Listen Before You Speak

Chapter 1

"Why don't you talk to me?"

I shrug this time. A nod just won't be enough.

"How is school?" She drives slower so that she can take a look at me in the back of the car.

Another shrug from me.

"Don't you think that cross over your mouth is a bit much?"

I shake my head in disagreement, not being able to tell her that it is the only thing that scares everybody enough to keep them sitting far away from me. They talk about me, but they never approach me. That's the way I like it.

"Why won't you speak?" she poses another question just as she hits the brakes, which makes me sit upright in relieve. I'm spared the one question she wants to know the answer of, and the one question whose answer is the reason for the cross over my lips.

I climbed out of the car and walked away, only looking back once as she hooted, causing me to lift my hand in a half-enthusiastic greeting.

As I walk towards the school on open pilot I see the others staring as they always do. Too scared to approach me, but still whispering behind their hands; eager to have a little bit of gossip early in the morning. One girl actually said my name so loudly that I actually turned around to look at her, which was when my whole life started falling apart, leaving me sitting on my ass and looking up into a face I had never seen in my life, but definitely wanted to see again.

He was skinny, but not too skinny either in his grey chinos. The checkered shirt was pulled tightly across his chest and his hair was mostly hidden beneath the beany on his head. It was however his eyes that I fell in love with. It was warm. That is the only way I can think of describing it. Warm and like liquid chocolate, and just the perfect amount of take-my-breath-away mixed in with it.

"Sorry dude," he said with a smile as he offered me a hand up.

Hesitantly I took his hand. It's not the first time I've fallen down at school before, but it is the first time someone has offered me a hand and looked like they meant it.

"That's a really nice band," he said trying to make a conversation as he pointed towards my hoodie. "My name is Blake."

I stared at him for a few seconds, not really knowing what to do. Then suddenly; "Elijah."

The sound that came from my mouth sounded weird in my ears. It's been a while since I've spoken. I don't even know why I said anything. It just happened.

"Well, I hope to see you around buddy," Blake said with a smile that invited me in. He patted me on the back and walked off.

"Look back! Look back! Look back!" my mind screamed loudly, and just before he slipped away behind a building he turned around... And raised his hand, waving at me. I waved back, and then he was gone.

It has been four years since I have spoken. Four long years since I have said a single word. Four years of therapy for me going mute on the rest of the world, and still no progress. I never spoke that much before the incident either, but after my twelve birthday I just never spoke again. It just happened. It was just another decision I made, almost like deciding what to wear in the mornings. I promised that I would listen, and that is exactly what I did from that moment on. My silence became the music that surrounded me. It became the one thing that defines me.

My locker was located at the far end of the hallway and I was already late I realized still standing in the same spot where Blake had left me. Sprinting towards the entrance and my locker I did not see Lucy, the most popular girl in the school as she whispered to her peers about Blake and me. I did not see Gavin and Pike, the jocks joking and pointing at the cross slapped across my lips either. This morning I saw nothing until I came to a halt in front of my locker where I forced myself to look for my English book, grabbing it and running towards my English class just as the bell loudly sounded the start of first period. With The Scarlet Letter clasped under my arm I ran for all I was worth to get to class first in order to get my favorite seat in every class; the one right in the back on the right side, where I could be close to a window. I bumped a few people on my way to class, but I had every intention in being the very first person seated at his desk, but this day was not to be my day at all, because not only was I the second student to get to class, but the first one also took my seat.