Literature
The Creature and Her Companions
There was a creature in the fourth deepest forest that was extremely quiet.
None of the others could avoid speaking to her, but the only sound that returned was the smearing slippery sound of decomposing leaves under their claws, and paws, and hooves.
It wasn't silence, though: you could hear her breathe. Or at least, her snout flared gently, like a time-lapsed video of a traitor's head exploding from the impact of a bullet. The frames went by, redder and redder, and then it was rewound as she inhaled. Her nostrils shrank.
She wouldn't speak; she feared her own voice. The inactivity of her throat left room for colonization.
"How was your d