Shhh..... I can hear you

Voice 5

"I like your necklace." she mentions, pointing at the chain, causing the tired boy to look down.

Rolling the ring around his fingers, Josiah contemplated if it was worth mentioning the meaning of necklace. Wondering if it would be the right thing, with a choked up voice, "Thank you. It was uhm, Malorie's."

He wiped a tear that escaped his eyes. Before Tiwa had the chance to ask you Malorie, Josiah beated her to the punch. "She's my sister. She... she was something so beloved to me but she was also so foreign at the same. If that could ever make sense."

Tiwa had decided to not say a word and just let him spill everything out, despite being overly tired at really late at night.

"I don't really know what had happened to her really. Do I have memory of her? Maybe, I guess. Her presence just always felt like a dream. But-" he cut himself off. "Why am I saying this? You probably don't care."

"Usually, I don't care. But as for now, I will care." she assures with a nod for him to continue.

"Okay. She was a couple years older than me. And my parents never talk about what had happened to her. All I know that.... she's gone."

It sounded suspicious. The unkowning assumption of what might have happened to Malorie had peaked Tiwa's interest to a maximum level. She had thought it would have been rude to ask more about her as just mentioning her made him upset.

"I'm sorry for your loss." was all she could say.

-

"Hunny, do you want eggs or cereals for breakfast?" Josiah's mum called from downstairs.

Tiwa had already left during the late night, worn out from their after-hour talk. Josiah was feeling better for being able to prattle what he felt inside or things about him. Almost he always had a friend by his side.

Racing down the stairs, he yells, "Eggs please!"

Evangeline had always kept an eagle eye on her son. Ever since before he could walk she had protected him. From when he got pneumonia at 7 months old, to when he had his last doctor's appointment, which was a couple months ago.

She wanted her family to be more transparent, especially because of all the stuff that they had gone through. For example, when she got kicked out of her house in the town they lived in New Hampshire by her father, just because she said that she wanted to work as an agricultural lawyer and help operate different enitities for land zoning and property preserving for farms, instead of joining the family business in pharmaceudical.

When they first found out about her son's rare condition, it had broken her both mentally and emotionally, knowing her only son will not live a standard life. It also didn't add up to the disturbing secret that she hid from her son though. Despite yearning for an open family that didn't keep secrets, she and her husband couldn't help but keep the truth about their eldest child.

What might be shocking is that, the Evangeline and Greg didn't actually know what had happened to Malorie that night she had vanished. It didn't occur to them that their were red flags everywhere before she had vanished.

Their were times when they had attempted to investigate but things had always led to a dead end, according to the investigator, who was also the twin of Josiah's doctor. Evangeline had always speculated that Malorie had an inkling of running way, but knowing her daughter, she knew deep down that would never be the answer.

As a collective, it was a hard topic to discuss. No one spoke of the matter unless they wanted to crack an  even bigger void within them. 

The sizzling from the pan simmered through the air, spluttering a few times as the oil spat out randomly. Josiah had washed his face, remembering what he and Tiwa had discussed so early in the morning.

The sun had peeked through the window by the cupboard, spotlighting the sunny-side egg that was nearly done cooking.

A ping had quickly sounded off, stipulating that hte toast was ready. Evangeline reeled the toast out as she heard a confident buzz from the door.

Wiping the crumbs from her hands, she briskly walked to the door and pulled it open. Chewing on his breakfast, Josiah had not registered the company that stood alongside his mother.

"Son, we have a visitor. It's our new neighbour, what's your name dear?" Tiana, is it?" his mother turned.

In a flash, he had lifted his head to seeing Tiwa there stood in front of him from across the kitchen island. She had looked different from the few hours ago. No bonnet, flexing her purple braids. She had worn a pink and black plaid skirt with a black button shirt. The only thing that he had recognised was the glasses that were on her face.

"Ny name is Tiwa." she corrected his mother, revolving to face him. "Good morning to you too, Josiah."

Evangeline was taken back, "You know my son?"

"Yeah, we met yesterday."

All she could do was nod as she headed back to the hob. "You can stay for breakfast, Tiwa. And I really insist."

Tiwa knew she couldn't say no to food so she decided to stay and indulge. Digging in, she had a chance to take a good look at Josiah's mum.

With brown hair and taller stature, she could see the resemblance between the mother and son even clearer. The only difference is the lack of dark under eyes. They don't hang as low as Josiah's but they were there.

"So Tiwa, where have you guys moved from?" Evangeline attempted to strike a conversation to fill in the silence.

"We moved from upstate. My stepdad and mum thought that it would be a nice idea to try living in a smaller village." she answered, fixating on her plate of eggs.

The morning had gone slowly but it was a pivotal moment as it was not only the first time they had opened their home to a newcomer, but to see her son making friends.

The only worry that was stuck in her head was the thought of the young girl getting involved in her the family's business, not knowing that she was already in too deep.