Piercing Through the Silence

by James Sandepp

  “But do you think this larynx thing could actually grow back?” I signed.

  “I see where you are going with this,” Oliver smiled at me. “If I remember correctly history did say people thought like you did in those days right after the superbug happened. They even tried to find ways to do what you mentioned, but all the attempts failed. I mean people became desperate, especially after the discovery this superbug was affecting every new-born too.”

  “What kind of things did they try?” I motioned.

  “I cannot remember what they tried but I recalled there was a group of scientists running a series of experiments, but these were considered to be unethical and illegal,” Oliver gestured. “They apparently tested their ideas on some live patients with horrific results.”

  “What happened to them?” I signaled.

  “The group of scientists were eventually arrested and imprisoned,” Oliver indicates. “There were many old news stories about it and the whole country was shocked by it. So, why the sudden interest in all this?”

  “I am curious about it,” I motioned.

  “Really? That’s a first for you. Today, you are really full of unusual questions huh?” Oliver signed in amusement. “Anyway, it has been centuries now and I doubt anyone would try such experiments today. Many laws were put in place after the scientist incident to prevent more people trying such dangerous things and even if they had tried to, don’t you think growing the larynx back would have happened by now?”

  I looked down quietly in agreement since I am sure the brightest minds over the centuries had tried their best to recover the ability to speak. I decided to drop the subject so as not to arouse Oliver’s suspicions further because the last thing I needed was more people wondering about me. I told Oliver I need to head back and left.

  As I was turning the handle to my front door I noticed a new pair of shiny black shoes and realized there was someone new here today.

  SIX

  Closing the front door, I walked in trying my best not to show any signs of nervousness while my heart had decided to start running a marathon of its own.

  As I turned to face the living room Felix was sitting and discussing something with a man, who seemed to be in his late thirties with blond hair and wearing a dark suit and tie.

  Felix saw me first, beckoned me to come over and I nodded and walked over to him.

  “This is Mr Josh,” Felix gestured to me.

  Josh stood up, extended his hand and I grasped it gently and after shaking hands I sat down beside Felix.

  “Hello Marinette. Nice to finally meet you and happy belated birthday,” Josh signed.

  “Nice to meet you,” I signaled.

  How did he know it was my birthday? Did Felix tell him before I walked in? But I doubt it because it would be an awkward thing to tell a stranger.

  “Josh is part of the Magistrate’s crime division and he is visiting each of the homes on our street and today is our turn. He is here to talk to us about the incident which happened recently. You know the one I mentioned today morning at breakfast,” Felix signed and turned towards Josh. “I even told Marinette here we can expect people to come by to question us.”

  Josh smiled briefly, and I instantly didn’t like him as there was something about him which made my skin crawl. I was not against the police nor the Magistrate, but something was different with Josh although I could not pinpoint what was making me feel like this.

  “Ohhhh,” I gestured casually pretending to be not interested.

  This was the first time in my life I was meeting someone from the Magistrate itself and this could be why he knew it was my birthday. He probably did some background check on Felix and I before coming over which could be a normal thing to do I guess.

  I could sense Josh’s eyes upon me, but I did not look at him for now but instead kept my gaze looking down.

  Josh took charge. “As we were discussing earlier, Felix, I was wondering if you were in the vicinity on the day of the incident.”

  “No, I was actually at work,” Felix motioned. “I only remembered hearing it on the way back from work because you know how people are when something like this happens. Let me just say it was the only topic of conversation on the bus on that day.”

  “Which is expected,” Josh signed and turns to me. “How about you Marinette? Were you anywhere near the vicinity?”

  “I was walking on the way home after my bus got stuck in a huge traffic jam, but I didn’t even know much about it until Felix told me the next morning,” I gestured.

  “Do you remember which road you walked along?” Josh signed.

  “It was one of the side roads. Sorry I don’t remember much, but I did get lost a bit and then managed to find my way home. Come to think of it I did hear like a bang, but I thought it was from the traffic jam and never thought about it again until today morning,” I motioned.

  “How fortunate for you not to be involved,” Josh responded in kind. “The Magistrate was hoping to find out if anyone had seen anything regarding the day of the incident.”

  “If you don’t mind me asking what is so important about the incident? I mean to the extent the Magistrate needs to be so involved because it seemed like it was a normal accident,” Felix indicated.

  “Well you do know accidents are quite rare here in Thomson,” Josh signaled. “And when something like this happens we want to find out exactly what happened. For this case the matter is still under investigation and I am unable to say anything more at this time.”

