Without a Sound

When the movie was over and the credits were rolling, he looked at me and said, “I called Celia before you woke up. She invited us to come over, and I said we’d be there at two a.m. It’s around one right now.”

“Can we go?” I asked excitedly. I really needed to thank her for everything she did.

“Of course,” he replied. “She said she’s making dinner, but if you want something little to eat right now to tide you over…”

“Yes please,” I answered quickly. I was starving. I’d slept for more than twelve hours again. Would I ever develop regular sleeping habits? Maybe not. It seemed like Mikey hadn’t.

I started to get up on my own, but he rolled his eyes, picked me up, and carried me down the stairs. I knew I was getting heavier and realized that it was probably harder for him to carry me everywhere. Sooner or later I’d have to put my food down and make him let me walk on my own, but I decided I would wait until my feet healed.

While still holding me, he skillfully opened the pantry, took out a silvery plastic-wrapped food item, handed it to me, and took me out to the car.

This time he set me in the passenger seat, pulled a belt across me, and buckled it. I felt a little bit claustrophobic, like I was trapped.

I felt better when Mikey got in the driver’s seat next to me and nodded encouragingly. He inserted a key by the wheel and turned it, and the quiet engine came smoothly to life.

As soon as we started moving, I was entranced. I probably looked like a child with her face glued to the window of the largest candy store on earth the way I looked out that car window. Everything passed by so fast I barely had a chance to look at it before it was far behind me.

His and his brother’s houses were obviously very secluded in the woods. The road was not rough, but there were always trees on either side. Only three times did we pass a road to turn off on, and we never did. We continued on driving straight.

There were no street lights and it was pitch black out, so I couldn’t see much. All I could make out was what his headlights illuminated, which was the road in front of us and the trees a few yards to the sides. Still, I was fascinated.

When I finally sat back and glanced at him, I saw that he looked smug. His eyes flickered to me before he looked back at the road. He was amused.

“What?” I said defensively, taking the wrapper off of the ‘snack’ he had given me. “This is so strange for me. I don’t think I’ve ever gone this fast before in my life.”

“Would you remember?” he asked curiously.

“I don’t know,” I replied glumly, pouting a little. I looked at the item that was concealed by the silvery wrapper. It looked like some kind of pastry, and it had strawberry filling.

“What do you remember?” he pressed. “I mean… How does it work? You remember things and your name, but… what else?”

“Nothing.” I felt embarrassed. Then I shivered. “Nothing before the darkness, the cold, the thirst, the longing for freedom, the fear… And then you. You saved me.”

He looked concerned. “It was no problem,” he assured me.

I laughed, and I saw him smile. “Don’t be so nice. I’m an ongoing problem.”

“Nevertheless, I’m glad I found you,” he admitted.

“Me too. And I’m not just glad I was found; I’m glad you found me. Do you know what I mean?” I was frowning, struggling for the right words. I was going to have to get used to this speech thing.

He looked thoughtful for so long I wondered if he wasn’t going to answer. At last, he said slowly, “I think so.”

We didn’t talk for a long time after that. As I ate my pastry thing, my mind wandered to Celia and how much I wanted to see her. Adam and Gerard, too. I would be able to talk to them now.

“Did you tell Celia I can talk? I asked suddenly.

He smiled. “No. I thought I’d let you surprise her.” His eyes sparkled.

“That’ll be fun,” I agreed, smirking just a bit at the idea. I wondered how her face would look.

It was around then that I sensed the blood ahead. Two adult unbeating hearts and one child-sized living one. I couldn’t really distinguish which adult was Gerard and which was Celia. Now I knew what Celia meant by memorizing vein patterns. I would know Mikey from miles away, but here I couldn’t even distinguish a man from a woman.

As we got closer, though, and I closed my eyes to concentrate on the two bodies, it wasn’t impossible to figure out which one was Gerard’s. He was sitting with Celia and Adam somewhere.

When we finally pulled into the driveway, I saw they were sitting on the porch steps. Gerard didn’t look particularly excited, but he looked friendly at least. Celia was smiling, and Adam was waving eagerly.

“At least let me walk into their house,” I murmured out of the corner of my mouth, knowing he would turn me down.

He looked like he was thinking about it, weighing the two options of letting me walk and hurt or carrying me. I don’t know what it was, but something made him nod and mumble back, “That’s probably best.”

I raised my eyebrows in surprise, but he ignored it. “Ready?” he asked.

“Yep.”

He helped me unbuckle my seatbelt and reached over me to open my door. We both stepped out of the car. He was immediately at my side, not that I had expected him to let me walk completely unaided.

Adam got up and ran to hug Mikey. When Mikey set him down, he examined me closely. He smiled sheepishly, and I waved back at him. Then he basically skipped back to his mother.

“Come on in,” Celia said.

When we walked through the doorway, I leaned over and said, “Thank you. For everything.”

She jumped at first. “Oh! No problem. Since when do you talk?”

“Since…” I squinted, trying to remember how long ago it was.

“Since yesterday morning,” Mikey put in for me.