In our society the problem with being grabbed in a dark room was you don’t have the ability to use your voice to scare people off or call for help and it was a real problem that many people had taken advantage of. I tried to reach my bag to get my torch to distract whoever this was, but I could not as the firm shoulder grip kept me from turning around. I pushed my bag and tried to hit whoever was behind me and as I was about to do it a face appeared.
It was a face I was so familiar with all my life and I stopped, stunned in my tracks. Was it a ghost? As I began dropping to my feet Oliver caught me in his arms.
Oliver was here, alive and I did not know if I was hallucinating from the insane heat or had crossed the border into madness. Was I dreaming? I could not believe my eyes initially and rubbed them again, but his face remained in front of me.
Oliver looked at me. “M take a slow and deep breath! It is really me!”
“How… how…. it isn’t possible,” I signed. I did not understand why I was even talking to a hallucination.
Oliver shook me gently and looked straight into my eyes as if reading my mind. “It is really me. Look at me! I am not a ghost!”
His hand touched my cheek and feeling the warmth from it I reached out and touched his hand back. It was true as so many questions and feelings invaded my thoughts at the same time.
“Oliver, I thought you died in the explosion. What is going on?” I signed rapidly.
Oliver closed the front door, pointed to a corner in the back of the room, asked me to sit down on the floor over there and I, reluctantly, sat down and waited.
He started gesturing. “I am really sorry M. There was no other way. On the day of the explosion I received a small package which had no sender’s name or details. It was only addressed to me and this made me immediately suspicious. Maybe I wouldn’t have been so suspicious if not for the link I sent you earlier on “the process” about this place and I was very fortunate I had been suspicious. I quickly took my bike and rushed out of there through the back entrance and I wasn’t out of the bookstore but for a minute or two before the explosion happened. I was thrown off my bike and had to crawl out of the area. I was so scared.”
I touched his hand again just to reassure myself he was real, and I hadn’t died of heatstroke.
“But how did you know it was the package?” I motioned.
This was all my fault because if not for my involving Oliver in whatever “the process” thing was he wouldn’t have been in this situation now. I shouldn’t have brought this upon him because he didn’t deserve it. What kind of person was I to do this to my best friend?
“I heard some kind of ticking inside the package when I went near it. The moment I heard it, I immediately got out of there and I didn’t have time to tell my boss or you or anyone. I was lucky to be the only one left in the bookstore at the time,” Oliver signed. “The explosion confirmed someone was after me and its possible I had clicked the wrong link when searching for the process, something was triggered, and someone was alerted. I did not know where to go or who to trust, but I knew I couldn’t contact you directly in case someone was watching you. So, I decided to investigate the location I sent you which was the only evidence I had, and I arrived here a day ago.”
I was really glad Oliver had the sixth sense to know something was wrong.
“But how did you know I would show up here,” I interrupted his story.
“I really did not know but since it was the last thing I shared with you I thought you might connect the dots and come here. It was a risky bet I know and once I got here I decided to wait and see if you would show up,” Oliver gestured. “Since I didn’t know who sent the package and what was going on, I didn’t have many options left.”
“I don’t know what to say….,” I started to sign.
Oliver waved his hands. “Don’t even go there, M. You had no clue what was going to happen when you asked me to research on this process thingy and I know you would never put me in harm’s way. This wasn’t your fault.”
It was true, but I hadn’t told Oliver the whole story and I felt guilty for leaving him out in the dark.
Oliver continued. “I am the one who should be sorry M for what I put you through and I cannot even expect you to understand why I did what I did. I know it must have been horrible for you to think I died, and you must have been devastated by the news. I would understand if you didn’t want to be friends in the future.”
I stared at him and smiled. “Don’t be silly stupid! If I didn’t want to remain friends why would I even come out here in the middle of nowhere? I came out here to find the truth for your sake Oliver so that your supposed death would mean something.”
Oliver smiled.
“And how come we are no longer best friends now?” I signed back with a smile.
Oliver grinned.
I was glad he was alive, and it didn’t matter now to me why he chose to do what he did because he was right here in front of me alive and kicking. Somehow this part of my life had made a resurrection and was the first good news I had gotten since the awful day meeting the woman at the car explosion. I knew I had been given this second chance with Oliver and I planned to make sure I didn’t ever lose him again.
“I should be the one saying sorry to you,” I signed. “If I had not asked you to find something on the process we wouldn’t be here, and you would be still enjoying your books at the bookstore.
“Books are only things, M,” Oliver motioned. “Yes, I do like them a lot, but they can always be replaced.”
“Still I know the bookstore meant a lot to you,” I gestured. “It was like your second home and you cherished it so much.”
