Echos of Silence

Carys Louise Shrader is the perfect daughter.

She hardly ever back-talks, she does her chores faithfully, she is home by curfew, and she has A’s and B’s in school.

Brandon and Ruby Shrader never want their youngest child to leave them, but Carys can’t bear the thought of staying in Twin Lakes a moment longer than needed. As soon as she finishes highschool, she is planning her escape to New York.

There are a few flaws in her plan, though.

She has no money saved, she has no idea what she wants to do with her life, and she can’t leave her best friend, Dalton, behind.

Dalton is everything to her. They have been best friends since she was born. They are never separated for very long.

And Dalton doesn’t want to leave Twin Lakes.

Senior year is fast approaching and Carys is begging Dalton to leave with her after graduation, but he chooses to not think about it.

There is only two weeks left of summer vacation and she has to come up with a plan soon.

She can’t stay in this place. There are bigger and better things out there for her out there.

Carys looks up to her sister, Layna, for leaving their hicktown. She doesn’t understand why Layna came back. Surely, living in New Orleans was the most exciting thing to happen in her life.

Carys lights up a room when she walks in, but is naive and trusting.

Being naive and trusting gets people killed.

Staring out her window, Carys watches Layna leave for work while planning her escape.

“I’m going to leave and never come back to this rathole,” she whispers to herself.