Breaking The Silence

The large room in the front was turned into a hall. The pews were moved to the very side of the room, against the wall, and right in the centre of the room was a large table of presents stacked on top of each other, all wrapped in colourful wrapping paper.

The guests seemed to be having a food time, talking to one another, and pigging out on the food table. Braelyn smiled to herself, completely satisfied with the outcome. Today was Carmella’s surprise birthday party, and so far, everything was going according to plan the way Nick and her planned it. Soon, Carmella would be here as Joe had told Carmella that she had a so-called important last minute emergency meeting at the church, and to show up at a specific time.

“This isn’t a bad idea at all, Braelyn,” one of the guest said as they walked pass by her.

“This party is great,” another said.

“You and Nick plan awesome parties, you know,” Joe’s voice came. “This is brilliant!”

Braelyn looked up and lightly smiled at him, shaking her head modestly, and continued walking. She was trying to find Nick but right now she couldn’t see him among the many heads in the room. She cursed herself in her head for not asking Joe where he was.

“This turned out okay, didn’t it?” Nick said, suddenly appearing besides Braelyn.

The brunette craned her neck and smiled, nodding slowly. In fact, the word ‘okay’ was actually an understatement. This surprise turned out better than the two expected. Everyone from youth group and church turned up to the party. It seemed as though Carmella was very likeable and popular around the church.

“So are you going to tell me now?” Nick asked suddenly and eagerly.

Braelyn paused for a moment and looked down at her shoes, wondering what he was talking about. Then she realized, he wanted to know about Carmella – her problem. The young woman looked up at Nick and just as she was about to answer him with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ a loud voice cut through.

“She’s coming!” one of the guests shouted who was on look-out before running into the church with his arms in the air. “Hurry up, everyone! Hide! She’ll be here any second!”

Just as the frantic guest predicted when he ran into the room, seconds later, the front door of the Church was pushed open and in came a feminine leg, followed by a friendly face.

“Surprise!” Everyone in the room shouted, springing out of their hiding spot as they began assembling together as a group in front of the large table with the large stack of presents.

Braelyn slowly crawled out from under the table and fixed her dress before looking up. Her eyes widened in sorrow she watched the blonde figure giggle and smile, completely unaware of her surrounding. Carmella was drunk, and just as Braelyn predicted, Carmella pulled out an already opened bottle of alcohol and raised it up to her lips, sculling the liquid.

As soon as Carmella did that, the room was suddenly filled with gasps of shock and Carmella dropped her alcohol bottle, realizing where and who she was in front of. How could she be so stupid?!

Nick, who was now standing next to Braelyn turned to the brunette. “So this is her problem?” he asked, anger in his tone.

Braelyn craned her neck, afraid to answer. Slowly though, she eventually nodded.

Nick turned his head away and let out an angry breath of air through his nose, then looked back down at Braelyn again. “Come,” he said, as he dragged her along.

Braelyn cautiously followed him. She didn’t exactly want to be in the same room as someone who was angry. The pair ended up in a small, unused room in the Church. On one side of the room there was a tiny window where the sun lightly shined down onto the floor. Next to the window was a small pile of chairs stacked on top of each other. Nick pulled two off from the pile and placed them opposite each other. He sat down on one.

“You’re not going to get away this time and I’m not going to let you change the subject like you did last time,” he said, as he offered the spare chair to her.

Braelyn looked at the young man, suddenly scared. There was a bad feeling in her stomach that he was leading to the topic she wanted to avoid most.

“We’re going to talk about you.”

The brunette still stayed on the spot unsure of what to do.

“Braelyn,” he spoke again, this time more quietly and softly. “What’s wrong? What’s wrong with you?”

Braelyn froze up inside, refusing to believe what she was hearing. This was not how it was suppose to go. She was meant to be with Carmella helping her out, instead of being with someone who wanted to break her. But she didn’t want anyone to break her.

“Tell me, Braelyn. Tell me everything."