Sudden Silence

Chapter 9: Inherently Good

I really did have a lot of people to meet, a lot of people to get to know. Thinking about it I really did have quite a large family. Back home when people would ask about my family and they didn't already know of my famous family name, I would tell them I was an only child. Of course this wasn't true at all.

"Whenever Whitney decides to throw these brunch party things," Corbin starts walking and I follow "usually we all hide out at the fire pit. It's to the side of the house away from all the guests." I noticed that when Corbin isn't talking formally, he moves his hands around a lot, just like me. I wonder if we all do that. As we near them I hear music playing and voices talking. Butterflies arouse in my stomach and my palms began to sweat, needless to say I was nervous to see Wilder and Nolan. I am sure that they will be nice but, what if they simply don't like me. I mean I'm not necessarily in the best mindset to have an enjoyable conversation with someone. Maybe I should just stay quiet and get used to- "Alright, here we are. Hey guys, look who I found."

I was so indulged in my mind I didn't realize we had made it to the fire pit Corbin had described. It was attached to house and wasn't level with the ground me and Corbin were standing on. I dropped a good 3 feet down with walls of stone confining the concreted area. There wasn't a fire ablaze in the fire pit in the middle, probably because it was only like 9 in morning at this point. Surrounding the pit was one couch and two chairs, on them were three boys with very wide eyes and cans of soda in their hands. "Hi, Evie!" A voice off to the side said. It was Sophia in a yellow dress and sandals. I found a spot for myself and sunk into it. Suddenly I was embarrassed about my clothes but nothing felt good on my stitches and bandage.
I was trying to keep up with the conversation but I couldn't focus. There was too many words in each sentence and too many voices to follow. My siblings were very talkative, I kept wanting to quickly butt in but words just felt foreign on my tongue. The green in the trees looked brighter here than that it did from my room. My mom liked to take canopy pictures from under under the sun. Slivers of blue sky would make it past the leaves sometimes and kiss my eyes. I wish I brought my phone to sneak a picture.
     Three people walked up to us sitting there-all boys. I was surrounded by men in this house. What I managed to gather before my mind floated up into the sky again was that the brown haired boy with the almond-shaped eyes was named Nori, the one with the yellow collared shirt was Corbins friend and his name was something like Duke or Duncan, and the last boy was named Dominic and he looked me right in my eyes. He must have been wondering why I was here even though I didn't fit the part.
I can't remember much more of my day. I was in my room again thinking of the patio, thinking of my Dad, and thinking of Whitney. She must choose to be nasty like that. I am a firm believer that being mean is a choice. I know they say we come from evil but I believe humans are inherently good. I wonder if my father was still as good as I remember. Into my closet where all my clothes were hanging, I searched for the one thing I have had to remember my father for all these years. A navy blue crew neck with overly-faded white letters that are totally unrecognizable now. As soon as the hint hit my nose it felt like a knife was sunk into my chest. A smell I never thought I would miss was the smell of my house. Blood spewed from the wound in my chest and tears fell from my eyelids, I lost it and dropped to the floor. I just wanted to go home. To go home to my mom and hug her neck and have her tell me that this was all some sick prank was all I wanted. There on the floor I fell asleep hoping that I didn't dream again.