You Can't Hear Her (WATTYS2015)

Three // Mystery

[A/N] Hey guys, sorry, it may be a little slow right now. I just really want to introduce the characters and their backgrounds. Also, the story obviously won't pick up until Drew dies and Stevie sets out on her mission. Thanks for staying with me :)

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"She needed a hero, so that's what she became."

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Drew had hid in her room, secluded, and cried the rest of the weekend. Give her time, said my mom endlessly and it annoyed me. I knew it was immature of me but I just couldn't help it. I was curious and I didn't like her shutting me out like that. There was still no word from my dad as he also stayed locked in his room avoiding the world. I missed Drew and my dad, I was concerned.

They all left me out because I was "too young," as always. The same thing had happened years before when Drew snuck out one night and was caught by the police smoking weed. I only know this now because I secretly read her diary, a tactic I always had to resort to. I could handle everything though because that is when I realized my sister wasn't as perfect as I believed.

I came out of my room, on Monday, ready for school despite the drama happening at my house. In front of me was Drew's door, perfectly elaborate with all her decorations. It was painted a deep royal purple which my mother freaked out about when Drew first did it. She had a huge poster of some favorite painting of hers on the door, Ophelia drowning or something, and lining the poster were pictures of her life. Around all that hung sparkly mini Christmas lights. It was amazing next to my plain white one that only had a sign saying 'Stevie's Room'. I was the loud, wild one but Drew was the quiet, talented one.

I was about to reach for the gold knob and pop into Drew's room when my mom suddenly came from the living room. I stopped in my tracks as she sped up to meet me down the hall.

"Stevie, please leave your sister alone. She needs time." Her voice held an unspoken threat but, I wasn't scared because her words had been repeating in my mind. Time was a terrible word because it implied infinity, and how much of it would Drew need? And what does she need time from? I was her sister and her best friend. At least, I thought I was.

My mom slapped my hand down from the door knob and passed me my brown paper lunch. I took it with a small smile and stuffed it into my new school bag. I made it with a Drew's thick gray thrift store sweater that she left behind last year when she first went off to college.

When I lifted my head from packing my lunch into my bag, I noticed my mom staring at me intensely. She had tears in her beautiful almond eyes that she received from her Chinese heritage. A feature Drew and I also slightly inherited on account that we were only half. But, we had our dads honey brown eyes.

My mom's delicate hands had raised up slowly and rested on my shoulders. They were heavy and so tight like she didn't want to let me go. Like she couldn't let me go. "I wish you could always stay this safe," her voice held the heavy weight of failure and it had quivered a little.

"You protect me as much as you can, mama." It was my duty to reassure her but I didn't want that burden. I should not have had that burden. It should have been my parents who were reassuring me at this time. I slid out of her grip and walked past her to the front door. I didn't dare look back at her but I knew she had been watching every single step of mine.

"Don't bring friends home, Stevie. Drew needs quiet and time away from people." She warned right before I shut the door. There it was again, that dreadful word, time. I never listened to the rules though.

When I was in front of our house and hopped into my best friends white Volvo, I looked back at my house. My eyes instantly gravitated to look at Drew's room. What I saw next will never be erased from my mind. There, in Drew's window, I saw her frozen, and looking dead out into the world. It sent shivers throughout my body.