  The intensity of Josh’s eyes remaining on me made me feel like he was peering into the deepest parts of my soul and it made me extremely uncomfortable. Why did he have to stare at me? Did he know something? I tried to stay as calm as possible and kept my hands firmly around my phone while my heart came around for another lap in its marathon. It was the only way to keep my hands from shaking out of control.

  My phone buzzed and looking at my phone there was a message from Oliver which reads, “Got something on the process” with a link attached to it. I stared at the message and quickly switched off the phone.

  “Sorry to disappoint you Mr Josh,” Felix signed in conclusion. “Hopefully, whatever is going on isn’t too serious and can be resolved quickly.”

  “I am certain it is only a matter of time before it gets resolved,” Josh gestured standing up. “I need to move onto the next house now. Thank you both for your patience and cooperation and have a nice day.”

  Felix stood and accompanied Josh to the door as I pretended not to care and remained occupied with my phone.

  Josh turned around one last time to Felix and, unfortunately, caught me looking at him and I was annoyed with myself for letting it happen.

  “The good thing was we have cameras near the vicinity,” Josh signed. “And we managed to get some partial video footage which my colleagues in the department, at this very moment, are processing. So, as you said we should be able to resolve this quickly and uncover the truth.”

  My heart collapsed near the finish line as the realization sank in there were cameras and, maybe, if I was so unlucky, more than one of them were pointed in the direction where I was standing. Was I captured on it and what did he mean by partial footage? If the camera had clearly captured me I did not think I would be still sitting here in my home but, instead, be on the way to the police station or the Magistrate’s crime division for further questioning.

  Felix returned to the room and I wanted to go to my room, but I knew he had something on his mind because it was his style and I braced for it.

  “Marinette you were in the vicinity of the car explosion, weren’t you?” Felix signed.

  I looked at him with my mouth open, then looked down again and realized I had given away a part of my secret.

  “I knew it! I don’t know why you refused to tell the man about it, but you must be very careful,” Felix signaled. “Josh seems like a very intelligent guy and I think he knows more than he is telling us.”

  Felix
used to work in the Magistrate for a few years a long time ago but then left to work in the private industry and so I am guessing he was able to understand how the Magistrate people thought and operated.

  “The Magistrate gets what it wants in the end,” Felix continued. “I do not want you getting in their way. They do run this town and for your sake I hope you are not anywhere in whatever camera footage they have. I also hope we never see him again because I don’t have a good feeling about him.”

  Well I am glad Felix and I shared this suspicion about Josh, but, somehow, I felt this wasn’t the last time I would be seeing Josh.

  I knew Felix was both angry and concerned at the same time. Felix never had children of his own nor any siblings and bringing me up had been a learning experience for him which he had done amazingly well. He was not the strict kind of parent who was always checking on me but rather he gave me the freedom and responsibility which went with it and I really appreciated it. I also sensed a tinge of fear in the way he spoke about the Magistrate which concerned me a lot, but I didn’t want to ask him more about it now.

  “Promise me you will be careful Marinette,” Felix concluded. “These people are not always so gentle and nice like Josh pretended to be earlier.”

  I didn’t respond, but nodded and returned to my room.

  SEVEN

  I woke up and realized it was only a bad dream but could still feel the tears streaming down my face while the dream remained fresh in my mind. In it I was being chased in the woods by a group of people led by Josh armed with bows and arrows and they were trying to capture me, and it seemed like they didn’t care whether they caught me dead or alive. I heard dogs barking to my right and sensed the dogs were chasing me too from another direction. Felix was standing in front of me and was gesturing for me to run faster and on my left the pregnant woman from the burning car stood on the edge of a cliff and her lips were repeating those three nonsensical words again and again. Then the woman fell backwards with her arms outstretched, disappeared from my eyesight and I fell onto my knees in desperation. Then two dogs were in front of me growling ferociously and both of them lunged towards me as I placed my hands up in self-defence and this was where the bad dream ended.

  It had been two days since my birthday and my encounter with the woman and, to be honest, it wasn’t the birthday I had expected at all. Since the day of the incident I had tried to repeatedly recreate the sound in my room, but all of my attempts had ended in nothing.

  I went down for breakfast and found Felix had left me a note. “Had to rush to work! Breakfast is on the table. See you in the evening and sorry for being upset with you yesterday, but I am just concerned for you. Be careful Marinette!”

  It was always good to know Felix cared and I was very fortunate to have him as my guardian and I didn’t know of anyone else in my class or even my school who had such a caring guardian. I had heard of my classmates with two birth parents having all sorts of typical adult problems and their stories were full of drama so I was thankful I didn’t have to deal with all the adult controlling drama with Felix.

