The realization just hit. The reason I truly despise my roommate. It’s not because of her pickiness, her micromanagement, her passive aggressiveness, or the many other little things she does every day to irk me. The reason I despise her is because she and I have fallen into the one thing I hate most: silence. I’m the type to chatter on to the void to keep the silence at bay. Silence is when the storm clouds roll in, no longer held at bay. Before, wherever I lived, there was always noise, always commotion.
With my family, it was the screaming matches, raucous laughter, blasting music, animals running amuck around the house. Chores being done, cabinets being slammed post argument, people rushing out the door, dropping things as we scrambled to our destinations. Pointless gossip, righteous fury, easy humor; it was always there. It was chaos, but the uproar was entertaining.
Freshman year, it was pointless small talk; we had nothing in common, but we still made conversation at the most basic level. Bitching about school, about classmates and coworkers the others would never meet. Sneaking down to the lake with one to gripe about the other two. Occasional heart-to-hearts occurred when it felt like the worst was happening. In the end, through all of the petty grievances, we had each others backs. It was inane, but there was conversation.
Sophomore year, originally we’d all talk and play video games. As time went on and I grew distant and into my own world, they carried on being friends and the television was always on, someone was always having a conversation, even if I was not involved. I had my own room, I could play music and surround myself with melodies in the hours of the morning when no sane human should be awake. The walls were covered in pictures, notes scrawled on the fridge while rushing out the door. The place was a mess. Despite the loneliness for me, it was a home. It was lived in, it was loved. It was slightly isolated, but there was noise.
Junior year, we all fit together. Five people, none with the same major or interests, somehow came together, threw our stuff on the couch, and gathered in the living room each day. Drank and laughed together at night. And when one moved out, and one became too busy with graduate work, there was still the three of us. Unlikely musketeers, always ready with a smile and a greeting or a friendly jab paired with a plate of whatever was cooking as soon as one walked in the door. We sat together in the living room, huddled around the TV, watching terrible movies or playing video games. We went out, had nights that went places we never expected, just enjoyed seeing what debauchery we could get into. Some nights, it was enough to lay on the living room floor, proposing half-baked theories of the universe and our part in it. We drank and caused trouble that year, but there was friendship.
Senior year, I’m only here for five months, but it’s the most solitary I’ve felt. There’s only three of us, well, two now. We have nothing in common, completely different backgrounds, and it seems no interest in each others lives. Originally we’d have a conversation here and there, but those dwindled within a few weeks. One moved out. The two of us leftover, we always have headphones in, sit on opposite sides of the apartment, two doors shut in between us. We never share a room, except to sleep. Even the normal, everyday sounds of life seem to be lessened. And the sharp noises that do come are grating, the sound of dishes being set to dry drives a spike through my ears and frustration through my blood. The noises of the city are loud, the neighbors are always shrieking about something and the walls are thin. But they’re something to listen to. I hear conversations drifting through the window I can only have open when she’s not in the room, groups of friends laughing on the grass below. The time I can play music and sing aloud is limited because she’s always home. I don’t even have the sound of my own voice to keep me company. I constantly look out to the sidewalk when she’s not home, hoping that I won’t see her, desperate for a few more minutes of freedom before the blanket of silence tucks back around the apartment. This is a cold house; it can’t be called a home. The comforts of a home do not reside here. The walls are stark white, no decor to speak of. They mirror the silence within them. There is no sound. And that silence is deafening.