Hear Me Through My Silence

Chapter 19

  Rosa's POV

My return back home from the cliffs edge was slow. Maybe it was because of the heaviness of my eyelids, which seemed to drop shut every time I so much as began to think of my warm, inviting (if rather stained) bed. Maybe it was because of the cool morning weather sending chills down my spine, making me stop every few steps to shake the dew out of my fur. But maybe, just maybe it was because I really didn't want to get back to the restaurant.

There had always been something freeing about being in wolf form. Maybe it made me feel more like everyone else. After all, it's not like wolves like going around starting conversations all the time. I was just like everyone else. Well, not exactly, it was impossible for members of my family to escape that overarching feeling of exclusion. Yet, the natural silence that comes with growing fur seemed to always calm. 

Finally, I saw the house approaching me, tall and slender and falling apart, but still standing after years of persistent rain and wind. I paused, glancing around before beginning to shift back into my significantly less furry self. 

After the quick cracking of my shoulder blades, knees and opposable thumbs popping back into place, I reached up into the trees ahead to pull out my stashed clothing. I frantically pulled the fabric over my pale shivering skin, audibly sighing at the warmth it brought to my skin. 

I made my way across the field, reaching down to brush the tall dry grass, hands slightly damp from the morning dew and residue of last night's rain. I could smell the light aroma of deep-fried food and over-seasoned chilli wafting through the back window of the restaurant. It was that smell and the sound of the highway that would be a blind man's only clue telling him that he hadn't lost himself deep in a forest, far from civilisation. 

I stepped up onto the cracked concrete porch and pushed my way past the build-up of trash bags to reach the front door. It's hinges croaked, revealing their age (and obvious need of replacement) as I opened the door. I was met with the pleasantly warm interior of the kitchen, yet my bare feet against the worn and cold still managed to send my cold skin into fits of shivers.

Across the kitchen, I saw the broad back of my brother, covered in his usual black tee-shirt and hunched over the kitchen counter. The long cord of my uncle's house phone was tangled around his forearm, and his hair a mess of waves with auburn curls sticking out into every direction.  

"Yeah, I don't know where she is. ..... Mmmhmmm. She just disappeared! ....... No I don't know where the hell - "

From the doorway, I cleared my throat. The quiet and clear noise must have still managed to reach my brother, as his head ripped around the second I finished.

"I'll call you back." By brother said, letting the phone slip from his hand and swing back and forth like a hypnotists pendent. The plastic phone clipped the edge of the countertop, sending loud metallic noise ringing through the air.

"Where the hell have you been."

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Hey guys,

Long time, no see. Anyway, I'm finally ready to start up this story again. 

Thanks for all the support!

- pop_da_popcorn