The Sound of Silence

Ace Willson, a huge boy with a blocky figure. He had dusty blond hair and menacing brown eyes. He was the leader of the gang of children who stole from the night guards near the old shoemaking factory. I also saw a few of his lackeys stealing from some of the weaker families in the district, but I would never see the ones who did ever again.

I never saw him socialize with any of the other boys, but I was still surprised by his demeanor. He looked like nothing had even happened. While all the other boys were mourning the passing of Eddie and James, he looked like he hadn't been affected in the slightest. Still wearing the same stoic expression. It kinda freaked me out, he had just watched two children the same age die in front of him without batting an eye.

He was the only one who could keep calm, even showing annoyance at the boys who were making too much noise crying. Some of the kids got pissed off by that.

"Is crying's gonna change anything? They're dead, nothing you can do about it now. So stop your wailing, some of us want to sleep." Ace mocked one of the particularly loud boys before turning over on his other side.

His words were harsh sure, but I couldn't refute any of it. He was right, and the calmest out of all of us. Crying wasn't going to bring them back, and being vulnerable was not the best state of mind to be in right now. But, something about his words made me pity him. He saw them sent to a cold snowy grave too, why should we comfort the ones weeping on the ground and leave him to deal with it?

In any case, I had to be thankful that he successfully stifled the crying of most of them. But something about the silence was even worse. Even the silence was suffocating.