Abused, Mute, and Human

Chapter 1

I shrugged my shoulders and turned around. I wasn't expecting him to be so close to my face. He inhaled a sharp breath because I assumed he saw my shiner. Then the strangest thing happened. He growled. I decided to think nothing of it and let my shoulder brushed past him, while I kept walking to the opposite side of the school. Hopefully, he gets the message to leave me alone.

He doesn't.

"I'm Conlan," He says casually while walking into step at my side. I stayed quiet and made no movement to imply that I'm interested. After a few minutes, he spoke up again. "What about you?"

Silence

We kept walking and eventually I got to my class. 15 minutes late. I dreaded walking into the room and being the center of attention. Suck it up, Amanda. You've got this.

My hand grasped the cold metal knob and slowly turned it open. Head down, ears open. I repeated to myself.

My legs unconsciously took me to the back of the class and sat down in the farthest chair.

"Conlan, late as always I see," Wait! He was in my first period. Well, that explains why he never stopped at his class. Ugh, great. "But who is this young lady you came with?" He mused, referring to me. All eyes were on me. Great. After I sat there uncomfortably for about 2 minutes, the teacher spoke up again. "What's your name sweetheart," What's with these people and words of endearment.

I got up and slowly walked towards the teacher, pulling one of the papers from my pocket and slapped it onto his desk before turning back to my seat. Unfortunately, the two seated desk was now filled with Mr. Handsome as well. Don't bother him, and he won't bother you.

"Ah, I see now. Class, we have a new student named Amanda," Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Conlan mouth my name repeatedly while smirking. Weird. I saw the teacher give me the look that asked "Should I tell the class, or leave it alone" I shrugged, and he decided to mention it. "Just to warn you all. Amanda is mute, which means she can't talk," Murmurs immediately flew across the classroom. I felt Conlans' eyes boring into my skull. "But, BUT, that does not mean she is stupid. After all, she is in Honors English, which is not a stupid class," The teacher laughed proudly, referring to his class.

After that, the rest of the day seemed to go in a pattern. Walk to my next class, give paper to the new teacher, teacher announces to the class, and then on to the next period. It also was a very odd coincidence that Conlan was in all of my classes and every class, he would sit next to me wherever that was. I haven't reacted to anything he's said all day, why is he still so interested in the bruised, mute freak.

Finally, agonizing period after agonizing period, it was lunch time.

I decided to eat outside so maybe Conlan wouldn't see me and try to sit next to me. During the time I was in school, gray snow had fallen into the ground; it went up to my ankle.

Slowly, my body was eased against a tree nearby. The bark was rough, but the indent in the wood suggested that this spot has been used many times before me. The leaves were long gone since winter has been here for a while now. Currently, the ground is moist from the melted snow, so I could feel the rubbery, vibrant, healthy green grass.

My stomach hurt from the bending motion, but after years of punishment and suffering, I've acquired a high pain tolerance; that still doesn't mean I didn't involuntarily wince at the painful feeling.

I closed my eyes, trying to focus on something other than the pain. On top of the beating this morning, I was extremely hungry. Anyone could hear my stomach growling from a mile away.