It was like any other day in manchester England, cold and depressing with a slight drizzle just in case you forgot about the depressing bit. Eliot didn't mind it though, he loved the cold sprinkle and the sound of dripping water falling into small puddles spread throughout the city. It filled in the gaps his hearing couldnt usually reach, leaving ambient noise everywhere, no silence. He hated the quiet.

Eliot couldn't help but shudder at the thought, as he was being led by his guide dog Anubis (he preferred to call him Anu, way less pretentious). Anubis was a dog of exquisite breed, Siberian husky with a bit of wolf in him, Fur white as snow with black fur along his legs and feet, and eyes that seemed forever frozen blue.

‘Or atleast thats what ive been told’, Eliot thought. Can't really describe something you've never seen, now can you. That's usually how it goes with about everything, He has to be told how something looks, what color it is (whatever that is) how it works, what it does etc. That's the worst part about being blind, always needing help with something. The second worst thing about not seeing is or at least in his case is a lack of connection with other people.

It's not that he didn't get along with other people, he got along with his parents just fine. Maybe that should say something to him, but he just didn't get other people, and they didn't get him; no one's fault. He didn't have a lot of friends (meaning no friends) but it didn't bother him much anymore, not after years of solitude. Anubis growled making Eliot crack a smile.

“Don't worry I didn't forget about you. You know you're my best mate.” Eliot said as he gave him a quick scratch behind his ear. Eliot always found it peculiar how Anubis always seemed to know what he's thinking. Maybe it's the wolf in him, he considers me his pack and i've heard that they can usually tell when something's wrong with another member, or i'm just crazy. Eliot chuckled at the thought.

It was a couple of more minutes until they got to their destination, the only place that felt normal to Eliot, where he could sit down and not need assistance or slow anyone else down because of his disability, advanced sculpting at the local uni. All he needed where his hands to feel the clay and form it into whatever he wanted, he didn't care how it looked he would never see it anyways. It was the only class he took. He tried to enroll in other classes but he couldn't keep up without slowing the progress of everyone else so he quit.

Before he walked into the class Eliot ran his finger over his old braille watch, just to make sure he was on time. With a deep breath he opened the door to the classroom and walked in, only to be met with silence. No one was in the room, he couldn't hear any breathing or shuffling of clothes, that's odd, he checked the time again to make sure he didn't read it wrong.

‘Maybe I got the rooms mixed up?’ He thought, but then he smelled the peculiar scent of clay, and knew that wasn't the case. He couldn't prepare the clay without the teachers assistance and the silence started to bother him. So he walked towards an old beat up couch in the back of the room, pulling his headphones over his ears and pressing play on his old ipod; Preparing for the wait of other people. Anubis jumped up next to him and took his daily nap.

As the soft classical soundtrack began to play, killing the silence that plagued his mind and calming him down Eliot envisioned his mind palace. He learned about the mind palace technique around the age ten, and wish he had learned it the day he was born. It was a method of memory enhancement which uses visualizations with the use of spatial memory, and familiar information about one's environment, to create a space in your mind to help sort all your memories out.

Eliot had neither visuals nor familiar information from his environment to base anything with, so he had to make shit up. Using descriptions from books he’s read (listened to), what people have described to him, from his sense of touch smell and hearing and overall imagination he's created something completely original, something only he could see. Fuck a small palace he created a mind world.

The second he entered his mind he instantly knew something was different, he looked around frantically trying to pinpoint what it was, the music played in his surroundings mixing with the sound of the world he created; Eliot knew this sound like the back of his eyelids, but there was a new sound here. He isolated the sound and forced whatever it was to his location. His mind went black, total all consuming darkness, the music stopped playing in the background, he couldn't hear himself breathe anymore. He knew this place, Eliot called it ‘silence’.

Eliot tried to leave his mind palace, but he couldn't feel his real body anymore, he panicked. This has never happened before! whats going on, he began screaming at the top of his lungs for help, even though he knew no one would hear him; no noise left his mouth. “This isn't real calm the fuck down El, you've been here before it aint nothing new.” the false hope he was trying to give himself was being overtaken by fear and panic the likes he's never felt before.

It's been so long since he's been here, he almost forgot it existed. That's not true, he's never forgotten, even when he's in his mind it's always in his peripherals waiting for him to return, but Eliot never gave it that chance until today. He began to run, he knew it was futile, there was no escape but he needed to move, needed to keep his mind preoccupied with the senseless movements.

He collapsed after what felt like hours of running and screaming in the ‘silence’. He laid there mouthing “So this is how it feels to be blind and deaf huh, why not just put a bullet through my brain.” That would be true silence.

As he contemplated the rest of his life, and how he should probably grow up and face his fears; instead of having a mental breakdown. He noticed something shimmer in the darkness. He shot up without hesitation and ran as fast as he could towards the light. He barely gave it a thought about how they say don't go towards the light if you want to live. Fuck life if all there is an indefinite ‘silence’ He needed to get out of there and now.

Then he saw it, a sphere of some kind gently floating at eye level. What was weird about the sphere was that he didn't create it, it looked totally alien to him; he created everything in his mind. The colors the designs the creatures but this was something new; and it frightened him.

He slowly approached the orb and put his hand on it, there was a flash and then he heard the music continue to play, but he wasn't inside his mind anymore he was free. He opened his eyes and saw the same sphere from the ‘silence’, the art room behind it with a blinding light coming from one of the windows.

A hollow ring in the ball emitted these light particles that conjoined together to create a screen with the words

“Welcome to the cluster constellation, Please review the list of points you have earned throughout your lifetime before making any purchases.”

Eliot fainted after reading Welcome.