This simile suggests that silence enveloped the characters suddenly and completely, creating a sense of isolation and quietude. Just as a curtain falls to separate things, the silence in this scene acts as a barrier between the characters and the outside world.
"Dropped like a stone" is a simile because it uses "like" to compare the action of dropping to a stone.
Cancer cells replicate/grow very rapidly. The simile "Silence like a cancer grows" from the Simon and Garfunkel song The Sound of Silence is used to indicate a rapidly growing silence, and also gives a visual image of a swelling and malignant or harmful silence. (A simile such as " silence like a balloon grows" would have a positive imagery.)
I think this is a simile...
a metaphor
as quiet as a falling leaf
"Two bony hands curled around my shoulder like the claws of a panther"
No. A smilie is using the word 'like' or 'as'. This would be a hyperbole. (an over exaggeration of something)
A simile.
An eerie silence hung in the air like a thick fog enveloping an abandoned graveyard. The shadows danced across the walls as if they were whispering secrets of the night.
The simile of the word "busy" could be "as busy as a bee" to show someone is very active and constantly moving around.
When you see like or AS, you're looking at A Simile. Something is as ___ as ____. Or it might be like _____. You're comparing one thing to another.
A metaphor