Silence by Rebekah Shimer (summer books TXT) 📕

Delilah

I have fallen. I know not where, but I absolutely know that I am, in fact, dead. I see myself lying on a floor in a house I don’t recognize. Someone grabs my now lifeless body and lifts me into their arms. I scream at them to tell me what happened, but I cant utter a sound. I follow the sight of my body being carried all the way out of the house until the person stops. They catch their breath for a few seconds before they walk over to another house.

They lay my body down and start to drag me from there. The person drags my body all the way down to a body of water and throws my body in the bone-chilling water. The person admires their work as my body sinks down into the dark depths of the lake. I almost start to cry, knowing that this person was the one who had just killed. Murdered. And they were about to do it again.

Audrey

Sorrow. You could easily see it in everyone’s grim faces the day after Delilah was taken. She was exactly what every girl wanted to be. She was smart, immensely beautiful, was head cheerleader, and had the perfect life. Her family was so distraught about her disappearance that they still won’t leave the house. Her boyfriend Logan won't talk to anyone, won't text anyone back, and he won't even talk to his parents. I knew Delilah before she was gone. We were best friends actually. I hated when girls that we made fun of together said that they were best friends with Delilah and that they loved her so much. These were the exact same girls that had talked behind her back so much during high school.

And then there was me, the true best friend who doesn’t know what to do with herself anymore. I was dreading going back to school on Monday. Without Delilah, school almost seemed impossible to get through. I needed someone to joke with when I’m happy and someone to talk to when I get mad at the imbeciles that call themselves high schoolers. At least I had Sunday to prepare myself. I shook my head and stood up from my bed. I looked at my clock and sighed. I would have to face my family sooner or later, and I seriously doubted that mom would’ve let me miss supper two nights in a row.

I walked out into the living room and saw my older brother Andrew watching the news. His shaggy, brown hair had gotten curlier since the last time I had seen him, and he had also gotten a lot taller since last time he had visited. He was wearing his usual faded blue jeans and Hollister polo, even though he didn’t have any place special to go. He usual just wore nice clothes for everyday clothes, which was the complete opposite of me. I sometimes wore nice clothes, but my mom always had to fight to get them on me.

Andrew was usually at college, but he skipped his classes today to come back to town for the weekend. Andrew knew her a little, since her and I used to spend a ton of time together, so he was just as upset as everyone else. I walked into the living room in the worst possible moment. They were showing a picture of Delilah on the screen, telling everyone what a shame it was to have someone so young taken. I chuckled to myself. They didn’t even know her. How could they say it was such a shame if they just see her as another name that they have to read off to the public?

I said quietly, “Is supper ready?”

Andrew jumped and looked at me like I was a ghost, which I probably did. I hadn’t put makeup on in a couple days and my hair felt tangled, which meant that it probably looked just as bad.

He got over his shock and said, “Yeah. It’s in the kitchen.”

I nodded at him and walked into the kitchen. My mom was still pulling the pizza out of the oven, but I could already smell the baked pepperonis on it. Saturday was usually the day that we all had pizza with the rest of our family, but everyone else in the family was out on a vacation that we couldn’t go on. My mom didn’t want to miss a lot of work and she didn’t want me to miss a lot of school, which I’m kind of glad for. My family wanted to go to a little kid playground area for a couple days, since most of my cousins are five years younger than me, with the oldest being twelve.

I said quietly, “That smells great mom.”

My mom looked up at me and smiled softly when she saw that I was willing to come out of my room long enough to eat with the family. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a messy bun, with some stray hairs falling into her face. Her face was more petite than anyone else’s in the family. Her cheekbones were high and her lips were small and thin. She was the kind of picture would you see when you think of the perfect mom. She looked like she belonged on a home cooking magazine, with her perfect figure and smile.

She said sweetly in her high voice, “Thanks dear. I spent a lot of time on it.”

