The Girl Who Doesn't Speak

Chapter 4

It almost feels like everything was in slow motion as I run to get to the girl, unable to get to her quicker enough. The traffic stops as people rush to check to see if the girl was alright. The tall blond guy who had hit her was on the phone with triple zero.

Rhett and I stand on the path with the rest of the crowd, watching helplessly. A red hair woman was kneeling beside her, checking to see if the girl was still alive. She was, and I was quite surprise she survived after the way she was thrown to the ground by the driver, especially of the injuries she contained from the previous incident. I still reckon she may have fallen from the cliffs. If she does survive by the time the paramedics get here to the hospital, it would be a total miracle if she survived the fall and then get struck down by a car.

The paramedics soon arrive, examining the girl before placing her on a stretcher, placing her in the back of the ambulance. I watched carefully, wondering who the girl was and what had happened to her.

The ambulance soon drives away with the girl and the driver, who was treated for shock. With all of the excitement now gone, people move away to continue whatever they were doing.

Rhett places his hand on my shoulder. “Hey, do you still want to go surfing?”

I nod, pushing the girl out of my mind so I could continue what I wanted to do. Although forgetting some stranger after watching them get hit by a car wasn’t so easy. The image of her fragile body being thrown onto the ground by a car played over and over in my mind. I can’t help wonder if she will be alright.

Maybe surfing will help me keep my mind off her, the same way it does with Tiffany.

“What a way to start the New Year,” Rhett says.

“Yeah,” I reply quietly.

I feel Rhett’s eyes on me as we walk, but I don’t have to look his way. If I do, he will know straight away what I’m thinking. He will know I’m thinking about my sister. He will know that even though I had no clue who that girl was, we both knew that something had happened to cause those injuries she had. I couldn’t say how she got them on if she really did fall from the cliffs, but either way we both knew she wasn’t lying on the beach as a drunk. Not unless she was and did something she wasn’t supposed to do. When I recall the fear in her eyes when I asked if she was alright, the way she bolted upright so quickly I knew there was no way she had been drinking. She wouldn’t have been able to move so quickly if she was hangover.

I think of Tiffany, wondering what could have possibly happen that night. I may not know who the girl is or what happened to her, but I wondered if she could have gone through a similar way as Tiffany. The way I saw how terrified the girl was when she laid eyes on Rhett and me, it was most likely someone had tried to touch her.

I push the girl aside as we entered the water. I figured once we get out on the waves it would make me instantly forget her, the same way it does with Tiffany. But for some reason I couldn’t stop thinking about her. Not just because something bad could have happened to her, but because she was very attractive. I may only have a second to glance at her, but I could still recall her light baby green eyes and waist-long neon blue hair. Her eyes are what amaze me the most. I have never seen that eye colour before.

I wonder if I would be able to see her again, or if I will be allow to visit her in the hospital to make sure she pulled through.

“See you back at shore, Riley,” Rhett’s voice snaps me back to reality.

I glance over my shoulder where he had taken off to catch a wave I didn’t even realise was coming towards us. I turn back to the horizon. I had to concentrate. I couldn’t let that girl or even my sister grab a hold of me right now. If I didn’t concentrate, I could end up injuring myself if I made one wrong move.