Pictures on Silence

"How many times have we talked about this?"

I hate when she does this.

"What do I always say?!"

She's been going on for ten minutes straight. You'd think she would've gotten tired by now.

"Well?!"

I continued staring through the carpet of my bedroom. Mackenzie was on a tirade, mainly because Danielle was being a snotty brat like she usually is and because we were hosting Thanksgiving dinner the next day, and I was taking the brunt of it. And what did I do, you might ask?

I have no freaking clue.

Though it might have had something to do with getting a ride home from school with someone whom my parents hadn't met. Stupidest thing ever. I was safer in that car than I was standing in my own bedroom with her staring at me like a bull at a Red Sox game.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" she demanded, hands on hips.

Swallowing and shutting my eyes, I carefully formulated by response. Despite the torrent of pent-up anger that I could have unleashed upon her, I had to keep my cool. My dad would kill me if I didn't. "Nothing," I murmured, still not looking at her. "I'm sorry. It was irresponsible and I wasn't thinking."

"That's not good enough."

I took a deep breath. Nothing I do is ever good enough. Why don't you stop being so passive fucking aggressive and just hit me already?

Luckily the timer for the apple cookies or lamb muffins or whatever the hell crackpot recipe she was making went off and Mackenzie stalked out of my room, leaving behind the stench of bad shampoo and ire. She was even so kind as to slam the door on her way out, making the mirror shudder. I sat down heavily and exhaled.

"I am so sick of this," I muttered to the posters on my ceiling. After a few minutes of calming myself, I rolled to my feet and stuffed by wallet, phone, and iPod into my messenger bag covered in patches and pins. Not bothering to use my ninja skills, I breezed down the hall and to the front door. "Going to Mom's!" I called to the house.

Amazing how useful divorced parents can be sometimes. They're all just lucky I was raised right so I didn't play them off each other.

What the hell is wrong with me?

I unlocked the front door and dropped my bag on the bed. Going into the kitchen, I poured myself a glass of water. "Hey, Asphodel," I greeted, crouching by the rabbit's cage. He raised himself on his hind legs and sniffed at my hand. "You want out, babe? Okay, we'll let you roam." Setting the glass on the counter, I released the catch in the wire and gently lifted him out, though he soon started squirming, demanding to be let free.

Most of that afternoon I spent doing my homework on the futon while listening to Pink Floyd and watching Asphodel hop around the room. Who's a goody-two-shoes? You got it if you said me. If you said Steve the Earl of Detroit, you've got brain issues. Or you're Bianca. Which is pretty much the same thing.

"Hi, sweetie," my mom greeted, surprised, as she walked in the door. I smiled up from watching "What Not To Wear". Don't judge me; I'm an addict for dressing people up. "What are you doing here?"

"Watching television. Playing with the bunneh. Hanging out on the couch."

I grinned widely as she rolled her eyes. "I mean, how come you're not up at Daddy's?"

"I needed to get away," I replied with a shrug, turning back to the awfully dressed woman on the screen. "Mackenzie's being a nazi because Danielle's being a brat. So the usual in a larger dose."

After three hours of the Learning Channel, the Food Network, Jeopardy, and the Daily Show, I decided that my brain was melted enough for me to go to sleep. Or at least hang out on my bed and listen to music until I crawled under the covers.

The next morning I woke up to the phone ringing. "GoawayIhateyou," I grumbled, rolling over and squeezing my eyes shut. Only it didn't go away, but kept ringing. Growling, I heaved myself out of bed and shuffled to the phone. "Hello?" I inquired, trying to sound awake.

"Where the hell are you?!" Mackenzie screeched on the other end. I held the phone at arms length, groaning tiredly as I cracked my joints. She kept yelling, something along the line of 'If you're not home in ten minutes, I'll stick a cheetah up your ass" or whatever. I don't know. I was half-asleep.

"I'm at Mom's like I said," I yawned. "I'll walk up after I take a shower."

"You'd better. You have to help clean the house." Then she hung up.

I glared at the phone in my hands. "Goodbye to you, too. I hope you choke on a goddamn spatula."

So, already in a very bad mood, I took a shower and stomped into my clothes. Baggy jeans and a t-shirt I stole from Jesse; why bother trying to look cute? Wet hair hanging in clumps everywhere, I sat on my bed and dialled the portable phone, holding a hand to my forehead.

"Goooood morning, Penangela," Aromi greeted chirpily. "Happy Thanksgiving." I grunted and swiped my hair back. "That's not a happy noise. What's wrong, my favourite singer in the whole world?"

"I can't take this, Aero," I said tiredly, even though it was only nine in the morning. Yeah, bitch called at half-past eight.

"Your family?"

"My family haven't even shown up yet. Mackenzie's driving me insane. I'm so sick of her bullshit."

"Aww, sweetie," Aero cooed. "But appreciate your family, they completely love you. Even though you keep telling me every holiday is an argument." I nodded, lacing up my shoes. "Think of it this way: at least you don't have to spend the whole weekend away like I do. You know I'd love to drive up and save you."

I laughed shortly, collecting my things. "I think I'd rather be on a plane for the next four days."

"Well, you call me if things get bad, okay?" I hummed acknowledgment. "Ti amo, principessa."