  I turned on the news and my attention was immediately captured by the headlines.

  The Magistrate news reporter gestured. “There was an explosion in a popular local bookstore last night. The bookstore called, Books & All, was the site of a yet unconfirmed gas explosion which led to more than 50% of the bookstore being destroyed and we are sad to report one of its workers also died during the explosion. It is not known whether he made it out or not, but it was confirmed by the owner the male employee was present in the bookstore at the time of the explosion. Rescue workers are still in the process of going through the charred ruins of the bookstore to recover the employee’s body.”

  My heart skipped a beat, my fingers started trembling like mad, the spoon flew off the table hitting the floor with a screeching sound and my throat became dry and I could not even swallow for the next several seconds. Oliver was the only male employee who worked at the bookstore and thus the chances it wasn’t him was zero. Why was this happening? Why were people around me dying? Was this some kind of punishment for not helping the woman and her unborn child the other day? I wanted to help her and I knew I was a worthless coward because of it, but Oliver was an innocent, who had nothing to do with anything and he didn’t even know what was really going on. Oliver had always been my fortress ever since we were young and he became the only person I knew I could truly trust, but I could not believe now he was gone.

  A sound pierced my kitchen, but this time it was a wailing-like one which remained for at least ten to fifteen seconds in the atmosphere before disappearing. I gripped both ends of the table as the sound made its presence felt and I could sense real, raw power in the middle of the sound and my grip was the only thing which kept me from falling to the floor.

  The shock of the sound I made overtook the shock of the news of the death of my best friend in life. The trembling in my fingers now had spread to my whole body as my vision started to become hazy and I was unable to control myself and thought I was going to puke. After a few minutes my body stopped shaking, my vision cleared, I stared at the news again, but the news reporter had moved on to other things and was now reporting on some charity event.

  Regaining full control of myself I spun around with a sense of relief because I remembered Felix was not around and, if he had been at home, things would have gotten so much worse. Had anyone outside heard the sound I made? I looked outside the kitchen window with the uneasy expectation of seeing a hundred pairs of gossiping eyes glued to the glass, but there was no one outside. On the street the people were moving about their business as usual and no one seemed to have been attracted in my direction. I breathed out and closed my eyes for a little while.

  I realized how dangerous it was making the sound in my own home because if anyone had heard it there would no longer need to be any investigation and the Magistrate would take both me and Felix into custody and that would be the end of it and us. Who knew what the Magistrate would do to me? I tried not to think too much and made a note to myself to be extremely careful in my reaction to things. I now knew one small thing about the sound which was that it was connected in part to my reaction to things happening around me and this meant I needed to find a way to control it.

  The vibration of my phone disrupted my relief at not getting caught and checking the phone there was a message from Susie. “Hi Marinette! How are you?”

  Why was Susie, the most popular girl in high school and the one whose dad works at the Magistrate, messaging me at this hour? The last part made me wonder because her dad working in the Magistrate was no secret and I didn’t know where I heard it from, but it was probably from the usual gossip making rounds amongst my classmates. I was also not sure if Susie put the information out there herself as being and maintaining your popular status in school was a full-time gig and I seriously don’t know how she managed to do it and still maintain very good grades. Everyone knew she was one of the top performing students in the school.

  I replied to her politely, “Hi Susie! I am okay. What’s going on?”

  I chose to be direct instead of engaging in mindless chatting since it was not like I knew her well enough to ask her anything useful and I was not in the mood to deal with her now.

  Susie’s reply came back as fast as I sent mine. “That’s great! Anyway, did you hear about the incident near your place? Everyone’s talking about it!”

  I wished I had never seen the woman who died in the car, not been there at the corner of the street where the explosion happened and was not forced to take a walk because of the traffic jam on the day. None of this would then be happening to me and my life would have continued its intended path of normal.

  Now I know why the most popular girl in school was messaging me and I was disappointed. Why do people talk to you only when they need something? I saw it in everyone across every age group and even Felix was always complaining about such people in his workplace. This horrib
le habit was a like a disease we were all born with and life would have been so much simpler if the superbug had wiped away this disease instead of our ability to speak.

  I focused back on Susie. Does she want some gossip and how exactly did she get my number? Who did she think she was and what right did she have to message me?

  I replied to her. “How did you get this number?”

  Rude as it was I didn’t care at this moment.

  The phone remained silent. A minute passed by before Susie’s response arrived. “I am really sorry to disturb you Marinette but I actually heard you were in the area of the incident from my dad.”