Without a Sound

I ran down the stairs, stumbling as I went. I threw open the front door and dashed across the yard. I stopped when I got to the trees to look back. Mikey was looking out the window on the second story, but when he saw me looking back, he turned away.

So I turned away too and began to sprint through the woods. My feet were bare, so the sticks left splinters in them and the sharp stones of the forest floor split the soft, sensitive skin on my feet. Still, I didn’t stop.

The branches of shrubs and trees whipped my arms, face, and legs, but I was wearing jeans, so it could’ve been worse. The physical pain, though… it was nothing. It was just an inconvenience: a fly buzzing around.

I’d take that pain for the rest of my life multiplied by a thousand, if only I could get rid of the stinging I felt inside me. This was the stinging that sent the warm tears down my face.

I remember tripping and scraping my palm on a fallen tree, but I got right back up and continued on. The morning light was just shining through the tops of the trees.

I ran for hours, until I couldn’t move my legs anymore. I cried out when I stumbled and fell that last time, unable to get back up. I wondered how long I’d be stuck on the forest floor. A day? Fifty years?

Now that I wasn’t running, I couldn’t stay focused on the physical pain of it. I didn’t have to concentrate on not running into trees. So, naturally, I started to think about the emotional pain.

This hurt more than anything I’d ever felt before. It felt like my chest was splitting in half. Maybe I’d taken having Mikey for granted. I was always grateful for everything he did, but I guess I figured he’d always be there.

I never expected him to make me leave. Why was he so angry and hurt? Sure, I had invaded his privacy, but I couldn’t understand why looking at the paintings made him so mad.

His wife had painted them. I don’t know how long it took me to come to that conclusion. Maybe he was angry because he thought I was going to hurt them. They must’ve been very special to him. But if they were so special, why did he keep them covered up in a room he never entered?

Of course. Because for some reason it hurt him to see the paintings. That’s why the house’s walls were so vacant. He couldn’t bear to look at them, but he couldn’t bear to replace them, either. Oh, this was so complicated.

The last painting I had seen stood out in my mind. Somehow it seemed more real than the others. I felt that it had really happened. I knew it had really happened.

They had all been human at one point. A vampire killed his daughter and bit him, turning him into a vampire. But what about his wife? How had she been able to paint that? And where was she now?

Why was Mikey so furious at me? Why had he looked like he wanted to kill me? Why had he made me leave?

There were so many questions. Did any of them matter? That was another useless question that couldn’t be answered. Maybe it didn’t matter. I sobbed into my hands. What if I never saw Mikey again? What if he never picked me up in his gentle arms and I never heard his smooth voice and… and he never kissed my forehead again?

I felt like I would die. I couldn’t live without that. I needed him. He needed me, too. Maybe he didn’t know it yet. I don’t even know how I knew it. But he needed me just as much as I needed him. And now we were both out of luck.

That was when I felt blood approaching me. At first I though maybe it was Mikey’s because it was stationary like a vampire’s. But my hopes were shot down when I realized that, even though it was a vampire, it was a woman.

I didn’t waste time worrying about who it was. Maybe she would leave me alone, or maybe she would come to me. It didn’t matter either way, because I was too tired to run away. If she tried to hurt me, I had no way to defend myself. So who cared what happened?

I didn’t even look up when I heard the leaves crunching under her feet. I continued on crying.

“Hello, there,” she said cautiously. Her voice wasn’t high, but it had a musical tone to it. I imagined she could sing well.

Of course, I didn’t answer her. I didn’t even lift my head out of my hands or uncurl my legs. I just sat there uselessly.

The woman came to sit next to me. At last, I looked up. She was pretty, and her hair and eyes were dark. For a second I though I wouldn’t be able to control myself and I’d go for her blood, but my whole body wasn’t willing. The thirst didn’t even matter anymore. It was a small needle stabbing into me among thousands. How much could one more hurt?

With her face full of pity, she asked, “What’s your name?”

I coughed, choking on my tears. To answer her question, I shook my head sadly. To show her I couldn’t talk, I opened my mouth to speak and let the silence drag on.

Suddenly realization lit her eyes. Smiling kindly, she stated, “You’re Charlotte.”

I was confused, but I nodded. How did she know who I was?

She pulled me into a sitting position. “Mikey must not have told you about me, but he told us about you. I’m Celia, his sister-in-law.”

I couldn’t help but tilt my head to the side. So that meant Mikey had a brother? He’d never told me that, but I guess there were a lot of things he never told me.

“Yes,” Celia confirmed. “I’m married to his brother Gerard. I’m not surprised he didn’t tell you about us. He hates bringing up family.” She looked disapproving now, and I wondered what she meant by that.

She frowned, realizing something. “How did you get all the way here? Did you run away from Mikey?”

I felt that stabbing pain in my chest. The tears that had been slowing down sped up again and my vision blurred. I shrugged in response to her question. I hadn’t really run away. He made me leave.

“No, don’t cry,” she told me quickly. I couldn’t have obeyed her if I wanted to.

“Alright then, come on,” she urged. “I’ll take you to my house, and we’ll get this sorted out.”

I wanted to believe her, but I couldn’t. However, I didn’t have the strength to argue. She helped me up. I couldn’t believe how long I’d actually run. It was starting to get dark. Celia supported most of my weight as we walked through the forest.

The trees opened up to a clearing sooner than I expected. How had I just happened to run perfectly in the direction of Mikey’s brother’s house? Maybe luck hadn’t completely abandoned me. It almost made me feel like laughing, but I couldn’t.

The house was similar to Mikey’s in that it was definitely a family house, but it was a light brown color. There was even a playground in the front yard. When we made it to the spacious front porch, a man was there. He actually did resemble Mikey a little bit.

“Celia?” he asked. “Who is this?”

“This is Charlotte.”

Mikey’s brother looked confused when he replied, “Oh. Did Mikey bring her?”

“No,” Celia told him. “I don’t know how she got here or why she was running, but I don’t think Mikey knows where she is.”

I nodded tiredly to confirm this.

Mikey’s brother was frowning now. “What should we do?”

“You are going to go talk to Mikey and figure out what happened,” she told him assertively. “I am going to take Charlotte inside.”