MUTED

Celia- Nine Years Old;July

Grab my hand! I got you," I said real soft, the forklift lifting the doll off the ground as Walker grabbed Scott Hales's hand. I was trying to play as quiet as I could—my dad was banged up again and I didn't want to wake him where he was sleeping up in his room. He'd told me to watch cartoons up in bed with him and I had for a while, but when I saw he was asleep, I'd come downstairs to play with my toys.
The forklift landed and my girls jumped out and ran under the table I had put a towel over to make into part of an underground tunnel. I picked up the forklift and lifted it off the ground again beep,beep,beep sound. I wish I could snap my fingers and make this a real forklift. Then I'd pull my dad onto it and we'd fly away from here,away from the black eyes and dad's tears. I didn't care where we'd end up as long as it was far away.
I crawled back into the tunnel I had made and a few minutes later, I heard the front door open and close, and then I heard a calm footsteps walking through our corridor down the hall toward where I was playing. I peeked out and saw a pair of shiny pink shoes.
I crawled out as fast as I could, saying, "Aunty Emma!" as she kneeled down and I threw myself into her arms, making sure to stay clear of her face which she had make up on.
"Hey, princess," she said, hugging me to her. "How's my princess doing?"
"Good! See the underground tunnel I built?" I said, leaning away and proudly pointing back over my shoulder at the tunnel I had made under the table using towels and blankets. It was pretty cool.
Aunt Emma smiled and glanced behind me."It sure do. You did I good job there, Celia. I've never seen a tunnel quiet as impenetrable looking as that one." She smiled bigger and pulled my cheeks.
I grinned. " Wanna play with me?"
She cleared my bangs on my forehead smiling. " Not right now princess. Later, Okay? Where's your dad?"
I felt my own face fall. "Ughh, he's not feeling real good. He's laying down." I looked into Aunt Emma's face and blue eyes. The picture that popped into my head right away was the sky before a storm dark and sort of scary. I moved back slightly, but as quick as that, Aunt Emma carried me and threw me in the air and smiled at me.
"Okay Celia, okay" she said. She set me back and held onto my shoulder as her eyes moved over my face. I smiled at her and she smiled back.
" You have your father's smile, you know that?"
I smiled bigger. I loved my dad's smile it was so warm and beautiful it made me feel so loved seeing his perfectly aligned teeth and his diastema.
"But I look like my mama", I said, looking down. She just stared at me for a second, looking like maybe she wanted to say something, but then changed her mind. " Well, that's a good thing, princess. Your mama's a cute devil".
She smiled at me, but it didn't move up into her eyes. I looked at her wishing I looked like Aunt Emma. My dad told me once that she was the most beautiful woman he'd seen in his whole life. But then she looked guilty like she shouldn't have said that. Probably because she wasn't my mama, I guessed. Also Aunt Emma was a model. When I grew up, I was gonna be just like her.
Aunt Emma stood up. " I'm gonna go see if your dad's awake.
"Okay." I nodded. She pulled my cheek and walked toward the steps. I waited a couple of minutes, then followed her up silently. I stepped around every squeak, holding on the banister to move me forward. I knew how to be quiet in this house. When I got to the top of the stairs, I stood just outside the door to my dad's room, listening. The door was open only a crack, but it was enough.
" I'm okay, Emma,really," my dad said, his voice was soft and still sleepy.
"You're not okay, Polo," she hissed her voice breaking at the end in a way that scared me.
" Jesus I want to kill her. You might think you deserve this but Celia?Does Not," she said. You wanna know where she is right now? She left the bar and went home with Didac. "He's screwing her three ways from Sunday in his trailer. I drove by and I could hear it from inside my car."
"God, Emma," my dad's voice choked out.
"Are you trying to make this worse"
"No she yelled and i jumped slightly.
" No," she said more quietly now. "I'm trying to make you see that it's enough. It's enough. If you think you needed to pay a penance, it's paid. Don't you see that? God, do you wanna know what I felt when I heard the sounds coming out of that trailer? I felt so sick, sick that she wasn't treating you right, even though she treating you right mean I could never have you again."
It was quiet from inside the room for a couple of minutes and I wanted to peek inside, but I didn't. All I heard was Aunt Emma's soft crying and some slight rustling. " Let me take you away from here, baby,please Polo,let me take care of you and  Celia Please." Her voice was filled with something I didn't know the name for. I sucked in a quiet breath. She wanted to take us away from here?
" Polo we are not kids anymore. This isn't about some stupid competition. This is about real life. This is about us deserving to have a life together. This is about me, you and Celia.
" Your career the city......."
"Polo," Aunt Emma said, "I don't care about any of that. If there's no you, nothing else matters. Don't you know that by now? I'll quit my job sell the properties. We'll live a life, baby. We'll find some happiness. Away from here away from this place. Somewhere we can call our own. Baby, don't you want that? Tell me you do." There was more silence, only I heard soft sounds. I had seen them kissing before. I knew it was wrong daddy's weren't supposed to kiss women who weren't their wives. But I also knew mama's weren't supposed to come home drunk all the time and throw things at their husbands and daddy's weren't supposed to look at Aunties with soft look my dad always got on his face when Aunt Emma came around. It was all mixed up and confused, I wasn't sure how to sort it all. That's why I tried spying on them to understand. I snuck away, making my way back down the stairs, in between the noisy spots not making a sound moving in silence.