Speak No Evil

Warm rays of sun hit Emily’s face through the bay window in her room. Bringing her hand up to her face she gently rubbed her face as she came to. Sitting up she pinched the bridge of her nose then brushed the sleep out of her eyes. Looking to her left through her half lidded eyes she read the clock as 9:27. Silently groaning she pulled the duvet off her legs and settled her feet on the soft cream carpet.

Making her way over to the en-suite bathroom she did her business then pulled her chocolate locks into a bun on top of her head. Turning on the faucet she splashed some cold water over her face before making her way downstairs.

She was greeted by a smiling Jimmy who was playing the piano and furiously scribbling down notes onto a piece of paper. She waved at him before going into the kitchen and fixing herself some tea and toast. Once done she made her way through to the living room and placed her tea and toast on the coffee table then walking over to the piano she handed Jimmy a cup of coffee she had made for him as well. Receiving a smile and a salute of thanks she sat on the couch and tucked into her breakfast.

“Hey Emily, tell me what you think of this yeah?” giving him a thumbs up she sat and listened as he played a two minute song on the piano. As he finished he gave a small bow as she clapped, “So any good?” smiling wide she nodded and gave him a thumbs up as a hung over Leana came into the room and fell backwards across Emily’s lap. Groans came from Leana’s mouth as Jimmy continued to play the piano. Covering her ears and closing her eyes she tried to silence the noise that was making her headache worse. Feeling a poke she slowly opened one eye to look at Emily,

Hey Le, do you think you could give me a lift down to the beach a bit later please?

Groaning loudly again she grabbed her head before replying. “Get Jimmy to do it, I am way too hung over for that shit.” Looking over at Jimmy he smiled back,

“Don’t worry Em, I’ll be nice and do it. Just tell me when you want to go.” She signed thank you to him, one of the simpler actions of sign language he understood, and smiled.

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Dropping her off near the pier Jimmy gave Emily a little wave as he drove off. Waving back she removed her sandals and put them in her bag as her feet touched the sand. Walking along for a while she found a more or less secluded spot a couple of meters from the shore line and after smoothing down the back of her skirt she took a seat in the sand. Pulling out her trusty notebook she turned a few pages over ‘til she got to where she left off, clicking the pen she began to write.

Emily missed it. Sitting outside, her notebook on her lap and just writing. In different environments new ideas would come and it helped her plenty when writing. She loved writing and saw it as an escape from the real world; a way of letting out her feelings without hurting anybody, when writing everything turned out the way she wanted it to and not the way anybody else did, it let her be in her own little world where everything’s perfect and nobody can ruin it, except for her and her alone.

After an hour of writing and scribbling down ideas she took a deep breath of the salty air that surrounded her. Closing her notebook she put it back in her bag before pulling out a piece of text she was meant to be editing.

As she edited she watched the waves rolling up to the shore. When she was on the third page she was distracted by the sound of barking. Turning to the left she saw an excited golden Labrador running up to her and sitting down. Closing the text and putting it in her bag she bought her hand up and began running it through the dogs fur.

“Bella! Bella! What are you doing girl you can’t just run up to random pe- Emily?” a confused Matt skidded to a halt “Fancy seeing you here? Leana or Jim around?” shaking her head at him he smiled as Bella lay her head onto Emily’s lap. “Mind if I join you?” closing her eyes and wishing he would leave, she begrudgingly nodded to his request.

“What you doing?”

Writing and editing.

“Writing and editing what?

Some stories :)

“Oh yeah Leana said you were a writer.”

An aspiring writer, I’m a book editor for Bloomsbury at the moment.

“Ooh really? What books have you edited then?”

Fictional books such as the final Harry Potter, a few factual books here and there and well anything really.

“The final Harry Potter? Get you.” Emily nodded, he smiled back at her as they fell into silence, Emily gently stroking Bella’s head.

“How are you feeling after last night? You looked pretty shaken up.” Emily shrugged knowing that he thought it was the unknown guy that had upset her when in reality, it was mostly Matt himself. “Well he’s not going to get you now, us guys will always protect you, don’t you worry.” He smiled as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders causing her too visibly tense. “Hey, you sure you’re alright?” she nodded and closed her eyes. Gingerly moving his body closer to hers, he pulled her into a hug and as he did so he felt her body tense even more. He wasn’t as oblivious as the others. He had realised the way Emily gave him a very subtle cold shoulder since they met almost two weeks ago.

“Why are you so scared of us? Me especially.” She looked up at him through her eyelashes and shrugged hoping he would lay off the subject, “I don’t think you realised that we, well me and Val at least, have realised the way you tense or flinch when one of us guys are near you, well with the exception of Jimmy and it seems Brian, I mean you are doing it now as I hug you. You don’t have to tell me anything I just want you to know that we would never hurt you, ever.” Picking up her notepad and pen again from the sand, she began writing as Matt looked at her curiously.

Do you really want to know what happened Matt? Why I tense and flinch? Why I don’t speak even.

“Don’t feel you have to tell me Emily, I just want you to know that –” Emily held up her hand to silence him then held up her notepad,

Take me to a library and I’ll show you.

“You sure?” after a nod from Emily he squeezed her lightly then made Bella get up from Emily’s lap and put her back on the leash so Emily could get herself ready to leave.

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Pulling up at Huntington Beach library Emily followed Matt ‘til they got to the computers. Sitting down she pulled up a few different websites of English newspapers before typing in the same thing into each search bar. Matt sat quietly as she did so watching as article after article appeared once she had clicked search.

Go for it, take as long as you need.

Looking as she stood up, they swapped places as he began to look through different articles his eyes widening the longer he read. Three quarters of an hour later Matt sat back in his seat as he read the final article, after a few moments of silence he was able to speak. “Damn, Emily, I can’t even just… I have no words.”

"You can’t tell anyone! Only Le and Jim know. Not even Val please." She began to nervously chew at her fingernails.

“I promise I won’t.” Looking up she smiled at him,

Can I tell you something else Matt?

“Go for it,”

Last night it was kinda maybe more you who scared me opposed to the other man, you reminded me of Him so much.

“I scared you? Shit, sorry Em, I didn’t mean to scare you, you need to know that we will never hurt you. We will be the ones hurting the people who do hurt you. You’re not Le’s friend from England anymore, you’re our friend now and I will lay down my life for my friends, we would all lay down our lives for the ones close to us. Each and every one of us has been through shit in our lives and we have continued to stick by each other. Your part of the family now Em, there’s no escaping.” Matt was taken off guard when Emily hugged him. Sitting her on his lap he hugged her back feeling a trickle of tears run down his neck. After a few moments she reached again for her notepad and wrote two simple words –

Thank you