Last night silence had a texture, like velvet over gravel

I'm in a deposition room that's also my childhood kitchen. The witness is speaking but the sound comes out as this thick, granular quiet — I can feel it coating my teeth, like dust on a shelf. I keep trying to sweep it into corners with my hands, and the whole time I'm thinking, this is what a pause looks like when it solidifies. Woke up still tasting it.