The Cost of Silence

Coming Home

"Okay, do you need me to sign anything?"

"Yes, I do, but please read them carefully before signing" I say.

I hand her the forms and a pen, she signs them without reading them, just as I thought she would.

Little does she know, that she has just signed her life away. The document she just signed is a confession to abusing Sang and not registering her birth.

I turn back to Mrs Sorensen and say " My colleague will help Sang pack her things and make sure she's ready for the journey. We'll have to drive as Sang has already told me that she doesn't have a passport. I'll need her birth certificate, so that we can apply for a passport for her"

Lily and Sang go upstairs to retrieve her belonging.

I turn back to see Mrs Sorensen panic momentarily, but she quickly schools her face. She gets up and retrieves the forged document, handing it over to me.

I nod my head at her and say "Could you let my colleague know that I'll be waiting in my car"

I walk outside and lean against my cherry red Chevrolet.

10 minutes later Sang and Lily come outside.

"Professor, Lily says that you have something to tell me. She explained that I'm not really going to Stanford, that you just said that to get me out of there" Sang says.

" I'll tell you after you've had some food, I know a good local place." I say.

Lily walks towards us, taking Sang's hands in her own, she says "Sang, I'll come see you soon okay angel. If you need me just call, Professor Buble has my number.

"Come on Sang, lets buckle you up and go eat" I say.

The drive doesn't take long, as we pull into Bob's diner I see Luke Taylor is serving. I really hope he doesn't scare Sang.

As we approach the door, Luke comes rushing towards us, holding the door open for Sang and I. He shows us to a small booth nearer the kitchen.

I pick up a menu and see Sang do the same.

"Good Evening Cupcake, what can I get you?" Luke asked.

Sang quirks her head to the side and says "Cupcake?".

Luke smiles and says "You look good enough to eat, and I love cupcakes"

Sang blushes bright red and looks away from Luke.

In a small voice she asks "Are cupcakes good. I've never had one before"

Luke explodes and starts shouting. Sang recoils in fear and moves away from him.

Sang curls up and sobs, "please don't hurt me" over and over.

Luke looks horrified. He approaches slowly with his hands in the air.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I just couldn't believe that you had never had any cupcakes. Did you get any treats?"

Sang shook her head and said "most of the time I wasn't allowed to eat at all".

Luke face drops and he runs off into the kitchen.

I turn to Sang and say "When did you last eat?:

She looks like she's working something out and then says "6 days ago, when I stole some crackers from the kitchen."

My eyes drop to the table to hide the rage I feel inside.

"How often did she withhold meals, Sang"

Sang looked down and mumbled something unintelligible.

I raise her face, with 2 fingers at her chin and ask her again.

"I haven't been able to eat with them, since my 6th birthday, when she found out I wasn't my father's niece, but actually his daughter" she said.

Luke returned with the biggest plate of chocolate chips pancakes I had ever seen and placed them in front of Sang, whose eyes widened at the food in front of her.

"L-Luke I couldn't possibly eat all that" Sang says.

I turn to Sang and say "just eat what you can. We'll take the rest home with us"

Sang got a faraway look in eyes, and mumbled "Home?".

"Yes, sweetie, home. I wanted to wait until we were at least in the car, but I feel I need to tell you that I am your Uncle. Your birth mother was my sister" I say.

Sang looks up at me, with tears in her eyes and says "Was? Does that mean she's no longer with us?"

My heart breaks for her and I  nod, unable to vocalise my feelings.

"Let's eat up and go home, I'll answer all your questions then, ok" I say.

Sang smiles and nods her head in agreement.