Said Without a Sound

“Hey, Gwen. We should hang out somewhere other than this graveyard,” I suggested playfully, sitting down with her at the foot of the tree by the lake. Gwen raised a finger to her lips, signaling that I should be quiet. She was… feeding a squirrel, right out of her hand. I’ll never understand why she’s so good with animals. She smiled to herself as she pet the squirrel’s tail. The squirrel made no move to bite her, either. It just sat there, eating the peanuts in Gwen’s palm.

We sat there in comfortable silence as the squirrel enjoyed his free meal. I liked not needing to break the silence. Lisa always felt the need to. She came over yesterday, otherwise I would’ve come here to talk to Tom again. She dragged me out of the house for a date at Dave and Buster’s. I made sure to pay for everything, but I still wasn’t really in the mood for Lisa. I loved Lisa because she was always so energetic and happy, but again, that wasn’t what I needed right now.

I needed Gwen – cool, calm collected, quiet Gwen. Because I liked to be alone, but I hated feeling lonely. With Gwen, I didn’t feel lonely, but I felt like I was alone since she barely said anything to me. I felt like she was always barely there. There was something ethereal about her that intrigued me. “Ok,” she sighed softly when the squirrel ran away since she was out of peanuts. “What were you saying, Lex?”

I got to my feet and grabbed her hands, pulling her up, too. She was surprised by my action because she stumbled into me a bit. She was always so cold. I wish she’d wear more than her usual thin clothing. “Come with me. I wanna hang out with you.”

Gwen froze. “I can’t leave this place.”

I frowned at the way she said that, and at the speed with which she yanked her hands out of mine. “Why not? Are your parents going to get mad at you? Why don’t you let me talk to them first?”

Gwen stared at me. “You really don’t know, do you?”

“Know what?”

Gwen smiled the saddest smile I’d ever seen, pulling some of her hair behind her ears. “Ok, you can talk to my parents…”

“Great,” I said without thinking. While we were walking to my car, though, I realized what I just agreed to. “Wait, wait. Your parents won’t be, like, freaked out about me, will they?” I asked as I opened the passenger door for Gwen.

“I don’t know yet,” Gwen said with a shrug as she got in my car.

Swallowing hard, I closed her door and trotted over to the driver’s seat. “Where do you live?”

“Not too far from here, actually,” Gwen said, absentmindedly staring out the window. She gave me directions and we were there in, like, fifteen minutes. She looked so sad when we pulled up into the driveway, though. “Lex… my parents…won’t be the nicest. But just be persistent. Please?”

“Alright.” I got out of the car and opened her door for her, but Gwen wouldn’t budge. “Aren’t you coming?”

“Lex…you go first. Ask them...ask them if you could talk to me.”

I arched an eyebrow. “Why would I do that?”

“Trust me; Just do it.”

I sighed, but did as I was told…after locking Gwen in my car, of course. I didn’t want her running off without me again. I wanted to take her somewhere quiet and warm where we could talk and maybe grab some coffee or something or whatever she was into. Gwen was like…like a mouse. She was always so quiet that I felt the need to whisper to compensate for it.

I walked up to the front door and rang the bell once, waiting patiently for Gwen’s parents to answer.

A forlorn looking middle aged woman answered the door. “Oh…may I help you?”

“Uh, yes. Are you Mrs… Um, you’re Gwen’s mom, right?” Shit, I didn’t even know Gwen’s last name! She didn’t know mine, either, but still, I should’ve thought to ask so I would know how to address her parents… I didn’t want them to think I was rude or anything…

The thin woman stared blankly at me. “What did you just say?”

“I’m so sorry that I don’t know your last name,” I quickly apologized. This wasn’t going so good.

“Young man, you can call me Mrs. Allingham,” the woman said, wrapping her cardigan more tightly around her slim frame. She was definitely Gwen’s mom. She looked a lot like Gwen, except her hair was blonde. “Now, what were you saying?”

“I was, um,” I stuttered as I tried to remember what Gwen told me to ask. “I was wondering if I could talk to your daughter, Gwen.”

Mrs. Allingham went whiter than the paint on the front door. “What do you want with Gwen?”

"Just to hang out,” I said with a nervous laugh, unsure of what else to say.

Mrs. Allingham bit her lip and studied me for a few minutes before speaking again. “What’s your name?”

“Alex Gaskarth, ma’am.”

“Well, Alex, I’m sorry to be the one to tell you, but Gwen’s been dead for two years now.”

I felt a chill shoot up my spine. “Wh…What?”

Mrs. Allingham was still so pale. “Yes. Gwen is dead.”

Maybe….Gwen gave me directions to the wrong house. Yeah. “No, she’s not. I-I’ve been hanging out with her at the graveyard for a while, now. She’s always there.”

“Of course she’s always there, that’s where her memorial is,” Mrs. Allingham snapped, her eyes watering.

“Mrs. Allingham, your daughter isn’t dead, I can promise you that,” I said firmly, pulling my keys off my belt. “Do you want to see her?”

“Young man, I think it’s time for you to leave,” Mrs. Allingham choked out, making to shut her door.

“No, please, wait! She’s right here in my car! I just-“

“She died two years ago! She’s not coming back!” Mrs. Allingham shrieked before slamming the door on me.

My chest felt…I couldn’t describe it, but it felt the way it felt the day I found Tom’s body.

I didn’t like it.

I ran back to the car and unlocked it, getting into the driver’s seat and turning to face Gwen for some answers…but she was gone. My car had been locked. If she unlocked or opened her door, the alarm would have sounded, and it never did...

What the hell is going on?