Silence by Rebekah Shimer (summer books TXT) 📕

she meant Delilah's room, but I didn’t really want to. I knew that just seeing her old room would make me emotional. We slowly walked up to her room and Lindy waited for me to go in first. I walked into her room warily, not really sure what I was going to see. I immediately smiled in spite of myself when I saw her room. Her walls were covered in posters of movies, some of which included Twilight, Mean Girls, and Beastly. Delilah always loved movies that I had never really liked. I had only ever seen Twilight because she had literally dragged me into the movie theatre to see it with her.

Her mom said, “I’ve made a small box for you with the things that I know she would want you to have. If you want anything else, just take it. It won't bother me a bit. Just please ask before you take it so I don’t think it just went missing.”

I nodded and she smiled at me as she left to go back to the kitchen. I walked around Delilah’s room for a few minutes before I actually looked at the box. Inside the box, there were pictures of us when we were littler, an old pair of sunglasses that matched the same pair of mine, her bracelets of her favorite bands, a CD that we always took with us on a road trip, and her favorite necklace of all time. I picked the necklace up and inspected it closer than I had before. The necklace had a pendant that looked similar to an angel on a silver chain. The angel didn’t really look that much like an angel, but that was all that we were able to think of when trying to explain it to Logan and Edwyn. Of course she never wore it on a regular basis to not break it, but it was still a gorgeous necklace.

I knew that Lindy had put this necklace in the box only because I had bought it for her in the first place for her fifteenth birthday. The only time I could remember seeing her wear it was her first sophomore prom experience. She had a white dress with silver slits in the bottom half of it, which matched the necklace perfectly. Her earrings looked like three diamonds that were hanging to each other only by a chain. Her hair looked beautiful with it being half-up and half-down with eight layers of curls in it. She walked in and literally silenced the entire entry hallway.

I was walking next to her, but I looked like a dingy dust ball while standing next to her. I smiled at the thought of her wearing the necklace at prom and placed it back into the box. I closed the box lid and looked around the room one last time. I knew that I wouldn’t ask for anymore things of Delilah’s, since it was already impressive that her parents were willing to give up that much of Delilah’s things. I walked back down to the kitchen with the box carefully in my grasp. The last thing I wanted was to drop the box and have the necklace shatter into a million pieces. I walked into the kitchen and Lindy smiled.

She asked with a little confusion in her voice, “You didn’t want anything else?”

I shook my head and said, “This is more than enough. Thank you for letting me have some of her things. It really means a lot to me.”

She nodded quickly and I could tell that she was really close to crying.

I asked mostly to change the subject, “Where’s Mark?”

She said while trying to will away the tears, “He’s at work. That’s all he ever does nowadays.”

I smiled encouragingly at her, but she didn’t smile back.

She said weakly, “I’m sorry but I really am tired. I was just about to lay down for a quick snooze before you came.”

“Oh please. I was just about to go anyway. Thanks for having me over Mrs. Locke.”

“Oh it’s no trouble deary. No trouble at all.”

I nodded and she walked me to the front door.

She said as she shut the door, “Thanks again.”

I nodded, but she didn’t see it before the door was shut. I walked back down to my car, not really taking my abrupt leaving personally. I could tell the entire time that she was still shaken up about the whole thing. Who wasn’t? I couldn’t even wrap my mind around the amount of pain and loss that Lindy must’ve been feeling. I got into my car and put the box into the passenger seat, making sure that it wasn’t going to topple over as I drove. I drove back down to my house, which wasn’t really all that far. I probably could’ve walked down to Delilah’s house, but in all honesty, I was really too lazy. I made a mental note on becoming less lazy.

I pulled into the driveway and saw that the living room light was on. Mom never really watched the TV, so I was wondering what was going on. I shut my car off and gently picked up the box of Delilah’s things. I walked up to my house and opened the door. I heard the news in the living room, which I found even more odd. My mom never watched the TV, let alone the news. I walked into the kitchen, only to find my mom making supper in the kitchen.

I asked her slowly, “If you’re in here, then who’s in there?”

She smiled and said sweetly, “Edwyn came by after his run, but you weren’t here. He decided that he was going to wait here for you. I guess he had something really important to tell you.”

