[ WP ] A day in a world where silence is treasured above all else .

Kendall put down his pencil, ever so softly, on the velvet top of his front-row desk. His hands sweated in his mittens, but he did n't care. Finishing this test in acoustical physics meant that he was done with the semester. The tennis balls on the bottom of his chair were silent as he slid his chair back, ever so gently. Kendall stood up over the course of a full ten seconds, worrying the whole time that a pain in his chest meant his stomach would grumble. He looked up at the teacher. She was reading sheet music on her tablet. Kendall took a careful step, his sweatpants rubbing noiselessly against his shaved legs. The paper was held loosely in his hands, he was careful not to bend it and make any embarrassing snaps. He took a few more careful steps, and arrived silently in front of the teacher's desk. He bent forward over the satin pillow marked `` completed tests'' and dropped his paper onto it from a height of.5 inches. The paper landed without a sound, and Kendall smiled. He turned to go, but a joint in his spine cracked. Thunder erupted in the classroom in the form of a faint `` pop''. Kendall whipped his head around at the teacher, who was staring intensely at him with fire in her eyes. She lifted a crayon out of the breast pocket of her wool sweater, and swiftly marked a huge `` F'' on Kendall's paper. Kendall stared at her, heart broken, and then made a semi-silent escape. He cried that night in his anechoic chamber.
