Shh... be quiet

I think I heard it, the sound of something sliding out of place. Slipping, shifting, a swift shimmering stroke before the deafening silence so loud that nothing could be heard. I am uncertain as I try to remember now, was there a sound, like a warning? Like lifting your foot to step and hearing the hiss of a snake. Was there time to anticipate the reaction? Could the outcome have changed? Someone whispered in my ear. We were children playing a game. They ordered us into a circle. Sitting knee to knee with legs crossed. We eagerly accepted our directions and hoped to follow the rules. One of them started. A thread slipped through the eye of a needle, the needle pierced the flesh. One sharp breath, the needle slipping syllables between our tongues mumbling dumbly into our ears passing from one to another until we were drawn together on the same nimble chain. The sound approached from some distant place. Slyly creeping the smooth pitch grew near until shattering like a wave unrelenting and continuing to break. What did we hear? Was there even a sound? I was walking when I thought I heard something, a sound like a warning, but when I looked down there was only the tall grass turned golden, shivering in a breeze, ready for the harvest.