The Silence After
Songs To Stories Volume X
Inspired by: Cassandra by Taylor Swift
Some truths burn too quietly to be heard.
Cassandra Whitaker has built a new life thousands of miles from the Pennsylvania town that broke her. A bestselling horror novelist writing under a carefully guarded pen name, she’s finally found safety, success, and a family of her own. But when her estranged brother reappears with news of their mother’s devastating decline, Cassandra returns to Jim Thorpe determined to do the right thing—even for the woman who never protected her.
What she discovers is a nightmare of betrayal: a stolen house, drained accounts, lies twisted into weapons, and a brother who will stop at nothing to keep control. The town that once whispered about her now feasts on her ruin, as neighbours, relatives, and old ghosts turn against her in a storm of speculation and suspicion. With every secret exposed, Cassandra’s carefully constructed identity begins to collapse, leaving her more vulnerable than ever.
Dragged through courtrooms, crucified by the press, and hunted by the very family who should have stood beside her, Cassandra learns the brutal cost of telling the truth in a world that prefers the comfort of lies. Every step forward is met with resistance: judges who won’t listen, lawyers who twist her words, a brother who knows exactly how to wound her. And through it all, the memory of her childhood—the shadows, the silences, the betrayals that shaped her—surfaces with merciless clarity.
But Cassandra refuses to break. As her pen name is ripped away and her story becomes a spectacle for strangers, she clings to the one thing that has always saved her: words. Even when twisted against her, even when drowned out by doubt, her voice remains. In it lies her survival, her resistance, and the faintest hope of justice, however imperfect it may be.
Haunting, intimate, and devastatingly real, The Silence After is a story of resilience in the face of cruelty, the futility of justice that arrives too late, and the quiet strength of a woman who refuses to let betrayal define her.
Because sometimes, when the truth finally comes out, all it is—is silence.
