This is a revolution.
– Unsecret
We were one.
At that moment, all our differences, and stupid fights, and falling outs didn’t matter. This was bigger than us. If we wanted to stand a chance against them, we had to unite.
We walked in sync, our chests raised and lowered at the same time, our minds intertwined. You’d think we’d be loud. Speaking our truth, demanding change, cheering each other on. But today, the silence was our friend. The silence was fighting our fight.
Hands over our mouths, legs moving slow but steady, eyes peering straight ahead. We didn’t know what would happen when they found out. This could be the end of it all or the beginning of something else.
The darkness weighed on us like a heavy blanket, trying to suppress us, trying to weaken us, but soon enough, there were sparks of fire all around us. They were in us, fighting their way back, and they lit up the world. The cold grey buildings around us were suddenly tinted in color as if it had always been there but had been hidden under a thick opaque layer of dust. Tree leaves turned red and orange; the river next to us was a deep dirty blue; our clothes made us look like a walking rainbow.
All these years, they had silenced us. They had taken our freedom. They had taken our spirit. They had taken our choice.
Tonight, we reclaimed it all. Words didn’t leave our mouths, we stayed silent as they had always wanted. But still, they could hear us coming, our boots marching, and our breaths joining. They could feel us coming, our eyes piercing, and our minds reaching out for them. And finally, they could see us. We were rolling in, like a powerful wave breaking, hitting the water in front of it, drowning those who didn’t know how to ride it.
Tension filled the air like grizzling static when they stepped out of their houses. They stared but nothing more. Nobody said a word. The spell they had put on us had reached them, too. For the first time in forever, they were silent, scared, no, petrified of what was coming next.
We were rising up, and they knew it. They had gone too far, way past our breaking point, they had thrown us in the dirt, clipped our wings, taken our colors, tormented our bodies, tortured our minds. They had brought this upon themselves.
We could feel the spell spreading, and we kept walking until it had reached every last one of them. Until they all knew what it felt like to have taken your own voice away from you. But we were not them. We didn’t want them to be quiet, we simply wanted them to hear us, and since they had taken our words, we had to tell them with silence. They were holding their breaths, and their eyes were filled with horror and fear. They knew now.
Somewhere, a violin cut through the air. That was our sign. It was time to break the spell. All at once, our voices filled the air. We screamed at the top of the lungs, brushing the dust from our vocal cords, letting the air leave our lungs in some kind of inharmonic melody, reclaiming our silenced voice.
We screamed, and at that moment, we were one.
Song Association 