Oliver waved away my apology. “Enough with the apologies okay? I am sure the owner will rebuild it using the insurance coverage and, after all, what would Thomson be without its biggest bookstore.”
“So, what about this building?” I signed hoping he found something. “Have you been able to find any connection between it and the process?”
Oliver shrugged his shoulders. “This building is empty, and I looked everywhere inside and outside, but there was nothing here. I think I made a mistake sending the link to you.”
“Well if not for the link I wouldn’t have found you,” I signed with a smile.
So, this was a dead-end and Oliver nearly died for nothing, but an abandoned building.
“I have something important to share with you and you must promise to keep it a secret,” I continued.
Oliver nodded and looked at me in anticipation, but I doubt he was ready for what I was going to share. I told him everything about the day of the incident including the sound I made, the guy Josh from the Magistrate visiting my home and Susie contacting me, but I did not tell him about the second sound for now.
Oliver eyes widened. “Are you sure M? Are you sure it was you who made the sound?”
“I was not sure about anything in the beginning,” I signaled. “I even thought I had imagined it, but as time passed by I became surer I was the one who did it. After everything which has happened to you, you deserve to know the truth. You nearly lost your life because of it.”
Oliver’s facial expression told me he was still processing my secret and I knew I did the right thing because I needed to share this burden with someone else who is none other than my best friend.
“I am going to say sorry one more time,” I gestured. “I am sorry for not trusting you with this information from the start, but I needed some time to deal with it myself.”
Oliver again waved it off. “This is quite serious M. No wonder there are so many rumors about the incident and I am sure those people near the car accident heard it and told the police and it explains the army presence, the Josh guy visiting you and even Susie, of all people, contacting you. By the way you better be careful of Susie and don’t trust her with anything. I still cannot believe a human being can make a sound.”
I could not tell if Oliver was annoyed I didn’t trust him earlier
with this information, but it was too late to worry about it now. His warning about Susie was unusual though because it wasn’t the kind of thing Oliver says although I knew Oliver worked on some school and community projects with Susie last year, but I decided not to ask him any more about her.
“Now it all makes sense. This was why you had so many questions the other day M,” Oliver smiled. “Do you know how you were able to make the sound though?”
I shook my head. “It is still a mystery and I was hoping this place would have some answers for me, but I guess not.”
“The only thing this place has is a lot of nothing,” Oliver recounted. “I have never seen a wasted space such as these buildings and there is no clue of what this place was even used for.”
I looked around and agreed with him because there wasn’t even any old furniture around to give a hint of the purpose of this building and it was as if this place was completely wiped clean of any sign of life.
“Do you think that guy Josh suspects you made the sound?” Oliver signed.
“I think he suspects something about me but isn’t so sure about it,” I motioned.
“So was it you who was following me all this time?” I continued signing. Somehow the possibility of him following me brought some comfort to me but it was a short-lived thought.
“Following you....,” Oliver looked puzzled. “I have been right here ever since the night of the bookstore explosion. After I cleaned myself up I got rid of the bike, went home, packed some stuff and left. Why do you think someone was following you?”
“I am not sure, but it was this unusual feeling I got twice today on the way here,” I gestured as I recounted my journey to this building.
Oliver’s expression changed instantly. “We need to leave this place now.”
Before either of us could take one step to leave the building we heard footsteps approaching the front door and it seemed to be more than a pair. Looking around the room, I realized there was no place to hide.
ELEVEN
Oliver raced to the other end of the room, waved for me to join him and I was surprised at how quickly he reacted because it was the first time I had seen him move so fast. It was as if he knew what to do in these situations or hiding out since the explosion had made him alert to the situation and changed him in some ways. Anyway, I didn’t know what he was doing because there was no back door out of this place. I rushed over as I heard the footsteps stop in front of the door, Oliver pointed to a hatch on the floor and I realized the building had an underground cellar of some kind. We both shuffled down into the cellar closing the wooden hatch door barely making it in as the front door creaked open.
Snippets of sunlight tried to invade into the cellar through the edges of the hatch door as the footsteps marched into the room. The darkness of the cellar prevented me from seeing Oliver’s face as the footsteps began slowly moving around the room and from the movement it appeared to be two people.
How I wish I could have heard what they were talking about, but this was the life of living in a society where we couldn’t make sounds. I tried to peer through the same holes bringing in the sunlight to check what the people were talking about but Oliver seeing what I was trying to do pushed me back. Oliver signed something which I could not make out clearly in the dark but common sense said it was most likely a warning to stay quiet and I stopped moving about.
