Silent : Unveiling the Turmoil of a Teenage Heart

CHAPTER 3

NOAH

I watch as Soori walks away from us. She seems stressed. "Do you think it's serious?" Lily asks. "Definetly. Soori would've told us what was going on if it wasn't serious." Sam says. "Yeah, she immediately walked away." I say.

I'm worried. Soori seemed panicked. She looked like she saw a ghost.

"She'll probably text us about it later." Lily says as she takes a bite of her chocolate. "Lils, it's 10 A.M. Aren't you getting nauseous?" Sam asks. "No." She says as she smiles.

3 hours later

It's the second lunch break. Soori still hasn't texted or called. I'm sitting at a table with Sam and Lily. "Has Soori texted you guys?" I ask. "No man. You, Lily?" Sam answers. "Nope. I wonder what happened." Lily says as she drops her phone in her lap.

"I'm gonna call her real quick, okay?" I say as I stand up from the chair I was sitting on. "Okay, tell us what she said!" I hear Lily say as I walk away.

I take my phone out of my back pocket. I head to the bathroom, because the cafeteria is too noisy. I lean against the sink and search through my contacts, trying to find Soori's name. Soori, Soori, Soori.

Found her.

I hear the phone ring. I wait for her voice to come from the other line.

I really hope nothing happened to her mom. I grew up with Soori's family. My parents had a very bad relationship. They would fall apart and glue themselves back together. But that would frustrate them so much, they took their anger out. They both did that in different ways. My mom would take a walk or drive around town, but my dad would take it out on me. I am an only child, so it felt like I couldn't talk to anyone about the situation I was in. It felt like no one could relate to me.

But Mrs. Bloodeye, Soori's mother, she knew. She always knew what was going on. She always invited me over to their house. And that's how I got close to Soori. Soori made me feel understood. Even though we were only nine and ten, she never made me feel like I couldn't be myself. But ever since my parents divorced, I haven't been to their place as much. And now knowing something happened to Mrs. Bloodeye makes me regret that.

"Hey." I hear Soori's voice say.

"Ri, what happened?"

"My mom had a seizure, I'm in the hospital right now."

"Just out of nowhere?"

"Yes, she was fine this morning."

I hear silent voices on the other line, following by Soori telling someone 'Okay, I'll be right there.'

"I'll call you back later, Noah."

"It'll be okay, Ri. Bye."

"Bye."

A seizure? I've never noticed that Mrs. Bloodeye wasn't feeling well. But Soori did say it came out of nowhere, so maybe Mrs. Bloodeye never knew she wasn't well.

I put my phone in my back pocket and leave the bathroom. I head back to the table my friends were sitting at. "Hey." I said. I sit down next to Sam. "What'd she say?" Lily asks. "Her mom had a seizure. Just out of nowhere." "What? That's weird." Sam says. "I know. But her mom never seemed unwell to me." I say. "It'll be okay." Lily says.

I wait for break to finish. We have one last class before school ends. Which is Spanish. Spanish is a class the four of us take together. We thought it would be lots of fun, but we still don't know how to simply introduce ourselves.

I'm walking to the classroom with Sam and Lily. "Can't we just skip Spanish from now on?" Lily asks as she runs her fingers through her hair. "I can't, my mom would kill me if I start skipping classes." I say.

My mom really cares about how I do at school. She always tells me to not end up like my dad. My dad quit school when he was seventeen because selling weed got him all the money he needed. At least, he thought so. When he turned eighteen, he started selling pills. And that's when he got caught. All that money was taken from him. And when he got out of jail, he couldn't get a decent job because of his criminal record.

I open the door of the classroom. Sam and I sit down next to each other. Lily takes the empty seat in front of us.

The moment this class starts, I focus on nothing else but the time. I watch as the hands rotate around the clock. An entire lesson takes forty five minutes. 45 more minutes, 44 more minutes, 43 more minutes, 42 more minutes.

4 more minutes, 3 more minutes, 2 more minutes, 1 more minute.

And the bell rings. I put my books in my backpack. I stand up from my chair and swing the bag over my shoulder. "Finally!" Sam says as soon as he walks through the door. "Should we hang out tonight? Four of us?" Lily asks. "I don't know if Ri wants to hang out. I mean, she had a very hectic day." I say. We're at the lockers. I take my key out of my pocket and stick it into the keyhole of my locker.

"Yeah, okay. We'll wait for her to say something." Lily says as she also opens her locker. Our lockers are not far away from each other, which is pretty chill. I put my books into my locker. I only take my laptop home with me. I take my jacket out of my locker and put it on. I put my bag over my shoulder again and wait for Sam and Lily to finish.

"Okay, let's go." Sam says as he zips up his jacket. It was pretty hot this morning, but now it's very windy outside.

Sam, Lily and I walk outside. The moment I open the doors, wind hits my face. I squeeze my eyes shut in response. "Jeez."

I take my keys out of my pocket and unlock my car. My mom's car, actually. "Okay, I'll see you guys." I say as I slowly back away from my friends. "Yeah! Bye!" Lily says. Sam waves at me. I wave back and turn around.

I walk to the car and open the door. I get in the drivers seat and start the car. I want to start driving, but my phone suddenly rings. It's Soori. I click the green button and put the phone to my ear.

"Hello?" I ask. "Noah." And her voice breaks. She's crying. Something bad happened.