Silent : Unveiling the Turmoil of a Teenage Heart

CHAPTER 11

TRIGGER WARNING : MENTION OF SELF-HARM

NOAH / SOORI

NOAH

Sometimes I just want to rot in my bed the entire day and not do shit. But, I really can't. I have to help mom around the house and Soori said she might want to hang out this weekend.

But I'm so comfortable. My head buried in my soft pillow, the blanket covering everything except my face and my phone in front of me, showing me funny Instagram reels. But it's already 11:37 AM, and I really have to shower. I slowly sit up, causing the blanket to fall off of me. I rub my eyes with the back of my hand and stretch. I let out a soft groan as I stop stretching and relax my body. I fully remove the blanket and get out of my bed.

I look to my right and see myself in the mirror. My hair messed up, a black hoodie, grey sweatpants and giant eye bags. I run my fingers through my hair as I yawn, still tired. I turn around to walk out of my room. I slowly walk down the stairs, the sound of my footsteps loud enough for our neighbors to hear. Our walls are super thin, because the house we live in is also pretty old. We can hear a lot of sounds from the neighbors. Sometimes sounds you'd rather not hear.

I arrive down stairs. I can hear my dog, Nola, running to the staircase. When she sees me, her tail starts wagging and she starts jumping up and down out of excitement. I pet her as she does so, and she calms down. I take my hand off of her and walk to the kitchen. I have to see what I'm going to make for breakfast. Cereal? Avocado toast? Maybe crackers? I'm really not in the mood to prepare avocado toast, and I also think our avocado's are out of date. I check the refrigerator, only to see that the avocado's are clearly no longer edible. I look at it with disgust before I throw them away. I turn back to the counter, trying to decide what I want for breakfast.

I'm also not really in the mood for crackers, so cereal it is. Basic, but it fills my empty stomach. I walk back to the refrigerator and grab the milk. I also open one of the kitchen cabinets, revealing different types of cereal. We have Lucky Charms, Frosted Flakes and Froot Loops. Hm, I'm going for Froot Loops. I put some cereal in a bowl, and after that I pour milk in. I take a spoon from the drawer and take my bowl of cereal to the living room. There is my mom, behind her laptop once again. She's sitting in the middle of the couch, super concentrated on whatever she's doing. She sees me blurry, then looks up at me. A smile appears on her face. "Good morning, baby." She says with a slight rasp in her voice. "Morning, mom." I walk over and sit down next to her. I take the first bite of my cereal.

"How'd you sleep?" I ask her as I put some more cereal on my spoon. "Eh, not super long. But the sleep I had was good. What about you?" "Oh, that's shitty, mom. I slept pretty well. Couldn't you fall asleep or something?" I'm pretty concerned about her sometimes. Her entire life is work. Work, eat, sleep, repeat. "No, not really. I closed my eyes, but I was wide awake." She replies, typing something on her laptop. "Hm. Well, maybe you should rest today. Take a nap or something. It'll be nice." I try to encourage her to take a break. She really deserves it.

We continue talking as I eat my breakfast. When I finish, I place the empty bowl on the table and lay back on the couch. I take my phone, which reveals a text message from our group chat.
___
drugs 😃

lily 🤗
I'm really bored. hang out today?

sam 😎
i'm down. noah? soo?

___

"Mom?" I ask, still staring at my phone. "Hm?" "Is it okay if I go out today?" "With who?" "Sam and Lily. Soori hasn't replied yet."