After Newsies

Silence

This is a rare chapter where the whole thing is from Ben's POV :) enjoy! And don't forget to leave comments throughout the story! And follow us on Instagram @afternewsies because very soon we are going to be holding an After Newsies Ultimate Fan competition! So get ready! Love you all! XOXO CLARA

Ben POV:

"DIE! DIE! DIE!" I screamed frantically hitting buttons. Me and Josh were playing a video game in our room after the show. We were interupted by a knock on the door.

"Who could possibly be coming here at 3 in the morning?" Josh asked as I stood up to open the door. When I opened it, Melina was standing there in her cupcake pajamas and holding her pillow.

"Hey princess, what are you doing awake?" I asked. She didn't answer me, she just looked at me with her big eyes. "Melina?" I asked. She looked at me for another minute and then she ran right past me and ran to my bed.

"Melina, shouldn't you be with Jordyn?" Josh asked. Again she didn't answer. She just crawled into my bed and closed her eyes. Josh looked at me and I shrugged. We turned the tv off and Josh got into his bed and I got into mine with Melina. I grabbed my phone and texted Jordyn that Melina had come into my room. Right when I hit send I got a text form Josh.

Josh: Why isn't she talking?

Me: No idea, maybe shes resting her voice because shes young cosett tomorrow. I'm gonna go to bed, night.

I set my phone down and closed my eyes. Why on earth isn't this child talking? I will have to ask Jordyn in the morning.

*THE NEXT MORNING*

I slowly opened my eyes and turned to my other side and Melina wasn't there. I sat up and she was sitting at the table eating a muffin.

"Good Morning Princess." I smiled.

"She's still not talking, I've been trying for the past hour." Josh said who was sitting on his bed.

"Melina what's wrong, why aren't you talking?" I asked. She just looked at me and then continued to eat her muffin. "Melina!" I said. There was a knocking on the door and I got up to answer it. "Hey Jor." I said when I opened the door.

"Hey I got your text, why did Melina come down here?" Jordyn asked

"I don't know, she won't talk." I said.

"What do you mean?" Jordyn asked.

"Shes not talking." I said.

"Melina, what are you doing in here?" Jordyn asked. She just looked at Jordyn and didn't speak. "Melina, you can't just leave the room when you want, you have to wake me up and I can take you up here." Jordyn said. "Melina sweetie answer me." Jordyn said kneeling down in front of Melina.

"Melina, come on, what's wong? Why won't you answer anybody?" I asked kneeling down next to Jordyn. She jumped down from the chair and walked right past me and Jordyn. She went in her travel day bag that she keeps in my room, grabbed her coloring book, and sat down on my bed and started coloring."Jordyn I'm really concerned."

"Why would she randomly just stop talking?" Jordyn whispered.

"I looked up some stuff online and it says it could be social anxiety." Josh walked over and whispered.

"Why would she have social anxiety? She's always been super outgoing." I whispered. "Should we take her to see somebody?"

"No, let's see if we can solve it on our own. If it lasts like a couple days we will look into stuff. The real question is, what is she going to do tonight." Jordyn whispered.

"Oh yeah, she's young cosette." Josh whispered.

"Are you ready for schooling Melina?" Jordyn asked. She put her coloring book back in the bag and grabbed my hand. "I'll take that as a yes." We headed out to the theatre and she didn't talk the whole walk to the theatre.

"Good morning Melina!" Lisa said as we entered the schooling room.

"Hey Lisa, can we talk to you in the hallway for a second?" Jordyn said. She nodded in agreement and followed us out.

"Hey, we don't know what's going on with Melina, she's not talking." I said.

"When did this start?" Lisa asked.

"Last night." I said.

"And she's young cosette tonight. She can't be young cosette if she won't sing or talk." Jordyn said.

"Let's talk after her schooling today, let me observe her." Lisa said. She went back into the schooling room and we went to go to a dance rehearsal. I'm so worried about her. Finally it was time to go pick her up. All the other kids had left and Melina was sitting at the table playing on her iPhone.

"So?" I asked.

"She didn't talk once. She would nod her head or shake it but that was it. I think this is from trauma from what happened back in Philly. The person put duct tape over her mouth to silence her and I think the trauma has made her still feel silenced. I did however ask her if she still wanted to perform tonight and she shook her head in agreement and I asked if she would sing still and she shook her head. So you don't need to worry about that. I think she will get over this quickly just give her time." Lisa said.

"So what do we do until then?" Jordyn asked.

"Just try and encourage her to talk but don't make her feel forced. She will talk when she's ready." Lisa said.

"Thank you." Jordyn said.

"Come on Melina!" I said.

"Let's go do a show!" Jordyn smiled. Melina ran over and I picked her up. We headed to the theatre and before I dropped her off with Melissa I took her onto the stage with me and we sat down on the set.

"Hey little princess." I said picking her up and putting her on my lap. "Look at all those seats. In an hour those seats will be filled with people, isn't it incredible? I honestly think one of the most soothing things is an empty theatre. Nobody in it but you, the calm before the storm." I pushed her hair out of her face and wrapped my arms around her. "I don't know what is going through your little head right now, probably a thousand thoughts. I wish I knew. But I want you to know you are always safe with me. All those seats will be filled tonight, and a single one of those people will be able to hurt you, not with me around. What happened in Philly wasn't your fault. It was my fault. Somebody was trying to get to me and Jordyn and they know how much we care about you so they went through you to get to us. But I promise that will never happen again. This world is big and scary and I know it's hard. But I am here to protect you from it. You don't have to talk, when you're ready you will. But just know how much I love you and how much Jordyn loves you and we would never let anyone hurt you. You will always be my little princess." I said. I kissed the top of her head and looked out at the seats. I wonder what's going on in her head right now. "We gotta go get ready now." I said standing her up and then standing myself up. She turned around and grabbed me in a hug, her head on my stomach and her arms wrapped around me. Sometimes, an action can say a thousand words. "I love you too." I whispered hugging her back.