It wasn’t even a question. It was like he could read my mind.

And for the next few weeks, we started meeting up. The conversations weren’t always deep, but there was always this unspoken understanding. We’d sit for hours, sometimes just exchanging glances, sometimes writing in silence. Levi had a way of filling the spaces between words. It was like he understood everything without asking.

One day, as the sun began to set, I asked him, “Why do you wear those headphones all the time?”

He paused, fiddling with the wires. “Because silence is louder than noise,” he said quietly. “And it’s easier to shut out everything when you don’t have to hear it.”

That was the moment I realized—I wasn’t the only one struggling with who I was, with finding my place in the world. Levi had his own battles, his own silences.

And somehow, we had found each other in the midst of all that chaos.

—

I think I fell for him on a Thursday. Maybe it was the way his eyes softened when he looked at me. Maybe it was when I finally heard him say my name, like it was something he had been wanting to say for a long time.

We were sitting in that quiet corner of the library again, headphones off, the world outside buzzing, but inside—there was only us. It was like we both knew we didn’t need anything more. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

“Sometimes,” Levi whispered, his hand brushing mine, “I think we’re just trying to find someone who understands the silence in our heads.”

I wanted to tell him that I understood. That for the first time, it felt like someone saw me. Not the part I pretended to be, not the one I showed to everyone else. But the real me—the one that hid behind the walls, the one that wondered if I could ever be enough.

But instead, I just nodded. And for once, I didn’t feel like I needed to say anything at all.

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💫 Notes from the Author:

This story is for anyone who feels like they’re floating, trying to find something solid to hold on to. Sometimes, the quietest moments are the loudest. Sometimes, the person who gets you is the one who understands the silence.

If you’ve ever felt lost, I hope you find someone who listens. ❤️

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What do you think? Would you like to read more about Levi and the Peter’s journey? Or a deeper dive into what Levi’s silence really means?