I open my eyes. The world blurs as I rub my bleary eyes and everything gradually comes into focus. A thought comes to my mind: Kimberly. Is it my name? I don’t know. Through the dim light I can barely make out what appears to be my own tan skin and dark, curly hair that is spread across the hard dirt floor. I inspect my surroundings, taking in the sight of woods with towering oaks, assuring that I can’t see more than a foot ahead. I try to yell for help, but no sound comes out. I struggle, I scream, but I can’t hear a word I cry out. Someone taps me on the shoulder. I whip around, arms flailing, and feel my hand smack into flesh.
     It’s a girl. She has long hair like mine, dirty blonde, braided neatly. A gold tattoo glitters on her arm, big blue eyes filled with curiosity. “Who are you?” she says. But her lips don’t move. I frantically attempt to demand answers, but as none of my panicked queries are heard, I throw my hands up in despair and collapse to the ground. Her face lights up with awe and understanding, and she motions to me excitedly as she communicates with me somehow; “Come with me.” I comply, following her through the trees. As I duck under the leafy branches of a tall maple, suddenly I see. It is a magnificent city, bustling with people dwarfed by spectacular buildings.
     The girl and I walk down a beaten-down path as the forest trails back behind us. She speeds up, walking a few paces ahead of me. She takes out a strange device and proceeds to tap out an intricate code, the device shaking furiously as she does so. After what feels like hours but could have been minutes, the girl beckons me eagerly as the dirt path turns to a concrete avenue of the city I had in my sights earlier. I look around, taken aback by its glory. The buildings shine like sapphires that cut into the sky. People decked out in sharp suits and smart dresses hurriedly push past one another, pouring in and out of the dazzling structures. Despite the hustle, not a sound can be heard. I see the same gold tattoo peeking out from under shirt sleeves. I whirl around to motionless lips as the girl speaks again, making grand gestures as she does so: “Welcome to Okhiphonopolis.”
     A car pulls up, or at least it looks like a car. Until I notice that right where the wheels should be, but there is only several inches of air. My jaw drops. I am ushered in, the girl hopping into the back seat behind me. The engine roars as the floating car rockets forward, and all traffic clears for us. I grip the leather seat as a wave of nausea comes over me. Teeth clenched, I close my eyes for seemingly no time at all when suddenly the car screeches to a stop, and my head crashes into the plush seat of the driver in front of me. The girl gives a solemn nod to the driver before the door slides open, proceeding to pull me out of the floating car and into the towering building before us. Though the buildings on either side of this one are magnificent, this architectural feat rising high, higher than the eye can see, is beyond compare. It glitters like a diamond, nearly blinding me as it takes my breath away. Before I can observe any more of my surroundings, I am yanked through the door by the enthusiastic girl who is not even attempting to keep a calm appearance anymore. What is she so excited about?
     Men and women gawk and point at me as guards in navy uniforms with gold tassels rush to my side. The guards guided me to an elevator, but as one began to lead the mysterious girl away, I turned and shouted for her. Or, well, I tried. I wasn’t going to be separated from the one person I knew, although knew was a strong word. A guard attempted to escort me away towards the elevator again, but I stamped my foot and made my best tough face. The guard taking the girl away marched back and joined the procession, while the girl was placed beside me, staring at me freely now with wonder and confusion. As we enter the elevator it is my turn to stare as I gaze up at the elaborately decorated ceiling and the walls lined with thousands of buttons, embossed with shining numbers and letters.
     As the guard presses a button, the elevator comes to life and shoots up into the air like a rocket. My knees buckle as I fall to the ground, the elevator surging up as it pushes me down. Three guards help me up as the elevator finally stops. I am led down a winding hallway with many closed doors, then as we make it to the end there is a monstrous door that dwarfs even the most fearsome guard. A guard guides me to the door and presses my hand to a scanner on the wall. All the guards and the girl hold their breath behind me as the scanner vibrates, and the door clicks open.
     It is a majestic office, with a high ceiling with carvings in the woodwork, the walls lined with books, and seated at a mahogany desk facing me is a woman. Her pale skin is lined with wrinkles and her silvery-white hair is tucked into a neat bun. Her eyes, a deep shade of violet, seem to sparkle just a little as she purses her lips and sizes me up. She speaks to me in the strange way I still cannot fathom. “The guards may go.” The guards exit and the girl starts to leave, but I cling to her and do not let go. “Leave now, Sabina. You shall be richly rewarded for this discovery.” The girl I now have a name for pulls away from me and leaves me alone with the woman.