I set the box down on the table that was in the foyer gingerly, trying not to upset it’s contents. I walked into the living room and saw that Edwyn was sitting on the floor.

I said sarcastically, “You know you can sit on the couch right?”

He turned around quickly and I could tell that I had scared him. He quickly covered it up and smiled up at me.

He said, “Why on earth would I sit on your couch when there is a perfectly good, soft carpet here? Why else would there be carpet in a room other than the reason to sit on it?”

I shook my head and rolled my eyes at him as I sat down on the couch.

I asked him as I played with his hair, “What made you come all the way over to my house and wait for me exactly?”

His expression turned grim for a second and he said slowly, “Audrey. They found out who killed Delilah.”

I sat up and stared at him “What?”

“Tom Adler killed Delilah. They’ve taken him into custody and he’s going to court on Monday. They’ve got a lot of hard evidence on him and they’re really convinced that he did it, which I don’t blame them for. He’s got a criminal record already.”

I was quiet. I didn’t really know what to say to Edwyn. What was I supposed to say? That I was happy that they had found the killer? Of course I was happy that they found out who the killer was so he wouldn’t do it again, but what real, hard evidence did they have against him?

I asked Edwyn, “What do they have against him?”

“They found some of her blood in his backyard and they were able to trace it all the way down to where they found Delilah. They found some of her DNA like hair and skin that were on his clothes and things in his house. All the evidence is there Audrey. They got him.”

I let out a deep breath and ran my hand through my hair.

He asked me quietly, “Aren’t you happy they found out who did it?”

“Of course I am I just can’t believe that they found him so quickly.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well don’t you think that Tom would’ve been more careful when he did it? Like you said, he’s got a criminal record. Wouldn’t he know that he had to be careful about it?”

“You can’t really hide DNA Audrey. It’s there and there’s no way of making it go away.”

I nodded, not really wanting to argue with him.

He said after a few seconds, “So Mark and Lindy don’t know then?”

I shook my head, remembering the box that Lindy had given me.

He said, “Do you think they’ll be glad? That they found the killer I mean?”

I shrugged my shoulders and he could tell that I was tired.

He said, “I think I’m going to have to go back home soon. My parents weren’t home when I left so they’re probably wondering where I am. See you tomorrow okay?”

I nodded and he walked out of the house. I grabbed the box and walked to my room slowly. I took out all of the contents of the box and set them out on my bed. I grabbed the picture of us when we were littler and set it on my bedside table. I used the sunglasses to prop the picture up and smiled as I put the CD by the picture. I knew that I would be listening to the CD soon since it had most of my favorite bands on it. It had songs from Maroon 5, Linkin Park, and Skillet. I got ready for bed and laid down slowly. I knew that there was going to be a buzz around school tomorrow about finding Delilah’s killer. I brought the covers up to my chin and closed my eyes. I fell asleep, thinking of what was going to happen at school.

When I woke up, it was to the sound of my alarm clock. I shut it off and got ready for school. I slowly drove to school, not really wanting to go. I was tempted to tell my mom that I wasn’t feeling good and just stay home for the day. I parked in the school parking lot and walked into school. Just as I had suspected, everyone looked over at me as I entered. A few people just turned away when they saw that it was me, but some people just kept staring at me. I felt like screaming at them to stop, but I just ignored them. I walked to my locker and Edwyn crept up to my locker slowly.

I raised my eyebrows at him when I asked, “What’s up?”

Edwyn said slowly, “Tom’s not the killer.”

“What? You said last night-“

“Everyone said last night that Tom was the killer. He’s not.”

My heart was pounding at what I was hearing. Tom wasn’t the killer. He didn’t kill Delilah.

I asked him slowly, “How do you know this?”

“Emily was found in the same lake as Delilah last night. She was murdered.”

Decisions

Edwyn

 

I can’t believe what I just heard on the news. Tom Adler was innocent. How will I tell Audrey? I was the one who told her in the first place that Tom was guilty and now, he’s being found innocent. This will only add to her stress levels, what with all that happened to Logan and everything. I still don’t know what to think about that.

He seemed fine one day and then he just seemed to go