The town was unusually quiet last night. It wasn’t the peaceful quiet of a sleeping suburb; it was a subdued, heavy silence. I saw police vans parked on the main road again, their engines idling but their lights off. No sirens, no shouting, no explanations. It felt like they were waiting for something to happen, or perhaps waiting for the world to stop moving entirely. There’s a specific kind of tension that comes from watching people who are paid to react simply sitting still. It’s the posture of a town that has been told to hold its breath and wait for further instructions that may never come.
Outer Quiet
Waiting for what?
That’s the problem.