Burn Bright ( An Adopted By The Yogscast Story)

Chapter 6- Why Don't You Talk?

Beckii stayed for a few hours, then left saying she had to go to dinner with a friend. Leo fell asleep a bit after midnight. Tom looked over at me.

"Come on, I'll put you to bed." he said quietly. I nodded. We both got off the couch, careful not to wake Leo, and headed to my room. Tom sat next to me on my bed, dangling his feet off of the edge of the bed.

"So, why don't you talk?" he asked suddenly. I shrugged. 'I just don't.' I wrote.

"What do you mean, you just don't?" he asked, confused. 'I never have, I probably never will. Its just a thing that happens.' I wrote. What was I supposed to say? Oh yeah, my voice works just fine but when it comes to actually saying anything, nothing works right. Tom shook his head. "You'll talk. Someday. I know you will." he said firmly. I shrugged. 'Maybe.' I wrote. Tom shook his head again.

"You will." he said with a smile. I heard a loud thump and a sleepy grumble from the hall.

"Nice chat, sweet dreams." Tom said, patting my head. 'You too.' I wrote. He stood up and turned off my light, blowing a little kiss. I smiled like a good girl, and turned off my lamp. He closed the door and I listened to his footsteps edge away from the hall. Then I heard Leo talking.

"Sparks?" he asked groggily.

"Yeah, Leo?" Tom said quietly.

"Can I tell you something?" Leo asked. I could hear the nervousness in his muffled voice.

"Anything." Tom said immediately.

"I..um..Well, I think it's better that I show you." Leo said softly. I could almost see Tom's nod. I heard the unlocking of a phone. Then silence. And then a piano. Correction: a keyboard. Another correction: my keyboard. Playing Secrets. The very song I'd played today. He'd heard? Nonononono...... he couldn't have heard. Hearing means knowing. Knowing means telling. Telling means more knowing. All of the above means pressure. Pressure to do something I can't do.

"Wait." Tom said suddenly. The piano stopped.

"Whatever it is, I get the feeling it's a secret. If it has to do with Ember, I'll let her tell me when she's ready." he said.

"Are you sure?" Leo asked uncertainly.

"I'm sure," Tom said, "The second we start giving away each other's secrets is the exact moment we lose each other's trust. It's easier to get information than rebuild trust."  Leo sighed. I sighed.

"Okay." I heard a door open and heavy footsteps.

"Hey Sparks!" greeted Parv. I rolled over, facing the wall. Leo knew. He'd tried to show Tom. Tom rejected. Leo knew. I tuned them all out. Leo knew. I closed my eyes. Leo knew. I slowed my breathing just as my door opened and light flooded in.

"Isn't she adorable?" Parv whispered.

"I got lucky." Tom whispered back.

"Don't get all emotional on me, mate." Parv whispered after a moment.

"Shut up, Parv." Tom said quietly. My door closed again and the room became dark. My world became fuzzier. And then I fell asleep.

I woke up with energy and a hungry rumble in my stomach. I rolled off of the bed and landed on the floor with a thump. My door opened to reveal Parv in his pajamas. He didn't even look half awake, the poor bugger.

"You alright?" he mumbled. I threw a marker at him. He yelped and glared at me.

"What was that for?" he whined. I shrugged. He grumbled some nonsense and walked off. I grabbed my board and marker and tiptoed out into the kitchen. Tom was sitting at the table, asleep over his bowl of cereal. His bowl of cereal looked very much like the cereal concoction Leo and I had mixed up yesterday. I watched him sleep for a few minutes before I got bored. I picked up a chair and slammed it on the floor. He jolted awake.

"Huh?" he mumbled groggily. I rolled my eyes and waved my hand in front of his face.

"Oh, good morning I guess." he said, still not looking totally awake. 'Your cereal is soggy.' I wrote, capping my marker and showing him the board. He scooped up some cereal with his spoon and let it drop back into his bowl with a nauseating slop. He made a weird face.

"Right, I'm gonna throw this out, and then I'm gonna go do something hopefully productive." he said, picking up the bowl of mush and dumping it out. He put the dirty bowl in the sink and started going down the hallway. He paused and turned to look at me.

"Wanna come into work with me today?" he asked. I bit my lip, thinking. If I said no, Leo might stay to babysit like yesterday. Leo knows. Knowing means telling means knowing means pressure. I nodded. Why not? He beamed.

"Yes! Awesome, we're leaving in like half an hour." he said, turning his gaze to the clock on the wall.

"Okay, twenty minutes." he said, jogging to his room. I went to my room and shut the door. Out of habit, I locked it. I didn't have very many clothes, so I just picked a random outfit. It was a gray t-shirt and black jeans. As I was closing my closet door, I noticed a little box hiding in the back corner. I frowned and knelt down. I pulled it out from its spot and opened it. It was a bit dusty, but I didn't really care. It was full of papers, and for a moment I thought they were legal papers. Then I saw the music notes. The page on top was a music sheet for a song called Heaven Piercing Giga Drill. Odd name. Did Tom write music? A sloppily hand-written note was written in the margin. 'piano version- vocals attached' I pulled it out, slightly interested to learn a new song, and something about my new guardian. I flipped through the pages. The first page I'd come across was stapled to another page with words on it, accompanied with music notes. I guessed that this was the vocals to the song. There were more music sheets in the stack, as well as a few lyric sheets. Apparently Tom is in a band called Area 11 with Leo, Parv, and Kogie. And before that, he was in a band called Ghost Cassette. I carefully put the papers back in the box and hid it under my bed. I unlocked my door and went into the living room, flopping onto the couch to wait for Tom. I couldn't help but wonder what Tom did for a living. Aside from the obvious, which was music. Well, I guess I was about to find out.