Silence Hollowed 5|22|2026
(insider excerpt)
While polishing the revised edition, I reached one of the moments that has always lived at the center of Julian’s story; raw, quiet, and devastating in the way only truth can be.
For the re‑release, I wanted to share a small insider glimpse. Not a spoiler, just a moment of honesty.
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When they finally came, they were fractured, halting. “My father… he… he hated me.” Sebastian didn’t move, didn’t interrupt. His posture remained open, his eyes steady, his silence deliberate. He let Julian’s voice fill the space, however broken, however raw.
Julian swallowed hard, his breath uneven. “Four years ago… park… summer. I was with someone. A boy. My friend.” His voice cracked, the memory pressing against him like a blade.
“We were close. About to… kiss.” He shook his head, tears threatening. “My father saw. He… he screamed. Called me… called me a disgrace. A fag.” The word left his lips like poison, his voice trembling as though speaking it aloud burned him all over again. His shoulders hunched, body curling inward, as though he could make himself smaller, invisible.
“He dragged me. Pulled me off the table. My friend tried to fight him. He shoved him… hard. He fell. I screamed. I cried. It didn’t matter. My father didn’t care.” His voice broke, the fragments spilling out like shattered glass. “He threw me into my room. Hit me and slammed the door. Said I was nothing. Said I’d never be anything.”
Julian’s breathing grew ragged, his chest tight, tears slipping down his cheeks unchecked. He pressed the blanket against his face, muffling a sob, but he didn’t stop speaking. “That was the first time… the first time I knew I wasn’t safe. Not at home. Not anywhere. He made me believe love was wrong. That I was wrong.” His voice dropped to a whisper, fragile, almost childlike. “And I believed him.”
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Silence Hollowed is re-releasing exclusively on Amazon, May 22, 2026.