Silence by Rebekah Shimer (summer books TXT) 📕

I pulled out my phone and texted Logan, “Hey.”

I put my phone back in my pocket, but I froze when I heard the door open. My mom wasn’t supposed to be home for the rest of the night, or at least, that’s how it usually was. I held my breath, listening for any noise that the person might have made. After a while of no more noise, I told myself that I had just imagined the noise. I told myself that there wasn’t anyone in the house beside myself. I forced my body to let the deep breath that I had taken earlier out. I noticed that my hands were fidgeting, so I took out my iPod and started to play games on it. After a while, I had completely forgotten about the noise and was only focused on the game that I was playing.

I completely forgot about the game though, when I heard someone stepping outside of my room. My door was closed, but I could still hear someone walking in the hallway right outside of my room. It was almost as if the person was wearing heavy boots, and I knew that my mom didn’t own one pair of boots. I shut my iPod off and sat up in my bed. I waited to hear another noise, but there wasn’t a sound outside in the hallway. I slowly stood up and inched towards my doorway. I took a deep breath and swung the door open as fast as I could. I raised my fists and prepared myself for whatever was lurking about my house. I was surprised, however, to find that nothing, or no one, was there. Had I just imagined the noise? Was I going crazy?

Logan

After practice, I climbed into my car and headed in the direction of Bruce’s house. I pulled up into his driveway and huffed when I saw that no lights were on in his house. I got out of my car anyway and rang his doorbell. After a few seconds or so of waiting, I knocked on the door. When my fist connected with the door, it just swung open. I looked around and saw that no one else was on the street.

I yelled into the open door, “Hello? Bruce? Are you home?”

I walked into the house when I noticed a sign on the door for his parents.

It read:

Hey mom and dad. I went to the store to get some things. I’ll be back soon if you get home before I get back.

I assumed that he wouldn’t be mad at me if he knew that I was only in his house for a few minutes. I looked around the house when I walked in. The foyer seemed like it was in pretty bad condition, what with mud scattered everywhere on the floor, chipped paint that was peeling off of the walls, and bare floor where some of the tiles were missing. I walked through the foyer and ended up just standing in the middle of a hallway. There was a flight of stairs in front of me that led to the second floor and two openings in the wall opposite of each other that led into different parts of the house. There was also another tiny hallway, which was adjoined to the stairs, which led to a small kitchen.

I waited for a few minutes before deciding to lean against the wall that was next to the stairs. There was a metal radiator that I hadn’t noticed before that was next to the wall, so I just stood across from it. I noticed that the radiator was obviously old since it had a faded red look to it. I looked around the house before I heard the radiator turn itself on. It shook a little when it tried to fire itself up and I laughed at its pathetic attempt to turn on. When it was shaking, I heard a small plinking noise come from it. I bent down towards it to see what it was, but I couldn’t find where the noise was coming from for a few seconds.

When I had finally found out where the sound was coming from, I gasped and flew back into the wall. It couldn’t be. No. My shaky hand reached out towards the radiator and pulled the necklace off of the bar that it had gotten caught on. I turned it over in my hand and saw that it was a necklace of Delilah’s. It was covered in red, which I assumed to be blood. I looked at the radiator again and realized that the red was only in one general area. It wasn’t faded paint. It was blood. I pulled Delilah's necklace completely off of the radiator and stood up slowly.

I started to shake violently. Bruce had taken her away from me. He was the reason for all of my pain. Had I really just tried to help my girlfriend’s killer get over the death of his girlfriend? What about Emily? Did he kill her too? What kind of messed up thoughts would make him do such a thing? I slid down the wall slowly, afraid that my legs might have given out. I stared at the radiator for a few minutes. I was sitting on the spot where Delilah had died. I looked towards the kitchen and realized that Bruce was supposed to be back any minute.

I pulled my shaky self off of the floor and turned towards the front door. I gasped and took a few steps back when I saw Bruce standing in the doorway. He was shaking his head, which meant that he understood that I knew he had killed Delilah.

