Silent Secrets ||A Byler Story||

Chapter one

Lonnie Byers dragged his family around his new home in Hawkins India.  He showed the two younger boys where their rooms were, and the room him and his wife would be sharing.

The moving truck remained outside, boxes pretty much scattered across the lawn.

The Byers family had moved into was a smaller warn down house.  It was a mess and William guessed that it would stay like that for the time being.

There were only a few rooms in the house.  Once you walked into the house there was a small living room to the right, with an antenna tv on a nightstand.  There was a badge couch that could maybe fit two or three people, and a brown armchair on the other side of the room next to a large window.  Blue curtains draped down the window, contrasting with the white walls and brown carpet.  There were books and newspapers all over the place.  On the opposite side of the open hallway, was a open kitchen.  There was a small, circular, wooden table in the middle of the room.  The fridge was on the northern wall, on the opposite side of the room was the stove and brown counters and cabinets.  It was the same as the living room in the way it was cluttered.  As you continue down the hall, it closes as you get to the end.  Directly down the hall, right in front of the front door, there was a small window.  The first room on the left side was a small, basic, bathroom.  It was decorated in a baby blue color which Lonnie almost vomited at.  He said he would be changing the colors as soon as possible.  The second room on the left side was a master bedroom.  With a big closet and a king sized bed.  There was another antenna tv on top of a dresser.  There were nightstand on each side of the bed.  The room looked completed with the big window and white curtains.  The carpet was the same color as the walls, white.  The first room on the right would be Jonathan's room.  It was a little smaller than the master bedroom, but it looked very similar.  The only difference being the bed size, which was a twin size, and the walls which were a light shade of brown.  His antenna tv laid on a nightstand that was at an angle next to his window.  His closest was in the left northern corner of the room.  Finally, the last door on the right was Williams room.  It was smaller than everyone else's room, maybe a little bigger than the bathroom.  There was a clothing rack next to the door.  The room looked a mess.  The twin sized bed laid half off the bed frame.  The bed in front of the door but a little away.  On the opposite side of the bed, there was a worn out nightstand with a broken leg.  The walls were white and the floor was a hard wood.  There was a small window in front of his bed.  Without a curtain on it, of course.  His room was more messy than the living room or kitchen was.  With books laid open and ripped, papers scattered across the floor.  The walls had stains and holes in it.  It was an awful bedroom, an awful space to have to live in.  But unsurprisingly, William was grateful for his space.  He finally had his own room.  One with a lock.  Somewhere to actually hide.

The family split off on their own.  Something that happened often. 

Jonathan went outside to talk to the man in the moving truck.  Lonnie had left the house in his car.  Most likely to look for a bar.  Williams mother, Joyce, had gone to clean the kitchen for dinner.  William decided to try and clean his room up a little.

After about an hour of no progress, there was a knock at Williams door, causing him to jump.

He opened the door slowly, relieved that it was only his mother.

"Need any help?"  She asks him.  He nods his head and points to the bed.

"Alright.  Let's get this done before you're father comes back."  She said quickly, stepping into his room and grabbing the bed, pushing it onto the frame. 

"I'll make the bed, you're boxes are in the hallway."  Joyce says with a smile.  She tucks her hair behind her ear and grabs the fuzzy blue blanket off the floor.

William walks into the hallway cautiously and grabs one of the three boxes quickly. 

He sets it down next to the clothing rack and grabbed a pillow from the floor, putting at the top of his bed. 

"Need anything else?"  Joyce asks the short boy.  He shakes his head 'no' and Joyce kissed the top of his head before leaving the bedroom, closing the door behind her.

William sighed before lifting the box onto his bed.  For him, it was heavy because he was so light. 

He unfolds the top of the box and pulls out the few articles of clothing.  He counted four shirts, five pairs of pants and one grey hoodie. 

He put the clothes carefully onto the clothes rack.  Luckily, there were hangers on it already. 

Once he was done with that, he put the empty box outside his door and moved the two full boxes into his room; then putting them onto his bed.

One of the boxes were filled with decorations from his old room and his school supplies.  The last box was full of his art supplies.  He loved art.  More than anything or anyone.  Even his brother and mother.

He put most of his art stuff on the nightstand, he had put a book under it so it would stay up properly, and put his school supplies out neatly next to his clothing rack.  Next, he took out a few posters that Jonathan had given him for his birthday and hung them up over the holes and stains on the walls.  He had used some of his own tape that he used for art projects.

Once he was done, he took the time to pick up all of the books and pages and garbage off the floor and decided to put them into the boxes his belongings were in.  Once he had put all the stuff into the boxes, he set the boxes outside his door with a note that said 'garbage' on top of it. 

He had decided to keep a few of the books that were in good shape.  He had kept about twelve. 

The room looked nicer than it was before.  By the time everything looked okay it was already nine o'clock at night.

William stood in his room numbly.  It felt weird.  He felt weird.  For the first time in his life he felt almost free.  Of course, he knew he wasn't.  But he had never felt this kind of peace in his life.

He figured that his father wasn't home.  If he was home it wouldn't be as quiet as it is right now.  It was always a bad night when his father went to the bar.  Sometimes he would come back at one, two, or three in the morning.  Sometimes he would come back at ten o'clock at night and be violent with everyone until the cops were called.  Sometimes he would even bring girls back home to the house, which would always result in Joyce and her two sons sleeping over at a friends house. 

Why couldn't we just leave him?  William always wondered to himself.  Even after they moved he still wondered.  Mother never wanted to move.  It was fathers choice.  So why did we have to go with him?  Was mother in denial of what he was doing to us?  Or is that why she won't leave him.  Because she's scared he'll hurt us even more. 

Exhausted and hungry, William decided to try and get some sleep before his father got home. 

Although he was scared it would be an awful night, a part of him felt safe.  He finally could sleep in his own room where he had a lock on his door.

***

Word count: 1,377
Date Published: 11/25/22