Piercing Through the Silence

by James Sandepp

  I was scared, frozen in place because I did not know how I was able to do this and didn’t even know speaking the word “open” had so much power although it came out with such a determination and confidence from within me. Not knowing how to speak nor never having learnt to speak I still did not know how it was even possible as the dust settled, and I stood facing into the room. All those thoughts disappeared as Oliver appeared in front of me with a confused look but once he saw me he broke into a smile. I rushed inside, hugged him tightly, noticing he hadn’t gotten enough sleep and I dared not ask what they had been doing to him here.

  “What…. what are you…. How did you get here, M?” Oliver signed still in confusion.

  Lucky for me he forgot to ask about the missing door meaning he must have been asleep when I destroyed the door with my sound. Somehow in his excitement to see me and escape he didn’t realize about the door and even if he did ask I didn’t know where I would start to explain to anyone about a door vanishing right before my eyes.

  “I found you by following Mrs Wills,” I motioned with a smile. “I am so happy to see you Oliver. I was so scared I had lost you again.”

  I bite my lip to try and control my tears as Oliver touched my face, smiled again and his comforting touch eased my tearing.

  Oliver continued. “I am very impressed, M. You have surprised me beyond anything I could have imagined. I never thought I would see you again. I thought this was it when they caught me.”

  I was grinning ear to ear because impressing Oliver, the guru who knows all, wasn’t an easy thing to do.

  “Let’s get out of here first,” Oliver motioned. “You can update me on what’s going on later. We need to put some distance between us and Josh and his gang and do it fast.”

  Oliver started to lead me out of the room and he collapsed to the ground and, as I stopped to help him, I froze when Josh appeared in front of the entrance to the room blocking the only way out.

  TWENTY

  I stared at Josh and then at Oliver’s body lying motionless on the ground.

  “Your friend will be okay,” Josh indicated. “Anyway, I do not need him anymore now. He was a means to an end and I finally have you Marinette. I have been waiting for this ever since the first time we met.”

  I remained silent not wanting to engage with Josh and instead started thinking of a way out. I did not want to use the sound again here because if I did Josh would know about my new-found ability.

  Josh continued. “So my suspicions were right on about you. Marinette you are cleverer than any of us ever thought and this makes you far more dangerous. Mrs Wills is really quite stupid not to recognize it.”

  “I don’t know what you want with me,” I pretended ignorance in my reply. “Why are you hurting my friends? They are innocent.”

  “Oh please don’t try your pathetic lies with me,” Josh motioned. “This story line may work on poor Felix but it won’t with me. I know you are the one who made the sound at the car explosion. It had to be you because there was no one else as close as you in the vicinity which, at least, was confirmed by the Magistrate cameras.”

  I look confused. “You think I made the sound. Are you serious? I think you are crazy! I heard people talking about the sound in school and I think there was a sound but not from a person. People are only hoping it was from a person, but such an idea is just a fantasy.”

  I was surprised by my lack of fear in his presence and I couldn’t believe I replied him in this way without even thinking about it. It was as if someone else had taken control of my hands as the words flowed out of me so fast and my quick reply appeared to have stunned him and a tinge of doubt had begun to creep over his confident judgement of me.

  “Well what you think doesn’t matter now,” Josh motioned with a smirk on his face. “Do you know why I am here chasing after you?”

  I remained silent again because if he wanted to rant on about his reason for chasing me I might as well let him do it since I couldn’t stop him, and it gave me more time to think about how to escape from here. With Oliver still unconscious it would be difficult for me to drag him out of here and with Josh being bigger than me I wouldn’t be able to fight him off. He would be able to overpower me and even call his men over which would end everything fast.

  Josh continued his rant. “There was a time, a few generations ago when people actually spoke. Did you know this? Most likely not and I doubt Felix would have shared such things with you because he doesn’t seem the type. During those times the world was a horrible place to live in because the power of speaking and the power of words had such a negative impact on many lives. I am sure you don’t know what I am talking about and I doubt your generation would even understand it. You may be thinking that I am crazy, but my ancestors were destroyed emotionally through the power of words. My great great grandfather had a successful business, but those people against him took him apart bit by bit through wicked words which left him a broken man and he was even taken to courts and spit on by hateful words all of which changed him for the worse. All of this made me realize people by nature are bad and words only amplify their evil nature.”

  The level of hatred written all over Josh’s face as he mentioned his reasons scared me a bit, but also made me understand why Josh was so obsessed about this.

  “You may think I am crazy to talk about things many years ago, but I have heard the horror stories of my ancestors,” Josh motioned. “The power to speak is a weapon which should never have been given to humans because there is no good in it. Our inability to speak has made the world today so much safer and better and, although we can sign horrible words, it is very different from hearing it because what we hear has a huge difference on our hearts, souls and lives. I will never allow society to evolve into such a state again where innocent people are broken down by words. I know you may look at me as a monster, but there is a reason behind all this.”

