❝Speak❞ - A Memoir (Book 1)

03 - New Home

Chapter 3

***

After the sudden kindness showed to me by Kakashi, I wasn’t sure what to do. I had made up my mind to run away after he freed me, but after that, I wasn’t so sure. I wasn’t sure about a lot of things at the time.

So while I contemplated whether or not to run away, he took me to his home and told me I could stay in his extra room that he just happened to have.

After I moved into my room, all I did was stare at my new pair of shoes, contemplating whether or not to leave. At last, I decided. Since he was kind enough to buy me a pair of shoes, I decided it would be rude of me to keep them. So I made plans to leave by nightfall.

By nightfall, I had everything set, though there wasn’t really much to set up. I placed the pair of shoes by the bed and since I couldn’t write, I couldn’t leave him a note or anything. I quickly said a silent goodbye to my shoes and crept just as silently out the window.

Fortunately his house wasn’t two stories or more, so I could freely jump out the window without hurting myself.

I ended up running in a random direction before realizing that I had no idea where I was going. I tried going the opposite way of the food place which was near the place I was freed from, but I had no idea where that was.

So I ended up in the middle of a dirt road, lost and very much scared.

“What’re you doing out here??” asked a voice. It sounded a lot like Kakashi; too much like Kakashi. I turned around and of course, it was Kakashi, and if I hadn’t known better, I would’ve thought he was worried.

I could do nothing but stare while trying to find a way to tell him my thoughts. I knew it wasn’t possible, but for the first time since I can remember, I actually want to tell someone something.

So instead of trying to answer, I slowly backed away, hoping he wouldn’t notice till I got far enough. I wasn’t that lucky. Since I was walking backwards, I didn’t see the pretty big rock behind me, and ended up falling backward onto the hard ground. At least that’s what I thought would happen.

My cushion wasn’t exactly soft, but it wasn’t really hard either. My cushion was Kakashi. He sighs and places me gently back on the ground. “Be careful next time, you could’ve been hurt” he scolded me like a parent, even though he only just met me. I wondered why.

It looked like he was smiling again by the time I looked up. He reached all the way down and grabbed my hand, and as much as I tried, I couldn’t free myself. His hand was warm, and eventually I stopped trying to make him let go.

He then leaned down and placed his other hand on my head. “Let’s go home, don’t want you running away again”

Home…; thinking about that word literally brought tears to my eyes. Of course it did; I never had that word. At least, not that I can remember…

***

“What’s wrong, why are you crying?” I ask staring worriedly at the child before me. She shakes her head, wiping her tears. She even cries silently…

“Uh did the fall hurt?” I ask, trying to guess what would make her cry. She shakes her head again and sniffs. It is really hard trying to figure out why she’s crying if she won’t speak.

“Uh, let’s go home and we’ll figure it out” I say standing up. At that she seems to have started crying all over again. “Can you walk?” I ask looking down at her.

She nods and begins following me to the house. When we got there she seemed to have stopped crying and was looking around.

“Are you alright now??” I ask, keeping my tone soft. She nods and pulls at my hand. I pull her towards a small table and tell her to sit down. She does, looking scared.

“I’m not going to hurt you” I say quickly willing her to calm down. “I have a few questions”

She looks at me innocently and I continue; “you can’t talk, can you?” she looked surprised that I asked, but soon shook her head. Well, that’s going to make things a lot harder.

“Can you write?” I ask. She shakes her head, looking sad.

“Can you at least read?” I ask pulling out my book. Since it’s not for her age group, I’m sure she wouldn’t understand it.

She nods hold up two fingers close together. When I didn’t get it, she looks around and picks up a small pencil from the ground. “Uh, it’s small?” I ask, confused by her logics.

She nods smiling. It’s the first time I saw her smile. I tried to put it together; she can read, and she has a small pencil. “You can read, a little??” I ask waiting for her reaction. It came quickly.

She smiled wider and nodded quickly. I smiled also, though I don’t think she could see it, and quickly wrote down the hiragana alphabet for her.

Now that I know she can read, she can tell me her name. “If I give you this, can you write your name for me?” I ask handing her the hiragana sheet and a blank sheet along with a sharpened pencil.

She looked at both sheets and began writing. She wrote three things before handing me the previously black sheet. On it read Ririn.

“So, your name’s Ririn?” I ask, to make sure. She smiles again and nods. I smile also and pat her head lightly; “Alright Ririn, you may go to bed now”

She nods and gets up, bows and leaves. As the sound of her footsteps fade, I continue to stare at the sheet of paper. What have I gotten myself into.

I’m taking care of a mute girl named Ririn.