A Silent Voice

Chapter One- Summer Vacation

            'wow it's really hot today... only if it held off on getting hot until we get to the villa.' I thought to myself as I held my hand above my  eyes to protect them against the bright beam of  sunlight shinning upon me. It's a hot 40 degrees Celsius today as I stepped outside, birds chirping in the distance and cicadas buzzing and such against the trees. You could hear the average summer wildlife all around you even in the suburbs. I live in the city though so I don't hear this often, it's more like cars, and trains, and people walking and talking. Me and my family stopped at our second home in the suburbs that we use for the winter since it gets way too cold in the winter when you're in the city and electric bills are a "pain in the butt" as my mother likes to say. 

            We were about to head head to our summer villa somewhere in the hills but since today is so hot we decided to take a detour to the store and buy lots of ice cream, ice pops, and drinks. There was only four of us but the amount of food we all eat- especially me, makes it seem more like a family of twenty. I remember from last summer when my little brother Ken ate six plates of just sushi at an 'all you can eat buffet' and my mother Akeno ate somewhere between ten to fifth teen bowls or rice with something else that I can't remember, me and my dad Chibi was close but I ended up eating way more than him, he had twenty plates of all different types of things while me being the hungry boy I am had around twenty five to thirty plates of food- mostly being sushi and soba. We eat a lot, so we tend to try and tone it down on road trips so the whole trunk has space for clothes and a bunch of other things that aren't food. Surprisingly my family isn't fat, we are in fact quite skinny and tall, My father is the tallest at 182 cm, then me at 175 cm, then my mother at 170 cm, then my brother at 167 cm. We usually use bigger cars when we go on road trips so theres more space in the car since we need as much space as possible without using a semi-truck.

            'If only time moved faster' I thought to myself as we began our journey to the beachside. The Villa was a ways away and it would take almost half a day to get there- mostly because of traffic of course, but none the less we still decide to go every summer and stay there until the last three days. "The A/C unit is a life saver!" My mom said as she kicked her feet up on the dashboard making a loud thud sounds that woke up my already asleep Ken. I usually like the back of our three row SUV so I could do whatever I want without bothering anyone, like it's my own space. Ken takes the middle unless my mother or father decide to take a backseat, and my mother and father usually switch drivers every hour or so. Ken is a fast sleeper so not even two minutes go by before he's back asleep again. I end up drifting off to sleep thirty minutes later as the rumble of the tires against the ground and the silently moving car made for a soothing place to sleep.

            We finally make it past the mass of cars and families and made it to the open hill side. We usually take a small break here and stretch since the rest of the car ride is going to be long and tiresome. "How long was that? Like two thousand hours!" Ken exclaimed. "More like three hours." My mother says with a soft laugh. "Now go have some fun because we won't be stopping again." Me and Ken look out on the view and see birds fly overhead, their shadow casts over us as they pass in front of the sun. The rocky hillside we was standing on gave us a glamorous look at the beach that was filled with people. "Where we're going there won't be much people at the beach right?" Said Ken. "No, at least there should be since not many people live around there." Said Chibi. My father walks to the railing me and my brother are at and peers over with us and says; "ya know, me and your mother used to take you two down there to that beach when you were younger and you would dig holes all along the beach!" He lets out a nostalgic type laugh and pats us on the shoulders. 

            After thirty minutes we all crammed into the car and slowly drove off up the hillside road. "You can fall asleep if you want now since we won't be stopping anytime soon." Said Akeno as she turned on the A/C unit to the coldest setting. Ken fell asleep mighty fast shortly after while I just sat on my phone reading Webtoon novels and listening to my own music. The rest of the car ride was uneventful and long so I ended up going to sleep after a couple of hours and so did my mother.