"Don't you start with the princess thing," I ordered, laughing. I smiled weakly at the floor. "Ti amo, Aromi." I sighed after I hung up, and placed the phone in the charger. "Here goes everything."

Three hours later I had resorted to wearing my DJ headphones plugged into nothing but my pocket as I vacuumed the family room; I just wanted her to leave me alone. More than a few times, I slammed the vacuum cleaner into the furniture. Accidentally.

"The timer's going off!" Mackenzie called. So? "Somebody get the vegetarian lasagna out of the oven!"

And seeing as I was the only sibling not in my room, I yanked the plug out of the wall and stuffed the vacuum cleaner into the closet, storming into the kitchen. Muttering under my breath, I grabbed a pair of oven mitts and gently lifted the glass pan out of the oven.Too bad it wasn't a gas oven.

And, naturally, as I was stepping back as a crawl so I wouldn't burn myself, Danielle came swinging into the kitchen and knocked into me, making me fumble the pan and dropping half the contents on the floor. And then Mackenzie entered the room.

"Shize," I breathed, staring at the glop in the middle of the kitchen.

"Dammit, Angie!" she cried in exasperation. Like this happened often. "Now what are Drew and June going to eat? Clean it up."

I stared at her as she moved around the kitchen, practically cooing at Danielle. My right eye started twitching. My jaw pushed forward a little, sucking in my lower lip and biting down on it. Then, by some miracle, my hands lost their grip and the remainder of the lasagna plummeted to its doom. Glass chunks skittered across the floor.

Mackenzie sighed angrily. "Forget it. I'll do it. Just... get out of here."

Without a word, I turned and went to my room. With the door half open, I snatched the duffel bag down from the closet shelf and began stuffing clothes into it. I worked quickly and silently, jaw clenched to keep myself from screaming.

"What are you doing?" I paused to look up at my brother Tyrnan in the doorway. "Where are you planning on going?"

Instead of replying, I flipped out my phone and called Aero, who was driving. "Pick me up," I requested flatly. "I don't care where you're going, just take me with you." I snapped the phone shut, stuffed it in my pocket, and continued packing.

Tyrnan entered the room and stopped me from putting two large books in. "You can't leave," he said incredulously. "People are going to be here in a half an hour." I swallowed hard and jerked my hands away. Oh sure, now you care. "What are we going to tell them? That you ran away?"

"Tell them I had a sudden important, career-altering, band-related decision to make," I replied, zipping up the bag. "I just--" I stopped talking while Mackenzie returned to hers and Dad's room. Once I was sure she couldn't hear me, I looked up at Tyrnan, frowning worriedly at me. I tried to smile reassuringly. "I'm not running away. I'll be back Sunday."

I gave him a hug, another weak smile, and walked with hushed casualty down the steps and out through the garage. Heart pounding, I walked down the hill and stood awkwardly on the sidewalk framing the main road.

Aromi pulled up and I got in, biting my lip nervously. "Isn't your Dad going to be mad?"

I leaned my head back against the rest and focused on the wind through my hair as we merged onto the highway. "Probably," I answered honestly. I shut my eyes against the pressure of the air. "I'll worry about that when it comes." I paused, a tiny smile quirking my lips. "Or maybe I won't."

Aero shot me a confused look, which I combated with laughter and turning up the stereo.

Standing in the middle of the busy airport, Aromi and I gazed up at the board of arriving and departing planes. Before us lay the ticket purchaser; we were doing this by luck. "Plus," Aero added, "It really doesn't matter where we go. I can work from anywhere." He shrugged and smiled down at me.

I smiled in return and ran my eyes down the list. They stopped on a certain line, but continued down the list. "Let's go to Chicago," I decided placidly. Aromi glanced at me, surprised at my sudden decisiveness, but nodded and stepped up to the desk. I continued looking at the board.

Flight 842A for OHare: Departing at 1:30. On time.

As we passed through security, my phone blasted Muse as it sat in the little metal dish. After being frisked-- yet another funny word with an even more amusing meaning-- I picked it up. "Hey, Sean."

"Where are you?" he asked frantically. "Tyrnan said you just up and left. Where are you going?"

"Don't worry, BC, I'm with Aero." My aforementioned manager grinned at the sound of his name and wiggled his eyebrows at the guy patting him down. I rolled my eyes and picked up my duffel. "We're at the airport."

"Airport?!" I heard him clacking away at a keyboard for a moment, and then a pause. "Matt and Jess are now flippin' out."

"Not my fault." Aero and I began walking to our gate. "If any of my family call, I'm on important band business."

Sean snorted. "Don' ya t'ink they'd get suspicious that we're not t'ere too?"

I thought for a moment. I hadn't thought it out that far. Funny, I'm usually not the one making rash decisions. But this was no time to back down. "Wait a mo, aren't you across the Atlantic?"

He faltered. "Tha's not the point!"

I laughed victoriously. "Matt's in Philly visiting family and Jesse's with Sara in Washington. I was the only one they could get a hold of, so I'm the rep for you guys."

"And what are y'representing exactly?"

Aromi and I lined up to board our plane. Shize. Only one thing came to mind, and I really didn't want to resort to that. But it seemed like the only way.

I covered the receiver of my cell and tapped Aero. "You think Pedo's in Illi-noise?" He thought up thoughtfully and nodded. I turned back to the phone and sighed heavily. "How would you feel if we came back with the band signed?"