Bruce said menacingly, “What are you doing here Logan?”

All I could say was, “You killed her. You did it.”

Bruce sighed heavily, almost impatiently, and said angrily, “Yes. I was the one who killed her. I am the famous killer in this town.”

I took a few steps back and asked to buy time, “What about Emily? Did you kill her too?”

Bruce said sadly, “Yes. I had to. She was going to tell someone that I had killed Delilah, but I couldn’t have that. Especially when Emily helped me kill her.”

Emily? I knew that she was mean, but was she mean enough to kill someone?

I told him, “I have a right to know what happened to Delilah. Right now.”

Bruce laughed loudly as he shut the door behind him, “You don’t have anything Logan. Delilah’s gone, your friends don’t trust you, and Audrey-well she’s going to have a little surprise tonight, but don’t you worry about her.”

My hands clenched into fists at my side. He wasn’t going to kill again. I was going to stop him, even if it was the last thing I was going to do. I ran at him, but he knew what I was going to do before I even got near him. He dodged my punch and grabbed my wrist instead. He twisted my wrist and shoved me against the wall, using my entire arm against me.

He whispered threateningly, “Who knows? With you gone, who’s going to protect Audrey? Her little track star is just going to run when he sees who he’s up against.”

I gritted my teeth together and said back, “You won’t touch her.”

“Who’s going to stop me?”

“Me.”

I spun around and butted my head against his. He stepped back, not expecting my blow. I lunged at him before he had the chance to recover and we both fell to the floor. We rolled around the floor and I tried to punch him in the stomach while we were down, but he was doing the same thing. Neither of us was getting anywhere, so I decided to just pin him down on the ground. At least then he wouldn’t punch me anymore. I grabbed both of his arms, but he realized what I was trying to do.

He brought his knee up and put it between us, making it impossible for me to pin him down. He used all of his leg strength and pushed me off of him. He threw me down to his side and pinned me down. He had managed to do what I had tried, but failed, to do without even really seeming to think about it. I tried to get him off of me, but he had my arms pinned with his legs, which left his arms free. I looked up into his face and he leaned real close to my face. Our noses were inches apart and he smiled.

He whispered, “I ask again. Who’s going to stop me? I’m going to make Audrey my next target. I’ll gain her trust, and then use it against her. And you know what? You won’t be able to do a thing about it.”

I open my mouth to retaliate, but no answer comes out. I feel an enormous amount of pain coming from my side; so I looked down to see what it was. I saw a small knife protruding from my side and I knew that I was going to die. I had already lost a lot of blood and more was coming out.

Bruce said, almost as if I were a nuisance, “You’re going to be a lot harder to clean up than the girls. I don’t think I’ll be able to carry you down to the lake myself. Hmm. Maybe you can help me.”

I gave him a confused look when he got off of me. Did he really expect me to just throw myself into the freezing lake without complaint or fight? He grabbed my arm to make me stand up, but I willed my whole body go limp when he tried to lift me. He huffed and threw my arm down. He looked at me for a few seconds before he smiled. He grabbed the knife that was still protruding from my side and pushed it in even more, which seemed impossible since the hilt was already at my side. When he pushed it in more, it seemed as if all of my muscles and bones in my body were on fire. I screamed out, but Bruce just covered my mouth with his hand.

He said, “Now. You’re going to help me or I’ll stick another in you.”

I knew that I couldn’t let this guy hurt Audrey, so I stayed where I was.

Bruce said, “You’re more noble than most people. I’ll be right back.”

He walked back into the kitchen and I knew that he was going to get another knife. I looked towards the door and started to crawl towards it. I couldn’t really move as fast as I would’ve liked, but I still tried to go as fast as my wounded body would’ve let me. I was almost to the door when I heard Bruce coming up behind me.

He said, “Now look at what you’ve done! You’ve made a bigger mess for me to clean up!”

He grabbed my arm and pulled me back to my original spot on the floor. I almost cried out at the pain that shot through