Were these the people who followed me, and did I blindly lead them to Oliver? As my heart started its marathon I tried to sign to Oliver but realized my hands were beginning to tremble and the darkness was no help in relaying my message to him. How foolish of me? I stared up at the hatch door expecting it to open any second now with guns pointed at us and for both me and Oliver to get hauled out by whoever was up there. My bet was those footsteps walking above belonged to some army guys like those I saw at the vicinity of the accident, which made sense to some extent because there was no real reason for the Thomson police to be way out here in the middle of nowhere.
My thoughts continued to consume me again. What had I done since Oliver was hiding off the radar from everyone until I let myself be followed. The muscles on my face began to tighten. Was this how everything was going to end out here in the middle of nowhere? Had my carelessness caused this? What stories would the news report or would they even report this? Instead, would Oliver and I be two more random people who disappeared into the fabric of time. Since everyone thought Oliver was already dead from the bookstore explosion it left only me, and I was sure the Magistrate could create some fake news to cover their tracks and who knew they could even report I died in my grief for my best friend. Only recently turned sixteen years old, got my first gold Council birthday card and this was how it was going to end.
One pair of footsteps stopped right on top of us blocking the snippets of light and this person was standing right over the hatch door. Would this person notice a hatch door there? When I first walked in I never noticed the hatch door and I am praying these people, whoever sent them, would not spot it either. The power of observation wasn’t my thing, I always needed a bit more time to notice the unusual amongst the ordinary and, as I hang onto this thin strip of hope about these people not being trained to observe things, my gut told me the chances of it was very slim to none. If these people were from the army, they would had probably undergone hours of training to notice things as I heard the other pair of footsteps slowly moving around the four corners of the room. It was as if the people above were looking for someone which could only mean they knew someone had been here and I still thought it must have been my foolishness which led them here and I should have been more alert and not been such a newbie in making this journey.
My heart was now thundering in my chest and it seemed like my heart wasn’t going to be able to finish the marathon today and, as my vision began to get a tinge bit blurred, my hands continued shaking at a faster pace and the muscles on my face began to tremble, I felt something trying to rise out of my throat.
No! I realized I was about to release a sound but I knew I could not allow it to happen here and now and I tried to fight against the sound with every ounce of my will because if I released the sound here, not only would we get caught, but whoever was upstairs would have the evidence they needed to know I was the source of it and who knew what would happen to me. I tried to control it by shutting my mouth tightly and placing one of my shaking hands over it. Oliver remained motionless and didn’t notice the intense battle I was having with myself.
In the moment something clicked in me about the sound and it’s trigger, and I realized the sound I was making was connected to my emotions. Who would have thought emotions would be the trigger and why didn’t I get it before? Of course, it made some sense now that I thought about it although I still did not understand everything but, at least, now I had a major clue. The ongoing battle of preventing the sound from being released by my throat was swept away by this new revelation and I wanted to punch the air with my fists and break into a weird dance of victory, but I knew both of these actions would be stupid and dangerous in the cellar. Fortunately, for the both of us, my urge to release a sound vanished as fast as it had emerged, the trembling throughout my face disappeared, my vision became clear again and I was back in control.
Oliver turned to look at me and must have noticed something going on with me because he frowned briefly, pointed upwards and put a finger to his mouth to signal I should keep very quiet. He probably thought I could not handle it, was being another immature teenage girl but, to be honest, I could care less about what he thought right now as I was so stoked with this new information and it felt like I had gone to the next level. Oliver didn’t know what I knew, but I followed his instructions and kept as still as possible.
Finally I knew more about what was actually going on with me and, even though it wasn’t the complete picture, I felt it was like some sort of vindication for me because it was my emotions of being scared and helpless to save the woman and her unborn child
on the day of the accident which had released the sound and it was my sadness behind losing Oliver, my best friend, which triggered it again in the kitchen.
I didn’t understand how come this had never happened to me before because it was not like I was an emotionless person and I could remember many times where I had been emotional before the day of the car explosion incident with a few of those occasions having been in school, obviously.
The only answer I could come up with and made sense was something inside of me had changed which now allowed my emotions to trigger a sound response but if it was happening to me it should also be happening to other people in Thomson. I was not so special, and I could not be the only one out there who was experiencing this newfound power which was funny how I thought of it as a power because the ability to speak was actually the way we were designed to live. The confusion I used to have every time a sound was released was now no more but then again emotions had never been a big thing for us humans today. I had seen Felix and my classmates be emotional but somehow the level of emotion they showed and its impact to those around them had always been limited and it was like our emotions were always held back by something beyond our control and I thought it was linked to our inability to speak.
Piercing Through the Silence Page 5
