Silence

"Say my name, slut!" The man screamed as his grip tightened around my windpipe. I could barely breath, let alone say his fucking name--which I didn't remember anyway. It mattered little as he was reaching his peak and I could go about a minute and a half without breathing. I wouldn't bullshit you and say that there wasn't something off about me. I wouldn't go so far as to say I was special, but I was a twenty two year old telepathic whore who had trained her lungs because of shitheads like the one that was currently fucking me from behind.

God, she's hot. She looks like one of my students, fuck, she feels so good.

I was born Elizabeth Ann Mason on the floors of an abandoned apartment complex in Mississippi. My mother, like myself, was a lady of the evening, but unlike me she didn't hear people's thoughts. I don't blame her for the way my life turned out. I am a firm believer in fate, what's gonna happen will happen and ain't nothing no one can do to change that. One thing my mamma did tell me was that my powers were a gift, and no matter what I did with my life, I was to protect that gift. No one could know and no one did, not even my little brother, Caleb. I might not have known much about where my ability came from, but I knew enough to not go running my mouth about it. Mamma was dead now, over dosed when I was nineteen, leaving me to care for Caleb on my own.

Just as I felt the pressure start to build behind my eyes, the man let out a loud gasp as he finished. His large, sausage fingers released my neck and trailed down my back before he pulled out and collapsed on the bed beside me. He was disgusting, overweight, hairy, and his sweat smelled like deli meat.

Holy shit, I think I almost threw my back out.

Sitting up, I immediately reached for my clothes, pulling them on as quickly as my arms would allow. I'd need at least three showers to wash his stench from my flesh.

"You aren't gonna stay a little while, sugar?" I pulled my hair from inside my shirt as I'd slipped it on. I always made sure I was paid first so I wouldn't have to linger once the client had finished. I had no desire to spend one second more with this pervert.

"No." I told him, slipping into my boots before grabbing my purse. I noticed the man sit up in the bed, ready to object most likely, but I was already out the door before he could open his mouth.

Fucking over priced whore!

I wouldn't go so far as to say I was ashamed of myself. My whole life, I'd never had much of anything. My little brother, Caleb, didn't deserve the life I had. Caleb was a smart kid, an honor roll student, quarterback for his middle school football team, he even played the drums. As you could imagine, giving Caleb a normal life was far from cheap, but I did what I had to. That was nothing to be ashamed of.

"Caleb!" I called as I'd made my way into our apartment announcing my return. It was somewhere around ten thirty, meaning he should've been home from football practice, ate, and finished up whatever homework he had.

I kicked off my shoes at the door, picking up the mail he must have brought in after school. I hated getting bills, though I had thankfully yet to fall behind in any.

"Caleb?" I called again, peering into the kitchen. Nothing. Continuing to flip through the mail, I came across a letter addressed to me from the state of Louisiana. I lived in Mississippi, so the address alone was a surprise. As far as I could remember, I didn't know anyone in Louisiana--I'd never even been there.

Making my way into the living room, I found Caleb curled up on the sofa with a math book tucked beneath his head like a pillow. Lights danced across his sleeping body, cast from the television. He'd been watching that damn Vampire rights debate again, but I couldn't be too mad at him--he had been doing his homework.

The thought of Vampires actually existing scared the living shit out of me, but not Caleb--he was intrigued. I'd tried all I could to try and distract him from Vampires, only it backfired making him all the more curious. I couldn't understand what it was he found so interesting about them, they drank blood for crying out loud.

I picked up the remote, shutting off the television as the blonde vampire began objecting to something the preacher man was saying. I didn't much care to hear anything they had to discuss. It wasn't that I was prejudice against vampires, I just didn't exactly care to run into one... ever.

After taking a quick shower, I came back into the living room to find Caleb still snoozing where I'd left him. Taking a seat at the opposite end of the sofa, I had barely torn into my mystery letter when Caleb stirred beside me. I gave him a smile as he sat up, wiping the sleep from his eyes.

"Hey." He managed through a yawn.

"Hey." I sat the letter down in my lap. "You finish?" I motioned towards his book. I never listened in on Caleb, which took a great effort on my part. I didn't like being in people's heads, but blocking everyone out at once was painfully exhausting so every now and then thoughts broke through. The only people I purposely listened in on were my clients, for safety reasons.

Pulling his lips together, Caleb nodded. He knew where I'd been all night and it made him uncomfortable. He'd never told me directly, but I could tell he was just too decent to bring it up because he knew I did what I did for him. At least by day I was just a waitress.

"What's the letter about?" I raised my brow. Of course he'd fished through the mail, what kid doesn't.

"Well, I don't know yet." I held the letter back up, showing him it was only half open. "You didn't rob any banks in Louisiana did you?" I teased as he crawled over beside me.

"I don't think they'd be sending you a letter." He said, reading over my shoulder as I unfolded the paper.

Dear Miss Elizabeth Mason, we regret to inform you of the passing of Mrs. Tabitha Marie Mason, your legal great aunt.

"Great aunt Tabitha?" Caleb asked as he must have finished reading at the same time as I had. We had no family, at least that had been what my mother had always told me before she'd passed herself.

Without responding, I went on reading and Caleb must have as well as he hadn't pressed the question and had fallen into a silence.

The letter went on telling us that as Tabitha's only living relatives, we'd gained ownership of her home in Bon Temps, Louisiana along with the remainder of her life savings, a total of thirty thousand dollars. Granted it wouldn't make us fabulously wealthy, but it was more money than Caleb and I'd ever seen in our lives.

My arms fell limp. I wasn't sure if I was going into shock or this was just some dream that I was about to wake up from. Things like this didn't happen to me.

"Beth," Caleb breathed, grabbing the letter out of my hands. "Beth, this is real." I couldn't tell if it was a question or a statement, he was just as surprised as I was. I turned to face him, a smile spread across his face.

"Caleb, I..." I wasn't sure what to say to him. I'd never even heard of this woman and she just left me everything she'd owned? "We don't know this woman, we can't just--"

"She obviously knew of us! Beth, we can't just say no to this." The sincerity in his eyes was too much for a boy of thirteen. He was right, I knew he was, we needed this. It was just too good to be true, things like this didn't happen--they just didn't.

I remained silent as he took my hands in his, "we deserve better than this life, especially you, Beth." I couldn't stop from smiling. My little brother, the kid I'd lay my life down for in an instant, was trying to look out for me. We were all we had, even when our mother was still alive she'd always been too doped up to care for any children.

"Alright," Caleb cracked a smile, wrapping his arms around my waist in excitement. "I'll give them a call tomorrow and we'll check it out."