The Silence Is Scaring Me

Ashlynn woke up at 4:30 in the morning. She had to. Everyday she had to wake up hours before her father, David, did so she could make his breakfast and wake him up for work. Every day she did the same thing: wake up, take a 5 minute shower, make two scrambled eggs, six pieces of bacon, and two slices of toast. Then she would wake her father up so he could proceed to eat the breakfast while talking about how incompetent she was.

She walked upstairs with the breakfast tray carefully so she didn't spill it's contents. She had, after the experience of dropping the tray while trying to open the door, figured out a way to open the door without putting the tray down. She got the door open and set down the breakfast tray on the nightstand. She walked over to the side of her dad's bed and lightly pushed his arm.

"Dad. It's time to wake up." she whispered in his ear. His eyes shot open and he sat up in his bed as she turned back around, setting the tray on his lap.

She turned, and was almost out the door when she heard a shout of,

"What the hell is this?"

She turned back around to her father and said, "It your breakfast, same as always. Is there something wrong with it?"

"I wanted fried eggs." he said quietly, but his voice dripped in anger with every word.

"I'm sorry. I'll go and make them." Ashlynn said timidly. She knew that her father must have still been drunk from the night before and was very scared. Her father was already abusive, but alcohol seemed to emphasize his ability to shut off all compassion toward his daughter.

She walked toward David to take the plate, but before she could take a second step he grabbed the plate and threw it at her. She dodged the plate, but narrowly escaped a concussion.

"Forget it! I obviously can't depend on you for anything!" He walked into the bathroom. "This mess better be clean by the time I come out of here." he said in a low malicious tone.

She heard the shower turn on and she ran down the stairs, grabbed the broom and ran back upstairs. She had the mess cleaned within minutes. After she threw the glass from the broken plate and the food in the rubbish bin outside she decided that it probably wouldn't be the best idea to stick around for her father to get out the shower.

She threw on a long sleeved shirt, so the bruises on her arms didn't show, and jeans because the last fight she got in with her father ended with him burning her leg with a cigarette.

Ashlynn walked down to a local cafe, rather unimaginatively named "A Cafe", and ordered a tall caramel macchiato. She sat in a booth near the window because the cafe was rather crowded that day. She sat there, alone, rolling the cup in her hands as she waited for her drink to cool down. Ashlynn thought about the danger that might face her when her father came home that day. She rested her elbows on the table and put her head in her hands.

"You know it's not polite to put your elbows on a table." Ashlynn's head shot up. In front of her was a boy with curly brown hair and light blue eyes. He was wearing a short sleeved checkered shirt and she couldn't see his pants because the had taken it upon himself to take a seat at her booth. Then she recognized him.

"Are...are you Danny Jones? From McFly?" she asked him, vaguely aware of what she was saying.

He smiled, "Yeah."

She blinked a couple of times and then turned her head and rubbed her eyes.

"Great now I'm seeing things too." She said to herself.

"Excuse me?" Danny asked, slightly confused.

She snapped her head back in his direction. "Oh!" she said in slight shock that she hadn't made this up in her head. "Um, uh, hi?" she asked more than said. She didn't really know the appropriate way to greet a rock star. She had met him once before a couple of months ago. One of her closest friends, Giovanna, was Tom's, the other lead singer and guitarist, girlfriend.

"You're Ashlynn...right?" He said slightly unsure.

"Yeah." she told him, surprised he had even remembered her name. "I went to your show a couple of months ago. You were brilliant."

"I remember. You're Gio's friend." he said sounding impressed with himself that he recognized her. Ashlynn smiled to show that he was right and took a sip of her macchiato.

"So tell me about yourself." Danny said in a very professional voice.

"Well what should I tell you?" Ashlynn asked, at a loss for words. Danny thought about this for a moment.

"Well I think it's only fair that we know the same amount of information about each other." he said, never losing character, "Tell me everything you know about me then change my info to yours." He said smartly.

"Well that is a brilliant idea, Mr. Jones." she said, a little less nervous now. "Well I know that your name is Danny Jones. I know that you're a guitarist and singer for McFly. I know you're 19 and that you really like Bruce Springsteen."

"Very good, really. So, uh, fill in the blanks." He said.

"Well my name is Ashlynn De'Lane. I don't play guitar, but I sing, mostly to myself." Danny interrupted her.

"Why?" he asked.

"Excuse me?" Ashlynn was perplexed.

"Why do you only sing to yourself?" he said rephrasing his question.

"I don't know. I'm just shy, I guess." she told him, unsure of the reason. "I've played piano since I was six. My grandmother taught me. I'm 18 and my favorite band in the world, besides McFly of course," she said cheekily, " is probably either The Who or Aerosmith."

"Really?" He asked. She nodded her head in response while taking another sip of her drink. Then his phone rang.

"Hello...no I'm at "A Cafe"...Ashlynn...Yeah...bye." He hung up the phone and put it in his jacket pocket.

They talked for hours in the booth and Ashlynn had become very comfortable with Danny.

"I have to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back. Can you watch my jacket." said Danny as he put his jacket on the back of his chair.

"Yeah" she told him.

When Danny was out of sight Ashlynn grabbed his phone out of his pocket. She put her phone number in his contacts and took a picture of herself for the photo id and called her phone with his so that she could put his number in her phone.

He was walking back to the booth and Ashlynn ran back to her seat.

"Anything happen while I was gone?" Danny asked as he sat back in his seat.

"Nope. Can I get your picture?" She asked him casually.

"Uh, yeah sure." He made a cheesy smile, she giggled as she took the picture on her phone and set it as his caller id.

"Well I really have to go now my Dad's going to be home soon." She said sadly.

"Alright." he said getting up to give her a hug. "Bye."

"Don't say bye." she told him. He looked at her with a confused look. "You only say bye to people you're never going to see again. See you later, Danny." she said smiling as she walked out the door.

A couple minutes later Danny's phone rang. Ashlynn's face was on the screen. He smiled to himself.