She was trying to make the mood lighter, so I faked a smile to convince her that I was doing all right. She knew that I wasn’t really smiling at her little joke, but she didn’t say anything. She knew that I really didn’t want to talk about Delilah to her, what with her never really being in my life throughout my childhood, which eventually led to me being closer to Andrew than anyone in my close family. My dad had passed away in a car wreck before I was old enough to remember him, which left Andrew and I to entertain ourselves. During our childhood, Andrew and I would always climb up to the attic in our house and pretend that we were in a different world.

We had tons of worlds to choose from. We would either go to the slippery, wet deck of a pirate ship, the endless, snowy landscape of the arctic, or the speechless game of acting like animals. I internally smiled at the memory of Andrew and I running around, chasing each other like calves do when they play.

My mom interrupted my thoughts by asking, “Do you want to call Andrew in?”

I broke out of my trance and nodded.

I walked into the living room and said, “Andrew supper’s ready.”

He nodded and shut the TV off. He somberly walked into the kitchen behind me, not even bothering to put on a happy face for my mom, who seemed to be the only one who could find some light in our dark moods. She smoothly cut the pizza and gave us each one.

Andrew gave my mom a look and said, “A grown college boy only gets one piece?”

My mom smiled and said, “Eat that one and then you can have another if you aren’t full.”

“I swear mom sometimes you treat me like I’m five years old.”

“Well if you would start acting like you’re a college kid, I would treat you like one.”

I smiled and said quietly, “She’s got a point.”

Andrew sneered jokingly, “She didn’t ask for your opinion.”

I shrugged my shoulders, “And? Your point is?”

He stared at me for a while before my mom said, “Come now. Your pizza is going to get cold Andrew.”

He rolled his eyes and started to inhale his pizza. I slowly bit into mine, making sure that it wasn’t going to burn my mouth. When I decided that the pizza wasn’t too hot, I fully bit into the slice. The grease from the pizza immediately filled my mouth and I couldn’t help but smile. Pizza had always brought my mood up. Pizza night with the family would sometimes be the highlight of my day, as sad as that sounds. Andrew finished his first piece before I was even halfway through mine and grabbed for another one. My mom tried to keep up conversation with Andrew, but he wouldn’t really answer since he knew that mom would just scold him for talking with his mouth full, which left the talking to my mom and me.

She asked, “How’s school going Audrey?”

“It’s going good. Nothing really to report.”

“No news?”

“Not really.”

“That’s strange. Usually, you can’t wait to tell me all the juicy details of your day.”

I knew that she was kidding just by the sound of her voice, but I couldn’t make myself smile like before. She noticed, but this time she wouldn’t let it go, knowing that I would be more willing to talk if Andrew was seated near me. He always had a strange way of calming me down and opening me up like a clam, no matter how hard I tried to stay shut. My mom reached across the table and grabbed my hand gently.

She asked, “I was just kidding. You know that don’t you?”

I nodded my head, but I didn’t speak. I couldn’t. Not now. I knew that even if I tried to speak, it would just come out as nonsense until I broke down and they would feel sorry for me, which was the last thing that I wanted. I hated it when people felt pity for me. That’s why I never really wanted to leave my room when I heard that Delilah was taken. People cast looks of pity on those who have grave happenings in their lives, but don’t they know that the person who’s going through the tough time would get over it if they just bury the memory deep in their mind and don’t visit it again? That they forget it ever happened? It’s very hard to forget a memory if people remind you of your hard life every time they look at you.

I stood up and said quickly, “Excuse me.”

I walked out before either of them was able to say anything. I headed straight for my room and didn’t look back, even though I heard Andrew calling my name the entire time. I slammed my door shut and locked it so Andrew wouldn’t be able to get it. I backed away from the door, feeling the tears start to fall down my face, even though I never wanted them to. Then again, I never wanted a lot of things to happen, but they just did.

Andrew was at the door, “Audrey. Audrey please open the door. Come on. Just talk to me. You know you can talk to me. Please.”

I ignored him and put my headphones in. I turned my iPod on full volume and laid down on my bed. I brought my arm up to cover my eyes, just in case Andrew found a way to get into my room. I let the tears flow now. No one was in my