Silence Falls

"I'll just sum up my story as quick as I can so I won’t bore you more than you probably already are.” Alexis promised Bam as she stepped forward to begin. Bam had been lost in his own thoughts and Alexis felt it would be rude to interrupt him, but she also didn’t want to wait around all day just to tell him her background. She’s told it to many other patients before in great depths, but as time passed there didn’t seem to be a point in doing so when those same patients ended up losing their minds and forgetting about all of it. Alexis felt if she was going to tell her story any more than she would start giving them a more summarized version instead of going into hour long details. Her pain over losing her family had already faded with time, which also helped to keep her emotions under control when before she would bawl over them. “I lived in the poor streets of New York before I came here, and back then my family were stereotypically the loud, ghetto, crazy, mean bunch of people. My mom had come up with the decision to move us here so that we could all have the opportunity to better ourselves in a white neighborhood instead, because if my brother ended up getting into any more trouble with the law he’d be locked up in the big pen along with our granddaddy and mom’s heart wouldn’t be able to handle another heartbreak like that again.” Alexis placed her hands on her hips and shook her head at her mother’s delusional belief that at their age they could just magical change their bad ways by living in a ‘safe religious’ neighborhood. The last time she heard people get murdered in the suburbs too, so it’s not like it just happens in the streets. “As you can imagine, it didn't take long for the cops to be sent to our house. Well, those men dressed in black, more like it. They dragged all of us out of our home and herded us into their van to be drove down to the church.” Alexis frowned to herself as she look away, trying to recall as much memory as she could of that night. “There was so much shouting between us and those ancient looking mummies behind that table that I can’t really tell you exactly why we were thrown down here. All I can remember is my entire family and I were sent to the same damn place, but the minute we walked through those doors we were separated. I used to be able to at least see my family during breakfast lunch and dinner, but for the past two weeks my parents and brother weren't in the cafeteria anymore, just my little sister and I. Last week, I didn't see her either." Alexis directly at Bam with tears being held back in her eyes. "They’re dead, all of them. I know it. That’s what happens when you’re defiant down here. You’re the one that gets dealt with first."

Feeling for her pain, Cris couldn’t help but express his condolences to her in a soft whisper. "I'm sorry Alexis. Truly I am.”

Alexis gave him nod and smile of acceptance before walking over to where he sat on his bed and helped herself to his lap, wrapping a friendly arm around his neck. “Don’t worry about me, man. I’m not alone down here yet, that’s what matters most to me right now.”

"Yeah well, I-I might kind of feel sorry for you too.” Bam reluctantly confessed, shocking everyone in the room that had truly believe he was incapable of being anything other than an asshole. Not wanting to hear anything else about his rare moments of sympathy, Bam quickly turned his attention to Demi to distract everyone. “What about you? How did you end up down here?”

Demi immediately froze at being put on the spot. She hated telling her story becyase the pain was still there, and was now causing her eyes to fill with tears. Clearing her throat, she lowered her eyes to the floor and spoke softly. "I um…m-my story isn't all that interesting, really.”

"You don't have to talk about it if you don’t want to, honey. I’m sure Bam will understand.” Cris assured her before flashing her a warm comforting smile that gave her the strength to at least try now that she knew she had someone looking out for her in support.

"Well, I-I was bullied a lot when I was younger. I wasn't perfect like all the other young girls in or outside of my school. It got so bad. In fact, that m-my parents had me homeschooled to protect me. But the way I looked at it is that I now had all the time in the world to perfect myself into society’s standard of beauty, which is what I did. I lost weight by forcing myself to puke after every meal. I self-harmed on days when it all became too much for me, and began to drink and explore drugs in ways to self-medicate myself. My parents got worried about me and sent me to a rehab facility for what felt like the rest of my childhood life because I kept relapsing. I made little improvement then…until I met him."

"Him?" Bam asked, watching a dreamy smile pull at the corner of her mouth before it disappeared and a look of pain spread across her face.

"Joe, the Starbucks employee.” Cris whispered to him with Alexis still on his lap. Demi was getting to the hardest part of her story which always made it a struggle for her to get through. Saying Joe’s name was something he could see was very difficult to do and so she couldn’t bring herself to do it at that moment. Cris decided to step in and help her out by sharing who ‘him’ was with Bam.