  “I am not the one who kidnapped Mrs Wills’ child,” I signed. “What is your reason for doing such a horrible thing to a child?”

  “I do not get involved in such evil things,” Josh signed. “Those works are beyond me and by the way have you seen your Mrs Wills’ recent behavior? I am sure you must have been listening in to our earlier conversation. She is the real monster.”

  “If she is a monster it is only because you and the Magistrate made her into one,” I gestured.

  “Just because something bad happens to someone it doesn’t mean the victim becomes a monster,” Josh gestured. “Every day good people face horrible situations so what makes Mrs Wills’ situation so special? Tell me Marinette.”

  I really didn’t want to listen to this.

  “We all have the free will to decide how we react to the things life throws at us,” Josh signed. “I do agree Mrs Wills was thrown quite a bad curveball in life, but Mrs Wills had the freedom to make a choice and she made her choice. She became what she chose to be although she could have chosen differently.”

  I did not reply to him as there was no point in talking with him since the world he had created for himself could always be explained by him and he had no interest in listening to someone else’s opinion, let alone a sixteen-year-old girl’s one.

  “So now you know why I am here. Why are you here Marinette?” Josh signed.

  For Josh this was far more than catching me because he had a personal quest against the power of sound returning to humankind. I now knew I was in serious danger since Josh would not hesitate to kill me if he could prove I was the source of the sound. But, fortunately, my act of ignorance had thrown some doubt on his thoughts about me.

  “Why am I here? Why?” I signed pointing at Oliver’s motionless body. “You wrongly kidnapped my only friend for no good reason. Isn’t it a good enough reason for me to be here? Working for the Magistrate doesn’t mean you can kidnap people as you will. If I had made such a sound as you say how foolish would it be of me to come here of all places. I would be running far away from you and the Magistr
ate and telling the whole world of my new-found ability instead of sneaking into this place to save my friend.”

  The confidence behind my words again took him by surprise and he took one step back without making any immediate reply. My story and its unexpected strength was really working it’s magic.

  “You are either very brave or very stupid Marinette,” Josh signed. “This is not a game in your school we are playing. The very society we live in hangs in the balance and if you are not the source of the sound I think you know who it was. Was it the woman in the burning car? Did she try to communicate with you and what did she say to you?”

  “The woman in the burning car died!” I signed. “She died a cruel death. No one deserves dying in such a way and especially since she was pregnant.”

  In my outburst I knew I had revealed that I was there with the woman at the time of the explosion but I didn’t really care anymore.

  Josh’s eyes widened at the news of the woman being pregnant making me realize even he, himself, didn’t know the whole picture either. Josh was one more puppet whose strings were being pulled by some unknown higher power.

  I continued. “And in the horrible place she was pleading for help. What else would someone say in such a situation? And I couldn’t help her at all because I was frozen, helpless and a coward. Do you know how this feeling haunts me every day?”

  My hands tightened, my heart started beating faster and Josh sensing my frustration stepped further back because he was afraid of something he saw in me, but I did not know what was making him afraid. This could be my opportunity and yet I didn’t know what to do and, as I was about to step towards him, he collapsed to the ground and facing me was Oliver with a big smile on his face.

  “Wow! I have never heard you say things with such confidence before and to Josh of all people. You were really convincing, and it was quite amazing. I am so proud of you M and it looked like you scared him a bit. Let’s get out of here before he wakes up,” Oliver motioned.

  He grabbed me, leading me out of the room and, as I showed him the way I came in, we ran out as fast as possible. As we put some distance between us and the building I heard a bell ringing and, knowing it was probably Josh who sounded the alarm, Oliver and I started racing in the direction of the only road leading out of here.

  TWENTY-ONE

  I glanced behind briefly, there were yellow flashing lights dancing all over the building and figures were running about inside.

  Oliver pulled me faster. “Don’t look back M. We need to run faster. They will be coming for us soon.”

  I heard doors slamming, running footsteps and not daring to look back I kept running faster down the road. There was a forest to the left of us and I wondered if we should go in there and try to lose them.

  I looked over at Oliver who appeared focused with his eyes trained ahead and I really didn’t know if we could outrun them as my feet started to feel heavy, but I willed myself to push forward. By now I could hear more running footsteps and then one of their guns went off but neither Oliver nor I flinched at the sound as a bullet whizzed past us.

  We were halfway down the road, and ahead of us was an intersection, but I did not know what was going to happen when we reached it. Being inside Josh’s car trunk earlier I didn’t get a chance to check where he was going or what the surroundings were, and my plan didn’t cover the exit from here. Then, a pair of headlights turned at the intersection in our direction and started approaching us at a rapid pace.

