Maybe the Silence itself was the lie.
“Tell them what?”
The sound did not echo. It did not fade. It fell into the room like a stone into a deep well, and for one terrible second, nothing happened. Then the clock on the wall began to tick backward. The dust motes swirled into a spiral. And the compass needle spun once, twice, and broke clean off, floating in the air like a tiny silver fish. ninitre