     “Welcome, New Leader. What is your name?” I freeze for a second, the understanding that the woman just spoke spreading over me like a blanket of warmth and familiarity. “I can speak?” I cry out with joy and astonishment. “My name is Kimberly. Now who are you?” The woman smiles with pride as she responds; “Yes, you may speak here. But this is the last time you shall converse until a new leader comes to replace you. I am Diane the Leader. I am the leader of all of Okhiphonopolis, which is Greek for no sound city. Sound brought destruction. With sound, no one could focus. People procrastinated to music, they lost themselves in their own voices, the world started to fall apart. We communicate with telepathy, using only the mind. Without sound, the people of Okhiphonopolis are at peace. When we rebuilt the remains of our society from the bottom up many generations ago, the elders decided to omit sound from our lives. There is no sound here, and without it we shall avoid the obliteration of all life here. We have never had contact with another society since, but every fifty years, the New Leader appears in the forest, wiped of all memories. We identify the New Leader by the scanner to this office and their violet eyes. You shall take my place as the Leader of Okhiphonopolis. You shall govern for fifty years, and then you shall educate the next to come along. Kimberly, I am sure you shall succeed me well.”
     My head is spinning as I wish I had not received the answers I had so demanded. “What do you mean no sound?” I utter meekly, hoping I have understood things wrong. The woman’s face is sympathetic as she says, “Yes. No one speaks here. No one knows how to speak here. The elders never told their children of sound, for once telepathy was discovered, it was decided that no sound would be used ever again. You shall receive a tattoo on your arm, it shall gift you with the skill, so you may speak telepathically with your citizens.” As she pauses for effect, I notice now a glint of gold from beneath your blouse sleeve. It is the same as the one on Sabina and the rest of those here.
     “In your fiftieth year of rule, someone shall begin to check the forest periodically, and eventually they shall find the New Leader. You shall explain the ways of Okhiphonopolis to them, and then you shall be released by the guards to the Outer World. Now that you are here to take over, I shall go. I have done my job.” I don’t want to not speak for the next fifty years. She can’t leave me here. I take a deep breath, trying to not panic. I speak in hysterics, trying beyond all odds to reason with her. I don’t remember any previous life, but I am sure that within it I spoke, and others spoke too. This is not my responsibility.
     “Diane, you know of this, not me. Why am I to stay here while you are to go?” The quiet threatens to swallow me. “I’m sorry, New Leader Kimberly. Soon you shall adjust.” My sense of alarm is interrupted by a knock at the door. “Diane Leader, your ceremony of release has been prepared;” a guard announces solemnly. I hear the guard walk away.
     “I apologize, Kimberly Leader,” said Diane. “You are on your own. A guard shall give you your tattoo momentarily. Duty calls.” She begins to walk to the door. “Wait!” I call out. “Where do you go when you are released to the Outer World?” “I do not really know,” Diane declares in wonderment. “I shall find out when I reach the beyond. Maybe I shall see you there, Kimberly Leader. I wish you well.” Before I can say another word, Diane has left the room and closed the door. I am alone. I walk about the elegant office that now must be mine. I sit in the cushioned leather chair, and put my feet up on the sizable desk. This couldn’t be that bad.

Fifty Years Later

     “Where am I? Who are you? What am I doing here?” the petulant teenager standing before me demands. I study her lovely violet eyes, then adjust a nearly perfect silver curl away from my brow. I telepathically contact the guards. “Guards, please take your exit.” As the guards close the door behind them I prepare myself for the glory of speech. “Hello, New Leader. I have plans of much importance; so I shall keep your briefing to a minimum. You are the New Leader of Okhiphonopolis, a city without sound. In place of voices and music, there is telepathy for communication. Your arm shall be inked with a tattoo that shall gift you with the ability to transfer your thoughts.” I toy with my sleeve, seeing that assuring glint of gold. “You shall govern this city wisely and fairly for fifty years when another leader will come along and you will at last speak again to inform the New Leader in turn of her job.” “Don’t leave! You can’t leave me here!” The New Leader is frantic, but I was offered little sympathy. The long-awaited knock at the door: “Kimberly Leader, your ceremony of release has been prepared.” I take one long last look at the leather chair, the mahogany desk, the many books, the carved ceiling. “Good luck, New Leader. Duty calls.” I walk through the door and close it behind me, ready for whatever may come.
     The guard escorts me to the elevator, and I reminisce as the elevator drops down, causing my stomach to do a somersault. The guard gives me a sinister smile as the elevator plummets an extra floor, R, one I have never seen nor heard of. Perhaps this is where release occurs? As the elevator door opens, the guard pushes me rather roughly out of the elevator and leads me to a darkened, dusty, winding staircase. I cannot see the end. He prods me, prompting me forward. I walk down, counting stairs as I go. Just as I reach sixty-four, we reach the end. There is a door. “Welcome to your Release, Kimberly Leader. You have served us well;” the guard says uniformly as I stare curiously into his suddenly shady face. Nonetheless, I enter the room. “Goodbye, Kimberly Leader.” The guard shuts the door behind me and I hear a click, then a whir as something is activated. As I turn to take in my surroundings, I am horrified. There is Diane. She lays motionless on the floor, her eyes have lost their color. Her blank stare bores into me as I realize I cannot breathe. I clutch my chest as I fall weak at my knees, taking my place beside her. I close my eyes.