The Girl Who Doesn't Speak

Chapter 8

I wake to the sound of the jug boiling from the kitchen. One of my parents was up, but I wasn't sure who. It was most likely Mum. No doubt Dad was probably still in bed, catching up on sleep that he rarely gets to do, especially since it's a Friday. His office doesn't reopen until Monday.

I lie on the couch, feeling too relax to get up. I catch a glimpse of the wall clock, which read nine past seven. Better get up. I start work in two hours.

I let out a yawn as I stretch when I sat up. Rubbing my eyes, I stood up from the couch and walk to the kitchen. I find Mum in there, making herself a coffee and a vegemite toast.

"Morning, Mum."

She looks up where she was buttering the toast. She smiles. "Morning, hun. How did you sleep?"

"Very well thanks. You?"

She goes quiet, nodding her head slowly as she looks away from me. She forces herself a smile which only meant she didn't sleep well. She probably had a nightmare about Tiffany. None of my folks and I ever discuss about the horrible dreams we may have about her. Sometimes I dream about her murder, which will leave me shaken and too terrified to fall asleep again. But not every dream I have of her is bad. Sometimes I dream that she is still alive.

"How was it at Rhett's last night?" she asks, making eye contact with me again.

I nod. "Good."

She places the butter knife in the jar of vegemite and spreads it onto the toast. "So, you slept out on the couch last night. Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, everything is fine. I couldn't sleep so I came out here."

She gives me another smile and continues making her breakfast.

 I leave Mum alone and walk to my room. I turn the knob slowly, opening the door a jar, peeking through to see if the girl is still asleep. I don't want to wake her.

She is still asleep when I walked in. I tip-toe across the carpet, over to the chest of draws for clean clothes. I was careful of pulling out the draws so it wouldn't make too much of a sound. As I search through the draw, behind me I hear the girl stirring in her sleep, but I don't look back at her.

I don't look to see if she is awake until I'm closing the door to my room. She is sitting up, watching me without greeting me good morning. Looking over my shoulder I check to see if either of my parents was around before slipping back into my room, closing the door behind me.

"Hey, you're awake. How did you sleep?"

She stares at me blankly. Just when I thought she won't say anything or show any expression, she smiles at me.

"Listen, I'm going to get change in the bathroom, unless you would like to take a shower to freshen up. My Mum is in the kitchen, and I don't know if she will be leaving to do anything today. Maybe if you like, I will take you to breakfast and I will give you some money to buy a new pair of clothes if you like. And then after that you can leave."

She continues to smiles and nods. She then climbs out of bed and heads over to me. She tries to get past me, but couldn't. I was standing in the way. I apologise and move aside, showing her where the bathroom was. I wait outside the bathroom until I hear the water running in the shower. I then walk to my room to get ready.

As I step out of my room to check on her, Mum calls out from the kitchen that she was leaving to go to the store. I wait for her to leave before knocking on the bathroom door. It's silent on the other side that I wondered if she was still here.

After a few minutes I hear her fiddling around with the lock. She opens the door ajar, peeking out.

"Hey, are you ready?"