The Helpless Silent

Dedicated to xLuckiiDucky for making my OH SO WONDERFUL COVER!

This is my secret new story.

Silent.

Liza kept seeing the word being repeated over and over again. It seemed to be a word used often to describe the brown haired, brown eyed boy in the picture before her.  Silent and mysterious. Dark and silent. Silent but hilarious. There were so many differerent things, but they all seemed the same. They kept describing him the same way, so much that it was beginning to feel annoying.

Liza closed the magazine, deciding that she was done with her research on her visitors. After all, they were coming in less than an hour and she still had yet to have the discussion with the kids. Looking down at her watch, she found that she had precisely 30 minutes to talk with them, leaving her 15 minutes to get ready herself.

She stood up from her bed, making her way down the hall and then down the stairs. She arrived in the large living-room-turned-playroom where most of the kids seemed to be playing in. These children ranged in age from 4-10, making her barely their superior. Not that she treated them as if she was, she made sure that they thought her more of a sister than as a parent. But every once in a while, she did need to be in charge.

The kids in front of her were playing a game of apples to apples and when she walked in they looked up.

"Hey guys!" Liza greeted, her lips pulling into a smile. She scanned the room of 14 faces, deeming that one was missing. Furrowing her eyebrows, she wondered what they had done to the youngest child. "Where's Nellie?"

The oldest kids looked at the youngest, and the youngest to the oldest. None seemed to want to break first. 

"Don't know."

"Is she asleep?"

"Maybe she ran away."

"Dean did it."

"Juliet did it." 

"I ate her."

There was a chorus of different answers, each making Liza smile. It was obvious they had done something, and Liza knew that few of them would break. When these kids played a prank, they all swore that they wouldn't tell her the truth.

But there was one she knew would always tell her.

Liza made her way over to Marius, kneeling down so she was level with his face. Marius was only a few months older than Nellie, but equally as adorable. "Marius," she began, looking straight into his brown eyes. "Where's Nellie?"

Marius shook his head, a smile playing at his lips. He knew he wasn't supposed to tell, but he also knew that he probably would. It was only a matter of time before he had the strength in him to keep the secrets people told him, but for now Liza would take advantage that he couldn't.

"Marius." Liza sang, "I know you want to tell me."

Marius shook his head again. Looking around her, Liza saw the faces looking at Marius in amusement. They all knew he wouldn't keep their secret, but none of them were angry with him for it. In fact, they wanted to see what would happen if he told.

Liza turned back to Marius. "What if I make everyone cookies?"

Marius' eyes went wide. It wasn't often that Liza made them cookies. Not because she couldn't, but because they didn't have enough money to use the ingredients. Liza only got a certain amount of money from the government every month, and she didn't want to use it all up on something that the kids would only enjoy for a few moments.

But every once in a while, a treat was necessary.

Liza could see Marius debating over whether or not he thought a cookie was worth giving everything away, and it didn't take him long before he said, "In da coset."

Liza raised an eyebrow, silently amused. With two long strides she was at the closet, pulling open the door to reveal a laughing Nellie.

"That twook you a wong time!" Nellie exclaimed, rolling over in the blankets that had been shoved carelessly into the small room.

Liza smiled, reaching down and pulling Nellie into her arms. "Yes it did, Marius did a good job this time."

When Liza stepped out of the closet she set Nellie down, who immediately walked over to Marius and poked him in the shoulder. "Wide you tewl her?"

Marius threw his arms up in exasperation. "She was gwonna make us cwookies!"

Nellie's eyes went wide, her head slowly moving to look at Liza. "Cwookies?"

Liza grinned. "Chocolate chip."