Demi close her eyes and took a deep breath before continuing on, refusing to open her eyes. "Joe was the cashier at the time and was the most gorgeous boy I ever seen. I still can't believe he spoke to me when that café was filled with beautiful girls that’d die to be with him. Throughout our talk I learned that he went to the local high school, unlike me. I was still being homeschooled at the time. I told him I was new in town when he questioned why he’d never seen my face before then. After my sister and I left, he said he couldn't wait til we meet again. I begged my parents that night to let me start going to a public school and they agreed if that was what I truly wanted. Life was perfect back then. Joe asked me out on my first day of school and I officially became his girlfriend. I was his, and he was mine. We fell in love in that instant I was certain of it…but then I had to move away to Silence Falls.” Her tears began to finally, and her voice came out more broken and watery. “He promise he'd w-wait for me, like I would for him when we finally became 18 and could be together again. I truly believed him. Thanks to my parents, I got to surprise him on V-Valentine's Day with a visit.” Demi started to break down more, but she continued to fight it so she could hurry up and finish her story. Bam didn’t need to know it. He’d live his life just fine without needing to know, but she needed to finish it, if not for this complete stranger than at least for herself. “I-I saw him…w-with the new girl Marie Gomez at the Valentine’s dance at his high school. Their ar-arms were around each other while they were k-kissing. He saw me. I ran straight out of there. I went home, completely numb. I-I entered my home and s-something in my head just…snapped. I w-was gone. I-I wasn't there. B-But I saw it all happen. I s-saw myself screaming, and at-attacking my parents. I hurt my li-little sister." Not being able to take anymore, Demi placed a hand over her mouth and broke down into heavy sobs. Natalia and Onika immediately ran to her side and smothered her into a comforting hug sandwiched between the both of them. Cris and Alexis joined in next. As Bam watched them all come to her aid and try to coo her pain away, he was certain that he wouldn’t hear the end of her story that day.

Cris, who was on the outside of the group hug, lifted his head to glance at Bam. Once again he had Demi’s back. "The same men in black that took us all came for her too. They left her parents and sister behind, but threw her down here with the rest of us. That’s pretty much the end of her story.”

Bam nodded in acceptance, not wanting to Demi anymore further than she already pushed herself. “Y-Yeah, I got it.”

Bam spent the rest of that day getting to know more about Cris and the girls. Just from socializing with them in those last few hours he discovered that Demi was extremely shy and guarded only around him, as if she was afraid she might hurt him too if he got too close. Cris assured him it’ll pass if he stuck around with them. “What the hell do you mean by stick around?”

Cris gave him a gentle shrug and smile. “Oh, you know, you might decide you’re too cool for us kids and might look to hang out with…others.”

When it came to Alexis she was also pretty shy, but was a different harmless kind compared to Demi that didn’t make him uncomfortable. He noticed that when she spoke she possessed the sweetest voice he had ever heard besides his own mother that even to this day brought comfort and warmth to his hear, even though he never let it show.

Onika was just ‘ok’ to Bam. Of course, she still got pissed when he called her a prostitute, but other than that she was simply okay. As time passed, Bam was starting to believe that she seriously wasn’t faking this whole amnesia act. He was starting to think she honestly had no idea who the hell she was before she was found in a ditch outside of Silence Falls. She had a temper like his, but he wasn’t certain if hers could be the fuel behind a murder like his was.

Natalia was also just ‘ok’ to him too. Yeah, she was much nicer than Onika but there was still the fact that she murdered three people and didn’t seem to show any evidence that she regretted it. He never once heard her try to claim her innocence by saying it was all self-defense. He was certain if he question her why this is so she could simply to the crime without hesitation, but just to test it out… “If the cops had arrived at your house that night you killed those three people, what would you have told them what happened? Would you call it defending yourself, or what?”

Natalia gave him a simple smile and shook her head. “No, dear. I would have told them the truth. I murdered them because they’re a bunch of assholes that were a waste of existence.”

“I see…” Bam couldn’t deny it, he liked this. He liked having people to talk to, especially since before this he didn’t really lean much on anyone, not even his brother.

When it came time for Pill Time, Cris led Bam and the other to where they were supposed to go to get their medications. They had to wait in line behind other people, some appeared normal while others appeared off mentally and physically. Since he was in the back, Bam tried to make small talk with the person standing behind him, but that was clearly a mistake. The person had started howling at the top of his lung like a wolf for a few minutes before he was ordered to stop. When that didn’t work, the crazy guy tried to lunge for Bam and claw his eyes out with his long sharp nails. Cris managed to get him out of harm’s way before the muscle heads came over to tackle the man down. Bam watched, horrified, as the crazy wolf man was stuck in a strait jacket before being dragged down the hallway, all the while howling.

After getting his uniform, Bam joined Cris on escorting the girls to the four doors that separated the Girls Dorm from the Boys Dorm. When they returned to their room, Cris and Bam called it a night for the day. Before he got tucked in, Cris promised to show to show Bam the ropes the following day. With that, they both went to sleep easily due to the pills they were given.