  Was it more of Josh’s guys or was it Mrs Wills returning for round two? Either way we were finished but then the car screeched to a halt a few meters from us and the passenger door opened.

  I rubbed my eyes repeatedly not believing who was inside the car. It was Felix of all people and so many questions invaded my mind. How did he get here? Did he follow me and had he always known I was lying to him? I didn’t have time to understand all of this now not with Josh’s men chasing us.

  “Come on! Get in now,” Felix signed.

  There was a line of sweat across Felix’s face.

  I hesitated for a second as Oliver looked at me ready to jump in.

  “This isn’t the time Marinette,” Felix motioned. “It is about time you realize I am on your side!”

  With those words I jumped into the car, Oliver followed me, Felix reversed and stepped on the gas and we heard a few more gunshots but nothing touched the car as the sound of running footsteps vanished.

  I did not know how long Felix drove for, but it seemed long and, then, he turned into a side road and after a few more minutes of meandering through some trees on a dirt path he brought the car to a stop. It was only then I noticed a small lake ahead of us surrounded by giant trees which seemed familiar.

  We were on the edge of the southern part of Thomson which was a place I had heard stories of from my classmates’ chatter but never had the chance to visit until now of course. The moon was still shining, but soon daylight would come. I was exhausted, Oliver was fast asleep in the back seat and I didn’t want to disturb him because this was probably the best sleep he would have had in the last many hours.

  Felix looked at me, but I could not look at him after all the things I had kept from him and instead I looked down. I didn’t deserve him helping us like he just did although he was my guardian and cared for me and I was so ashamed of the things I had put him through because he shouldn’t have had to deal with all my nonsense.

  He touched my shoulder gently, I glanced at him and my eyes were teary.

  “How did you know I was here?” I gestured.

  “I know people think of me as poor Felix who doesn’t know how to take care of a child and all, but I am not as stupid as what they think,” Felix smiled. “After Josh searched our home, the lies Mrs Wills told me about you and the incident at school I became very suspicious of her. I knew something else was going on and decided to hide outside Mrs Wills home. I saw you get in Josh’s car and followed the both of you here. I saw you run to the building and enter from the back and I wanted to catch up with you but it was too late and so I decided to wait and see what happens. When the guns started going off we both know the rest of the story.”

  “I am so sorry Felix for everything,” I indicated through my tears. “I need to tell you the truth about the day of the car explosion incident.”

  I explained to Felix the day of the incident, meeting the woman, releasing the sound and Felix’s mouth was open in shock, his eyes widened and he stared ahead at the lake for a few moments. He slammed his fist on the car’s dashboard as I stayed quiet and gave him space to think about everything I had shared.

  After a few minutes he looked at me again.

  “I believe you Marinette,” Felix touched my shoulder again. “I am really happy you trusted me with this because it is so important. You are my family Marinette and I love you very much and my love for you doesn’t change because of what has happened since I know you did what you thought was best to protect me.”

  I smiled sheepishly at him because this wasn’t what I expected from him and, although I knew he loved me, saying and showing it at the most unexpected and the most undeserving moment was two different things. I had lied to Felix repeatedly, disappointed him in my actions, had run off without telling him more than once and made him look like a fool among the other adults and, despite all of this, he had chosen to trust and love me and took a huge risk coming to our rescue. I had never experienced such unconditional love before because Felix, while not my natural father, was the best parent any child could ever wish for. We both hugged, and I could not contain myself as tears kept streaming down my face.

  “Thank you Felix, for accepting me despite everything in the last few days,” I signed. “I know I have really disappointed….”

  “Shhhhh,” Felix motioned. “Everything is okay Marinette.”

  As we finished hugging Oliver woke up. “What is going on?”

  I explained to Oliver I had shared with Felix what happened on the da
y of the incident.

  “Since we are sharing secrets it’s my turn to tell you both something,” Felix gestured.

  We both turned to look at him as Felix appeared a bit nervous.

  “Marinette your parents were not killed in an accident,” Felix indicated. “I know this is what I told you many years ago, but it was a lie.”

  TWENTY-TWO

  I felt like a thousand needles hitting me all at once from every direction. I was frozen in place, my mind refused to think, I felt like I was drowning, I could not breathe, and my heart was pounding. Was I about to make a sound again and why couldn’t I control this? This realization, itself, and the consequences of the sound brought me back to reality and I was able to breathe in and out again, but I was still at a total loss for words.

  Oliver remained quiet, but his face said a lot. Oliver and Felix were both staring at me and I didn’t know what they saw on my face, but it was worrying them a lot as I continued to let Felix’s words sink into me.