I breathe loudly because I am sick and my nose is stuck. There is noise outside my window. I hear flapping wings and a loud cooing. The pigeons are fighting again and flying from the roof above my window to my neighbours’ roof. I hear my roommate pass by and her steps in the stairs as she walks down to the kitchen. I’m in class on Zoom. The mic of the teacher is scratchy and emits a high-pitched sound every time she speaks and it hurts my head. My nose is so stuck, I sniff loudly every 10 seconds and the sounds of my sniffs cover the teacher’s voice. I am breathing with my mouth opened like a fish. I hear cars bumping on the pavement in my street. I hear buses and traffic through my window from the larger street on the other side of my house. My roommate is cooking now while having a conversation in Italian on her phone. I hear her voice in words that I don’t understand and the sizzling sound of the onions in the pan. I hear the washing machine in the background. It is finishing a wash and is spinning fast, so I can hear it even though it’s on the ground floor and I am on the second floor. My chair creeks and I feel bothered by the sound of my mouth breathing. The teacher mentions the silence on her side since everyone is muted. Silence. I wonder what that feels like.