Member-only story

In the Silence, I Hear

T. Mark Mangum
Total Fiction
Published in
9 min readFeb 7, 2022

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Photo by Joel Filipe on Unsplash

Inspired by the writing prompt by Emily Stroia in her article,

*** Warning — This story contains Adult content around physical abuse and incest **** Much Darker than my normal writing. ****

Fredrick Appelton

Fredrick Appelton was born deaf in June of 1966. His mother was a beautiful soul, his father a product of strict discipline, a solid yet distant patriarch.

After his younger brother was born, his father ignored him.

“Fred, why won’t you take Fredrick out with you and Robby to play catch?” Mrs. Appelton would ask.

“He doesn’t like physical activity; he wants to read,” his father would say.

At school, well, kids will be kids.

“See that kid over there?” Jimmy asked. “He’s deaf, that means he cain’t hear,” Jimmy continued. “Hey, watch this,” Jimmy ran up behind Fredrick, stopping inches from him, and screamed at the top of his lungs.

It wasn’t the first time. Fredrick felt the vibrations of Jimmy’s feet on the ground and smelt his breath…

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Total Fiction
Total Fiction

Published in Total Fiction

Total Fiction is an On-Line Publication that publishes Fiction writing. Total Fiction will publish all Genera and all lengths. From Micro Fiction to Book Length. If it is a good Fiction tale, there is a place here for it in Total Fiction. We will accept Sci-Fi to Westerns.

T. Mark Mangum
T. Mark Mangum

Written by T. Mark Mangum

For the serious reader. Short, compelling fiction for the serious reader. I use Imagination, wonder, and surprise to create my tales. Please Enjoy reading them.

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