The Girl Who Doesn't Speak

Chapter 17

As soon as the sun is up at the crack of dawn, so am I. Blue is still sound asleep, so I carefully kick off my covers without waking her and get up. I stood beside the bed for a moment, watching her sleep peacefully.

Seagulls screech outside, breaking my gaze from her. I glance outside, wondering what the birds could possibly be screeching about at this time of the morning. Maybe it was their way of saying good morning to each other. Blue moves, and I thought she might be waking up from the annoying seagulls, but she only lifts her head up, places one arm under the pillow and the other one over it, hugging it before placing her head back down.

Letting out a soft sigh of relief, I grab my wetsuit and tip-toed to the bathroom. The apartment is so quiet that you can hear the clock in the lounge room ticking. Rhett should be waking up soon.

I check on Blue again before I leave, where she continued to slumber peacefully. Leaving her, I grab my surfboard and head out to the beach.

I breathe in the salty sea air as soon as I step outside, feeling the adrenaline rush from not surfing for a few days. It's early morning, but already it feels humid as the sun beats down on me.

It doesn't take me long to lose track of time while out on the water. If I didn't have work this morning, I could probably spend the day out here. And most days when I do have the day off, that's what I do. But thankfully I had Rhett as my best friend who always makes sure. I wasn't late for work when I do spend too much time out on the waves during the morning.

"Hey, Riley!"

I turn around where I was sitting on my board, waiting for the next wave. I wasn't too far out, so I was thankful I was still in ear shot when Rhett yelled out to me. As soon as I see him on the beach, I knew it was time to come into shore and get ready for work. Surprisingly Blue was standing on the shore beside him. I wonder how Rhett had convinced her to come along with him to meet up with me, especially when she doesn't feel comfortable around anyone besides me. Maybe she was starting to warm up to him.

Even from the distance I could see Blue's smile, which made the butterflies flutter around in my stomach. Rather than surfing the next wave to shore, I paddled instead.

"How are the waves this morning?" Rhett asks once I had reached the beach.

I wipe the water that is drifting down my face. "They are fantastic. You really need to come surfing with me later. You haven’t it done it for a couple of days."

"I will be sure to surf with you this afternoon."

We turn to head back to the apartments. Blue walks alongside me.

"How did you sleep, Blue?" I ask her.

Blue smiles brightly.

I return the smile. "That's good to hear you have slept well. So what are your plans for the day?"

Blue shrugs.

"The TV is all yours," Rhett says. "It should keep you occupied until we return home."

Blue smiles shyly.

We reach the side walk, and as we were about to cross the road, Blue squeezes my hand tightly, burying her face in my arm.

"What is it, Blue?"

She doesn't answer me. I turn to Rhett, telling him to take my surfboard back to the apartment. He does that, and crosses the road.

Once he is gone, I turn to Blue, making her look at me. I see the fear in her eyes. Straight away I knew it was the person who was after her. I look over her shoulder, seeing if I could see the person who is stalking her and making her fear for her life. But I couldn't see what she could see. There were so many people out on the beach.

I look around, unsure where I could take her and hide her from this stalker. I could head straight to the apartment, but he would see us. All I know is I have to go where the crowds were to lose him. The thing was it was still early morning so hardly anyone was around. He will find us.

It's then I see a man that looked to be in his early twenties watching us beside a tree. He acted innocent, glancing out at the sea, but still kept his eyes on us.

Taking Blue's hand, I lead her down the path to the plaza. We cross the street, glancing over my shoulder to see him chasing us.

I ran as fast as I could with Blue behind us, hoping the man won't catch us. I head to the only place I knew that would open early hours of the morning before everything opened at nine o'clock. We entered Hungry Jacks, praying silently to myself that he wouldn't follow us inside.

He doesn't. He stands at the window, watching us. I study him so I would be able to describe him to the police later. He was probably a few inches taller than me. His eyes were a hazel brown; he had dark hair and has a freckle under his right eye. What did he want from Blue?

Tearing my eyes from the man, I turn to Blue, placing my hands on her shoulders.

"Blue, I know you don't want to tell me who that man is and why he is after you, but you need to," I beg her. "Please, Blue. I need to know why this man is after you. If you tell me, we can go to the police right now and report him."

Blue shakes her head, fear in my eyes telling me that no matter how much I beg, she wasn't going to tell me. Like she was afraid to tell me something.

I place a hand on her cheek. "You can tell me, Blue. I will protect you. I won't let that man hurt you."

It didn’t matter how much I begged her to tell me what’s going on, she doesn't say anything.

I turn back to the window to discover that the man is gone. Where did he go?

Taking Blue's hand, which she squeezed tightly, I lead her out of the restaurant. Before we ran out, we looked around the plaza to see where the man was. He was nowhere in sight. How did he just disappeared into thin air.

"Come on," I tell Blue. "Let’s get you home. You will be safe there."

We hurried home. I glance over my shoulder several times to make sure the man wasn't following us. All I could see was people hanging around the plaza or heading to the beach.

I buzz Rhett to let us in. He doesn't answer. Devon does and we entered the building. Devon opens the door for us. As soon as I see the petrified look on his face, I knew something was wrong.

"Bring her in, come on," an unfamiliar voice says. "Bring her in or I will shoot your friend if you attempt to run off."

Devon moves aside to where I see Rhett standing in the middle of the apartment with a gun held to his head by the man who had chased us.