Tainted: Listening to the Silence (Book 1)

FOUR

"Sal?! Are you alright?!" I heard Mina yell.

Well that was a stupid question, mom. Then I heard steps getting closer. Now that's smarter.

"Sal?! What happened?!" My mom yelled getting frantic.

I just pointed at my guitar and the broken string.

"It hit you?! Where?! Not in the eye right?" See? Everyone has heard about that story.

"Would you take off your hand and let me see?! Oh." I think that oh isn't a good sign.

"I'll go get the first aid kit just wait here, alright?" Well, where else was I going to go?

Surprisingly when my mom left I noticed Oliver was still standing there. I frowned wondering what the hell he was doing there. He just turned around a little page that said, "Lower your volume, asshole." Oh for Christ's sake not this again. For the past week it's been like this every day I play. But he, he could play his goddamn piano every second of every minute of every waking hour. He pasted the little paper to the door of the garage and turned to leave. I flipped him off when he wasn't looking anymore and I watched him leave. God, that guy's such a jerk. I swear I don't know what the hell crawled into his ass and died. My mom came into the room right then with the first aid kit. She stood still, looking at the place where Oliver had been standing before, for a few seconds before snapping out of it and coming to me.

"I could've sworn I saw Oliver standing there when I left," My mom said in a low tone, almost talking to herself. She gave me a piece of cotton soaked in peroxide and I pressed it to my cheek. Oh God, that hurt like fucking hell.

"Oh, he was there alright, asked me to lower my volume again. He's responsible for my broken string and whatever I have in my cheek, yet he looked indifferent like he didn't care. Such a douche bag."

"Sal. Don't judge if you don't know why he's like that. Why don't you try talking with him? You'll end up snapping sooner or later. And I prefer you talking calmly to him sooner than snapping at him with your bad attitude later," Mom said as she pulled my hand off my cheek and continued to disinfect the wound. Yes, free hands, I hated having only one hand free.

"Mom's attitude is worse than mine and I don't see you nagging her about it."

"This is about you not about her. Talk to him Sal," Mom said as she finished bandaging the wound.

I rolled my eyes and pouted, like a little kid. Mom laughed and pressed a kiss to my good cheek, before leaving the garage again. When she was gone I sighed and looked around the garage, maybe it was time I covered the garage in egg cartons too. Well, for the time being I had more pressing matters like the fact that I had to talk to lieutenant asshole in the next house. And also, I had to get the string replaced. Great, I had to make a trip to the city. Maybe I could ask Mr. Douche Bag to accompany me after we talked.

I sighed again and got up and off the floor. I grabbed my guitar and put it back in its bag before taking it back to my room. Well, better take care of the easiest thing first. I looked at myself in the mirror. Oh God, my cheek looked abnormal. I had a swollen bleeding slash where my sting had hit me but the rest of my cheek looked normal. This just made me look that much better. Maybe I should take off the snakebites? No, I wouldn't, I wouldn't do anything for him. If Asshole over there didn't like them he could suck my dick, I wasn't going to change to make him like me. I grabbed my notepad and my pen and went over to the Andels place. I rang the bell and while I waited for them to open the door wrote, "Is Oliver home?" Mrs. Andel opened the door.