Wilted

Chapter 1

Daisy

'Please I can't have anymore.' I sign as I beg Catherine with pleading eyes.

"No sweetheart! You are nowhere close to being done. You had inconspicuously skipped dinner last night. So I'm going to feed you the double of it for breakfast." She says in a motherly tone before pushing my half-filled plate towards me.

'I'm serious Catherine, I cannot have another bite.' I sign. But before Catherine could force-feed me, she was interjected by an authoritative voice.

"Catherine, why aren't the tables set yet?"  My father questions her gallingly.

"R-Right away sir. I'm sorry I lost track of time." She stutters before rushing towards the kitchen. My father shakes his head out of exasperation before taking his usual seat by the table, which is around 6-7 chairs away from mine. Yes, we have a redundantly gigantic dining table.

I avoid looking at my father and poke around my pancake before popping a bite into my mouth.

"Aren't you running late for school?" I feel a shiver down my spine just from the cold tone of my impertinent father.

'It starts late on Thursdays.' I sign despondently, very well knowing that he doesn't speak sign language.

He tries to garner as much as he could from what I signed before considering it a squander of time and looking away at his newspaper.

I unhappily shake my head and leave the table without pondering over the insolent action  I just exhibited by not excusing myself.

"Do you not know that you're supposed to excuse yourself before leaving the table?" The man questions without taking his relentless gaze off the paper. I slightly bow my head low as a gesture of apology and head towards my room with a stinging sensation at the back of my eye.

It kinda sucks when your own father doesn't have the time to study the only mode of communication he has with his mute daughter. I am pretty sure he would've memorised every sign in the sign language if one of his sons were mute...

I have 3 elder brothers, my father's gems. Wyatt Wright, the eldest one who is 32. Wilson Wright, the second one who is 27 and Wayne Wright, the youngest who is 24. Then comes me......Daisy Wright. Any halfwit can say that my father didn't even think it was worth the effort to come up with a distinctive name. I'm pretty sure he didn't even come up with my name. One of the maids in the house must've named me.

My painful trail of thoughts was interjected by the honk of a car. I immediately grab my school bag and head towards the door. Just as I was about to step out, Catherine holds me by arm and gently pulls me back inside.

"Don't even think of leaving without a goodbye." She adoringly caresses my head before placing a sweet kiss on my forehead. I give her one of my best smiles and hug her tight before sprinting towards the car. I hold my bag tight towards my chest and lean my head against the window. I can now finally focus on the only thing I was looking forward to.

Meeting Jayden.

****

I nervously tap the tip of my pen against the desk as I eagerly wait for Jayden's arrival. I cannot fathom a day without him. I have no other friends in this school! One of the obvious reasons being that I couldn't speak. I could speak to people through writing, but no one had the patience to wait till I actually wrote down complete sentences to retort. They didn't bother about sign languages either.....except for Jayden. He was different. He was different from all of them.

"Hey! Back to earth, princess." I hear the husky voice I've grown to love over the years. Before I could turn towards his sweet voice, I was interrupted by a quick peck on my cheek.