"Here's What I Heard," by Meredith Anne Lang

The universe made a motion and rolled away. The mass and matter surrounded the void and leaned in to listen. The cries and moans filled its ears, and the sight which sees all swept around to see the burning cities and the burning planet and the sorrows that drowned all. “Here’s what I heard,” it would say to the other universes if they listened. “I heard the cries for justice that grew louder and louder still. I heard the tears cried in darkness and solitude. I heard the gunfire and the bombs and the breaking windows. I heard the collective voices, and the rasping breaths. I heard the lies and the truth, all mixed together. I heard the silence and I heard the shouts. I heard the living and I heard the dying; I heard the young and old. I heard the oppressed, and I heard the oppressors. I heard all these mixed and varied things. The sound it reverberates and echoes and bounces off the walls of the sky, looking for a place to land.” The universe swirled and swayed, spinning around to hear all of this and impress upon all the other universes the varied sounds of sorrow.