Whispers that Scream

Chapter Eleven

Trigger Warning: Domestic Violence

Jane

Jane reorganized the contents of the table that Adam had knocked over and watched him sneakily make his way toward Jeanine. He was so stiff and tense that he almost looked like a mannequin, trying to stalk and catch a bird. She smiled at his prowling before her smile slipped away slowly.

What was wrong with her? She had eaten here yesterday, had been seated by Jeanine, and then waited on by Jeanine, but she didn't even know her name until Adam greeted her. Hell, she couldn't even be sure this was the same hostess from yesterday.

She never used to be like this. She had always been so extroverted and genuinely enjoyed meeting and connecting with other people. When did she stop caring about the world and the people around her? She had gone into town yesterday and couldn't remember one person she saw, one name of anyone she was introduced to, or one store that they went into.

It's like the rest of the world was disconnected from her, and they were living on different wavelengths. She needed to somehow escape from this living dream she found herself in. She hadn't even noticed how disconnected she was until Adam asked about the parking meters and if she had shopped at Jasper's. Adam had autism and had interacted with more people today than she had since she moved in.

She wrung a napkin tightly around her finger and watched Adam complete his catlike stalk up to Jeanine. He leaned in from behind her and whispered, causing Jeanine to jump into the air with a shriek. Jane facepalmed. Why didn't he announce himself instead of sneaking up on her and whispering in her ear? He scared the daylights out of that poor woman.

After Jeanine had recovered from the jump scare, they spoke for a few seconds before Jeanine busted out crying, causing Adam to jump back. She threw her arms around him, and he flinched back from her hug with his back hitting the wall and rattling the hanging pictures. The look of absolute terror and horror Adam threw Jane's way, just as she was taking a sip of her iced tea, caused her to snort and begin coughing. She swore as some even came out through her nose. She looked left and then right before discreetly taking a napkin and wiping her face.

She returned her gaze to see how Adam was handling the situation. His look pleaded with her, pleaded with every inch of his soul to come save him. Apparently, he didn't know how to handle a crying middle-aged woman hugging him with a death grip.

Jane let out a bustling laugh with tears, mostly from the coughing, leaking out of her eyes. Once it started, Jane couldn't stop it. The other customers in the restaurant stared at her like she was about to introduce a freeze ray to the world and started to move their tables from her as far away as they could manage.

When was the last time I laughed out loud like this? She didn't know, and that more than anything solidified to her how bad she had become. And...it terrified her. Her laughter finally died down after a minute and her stomach was already sore from working out the unused muscles. She stood up and headed in Adam's direction to answer his desperate calls for rescue.

She made her way over to them with her lips twitching at the scene of Adam secured tightly in a headlock. She pried Jeanine's death grip off of Adam's neck, who immediately backed up and flattened against the wall as if to fend off any other attackers from surprising him from behind. She looked to Adam with an eyebrow raised as she held the hysterical woman by the arms, softly patting her back.

"Her daughter didn't get into any of the colleges she applied to," he told her helpfully. She and Adam spent thirty minutes comforting the poor woman before returning to their meal. And when she said she and Adam, she meant her. Adam might have chimed in three sentences that whole time, standing just far enough back to give himself time to dodge her if she posed an additional threat.