Silence

Chapter 3

"Avoiding danger is no safer than the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold."

-Helen Keller

3

  I sat at the dinner table surrounded by Daniel and his friends. Krissy sat at the head of the table laughing at something Johnny had said. Johnny and Levi had stayed over for dinner. Apparently this was something normal to Krissy. She said the boys rarely ever went home. She said this is like their second home, and that I should get used to their overbearing company. I could hear the playfulness in her voice when she called them overbearing.

    I only smiled. I wasn't really in the mood for company. Actually, I hadn't really been paying any mind to them. My mind had been stuck on what Andrew had said to me. His words played through my head like an ipod stuck on repeat.

  "Stay out of the woods."

   How had he known that I was in the woods? Wasn't it only supposed to be a dream? If it wasn't a dream then how had I ended back up in my room? Does he know what that thing was that I had seen in the woods or where the thing came from? A sigh of frustration left my lips.

   A small clatter broke my train of thought. I looked down to see that I had dropped my fork and it had fell onto the hard wood polished floor. I bent down, without getting out of my seat, and picked up the fork.

   "What's wrong?" Krissy asked. "Do you not like the food?"

  "No! No!" I protested.

  "The food is fantastic, as always." I gave a false smile.

  "Really? Because you haven't even taken one bite yet." Johnathan said with a mouth full of food.

  "You shouldn't speak with your mouth full." Danny said while shoving Johnathan. Johnathan only responded by flashing Danny his chewed up food. 

   Levi scoffed before kicking Johnathan under the table. "Rude."

   "I'm just not really hungry." I replied to Johnathan's earlier statement.

  "Well, just go wrap your food up." Krissy spoke up. "You can eat it later."

   I nodded my head while getting up from my seat. I picked up my plate and fork before heading over to the fridge. I would more than likely eat this later. I placed my plate into the cramped fridge and tossed my fork into the sink. Heading for the kitchen door, I was stopped by Krissy's voice.

"Oh Alyssa!" I turned back around. Her honey brown eyes had become slightly glassy as she looked at me. She swallowed before continuing with what she had to say. " A, uh, box arrived," her voice had a slight quiver to it. "I left it in your room. I didn't open it, because it was addressed to you, and you know.." she said while looking over at the two confused boys who were left out of the loop. Danny looked down, staring intently at the scattered green beans that were left on his plate.

  "Oh, okay." I replied. I knew what it was that she was talking about. Lissa had called earlier and told me it was coming.

 "I wanted to let you see what was in there first," Krissy kept going. "Just know that I would like to see what's left too." the last part came out as barely a whisper. I nodded before retreating into the living room. That was the first time I had seen her almost break down like that. I know that my mother was also her sister, but she never really showed that her death had also affected her too.