The Mute Girl

chapter 2

The sound of familiar voices chattering happily woke me up. When I opened my eyes I couldn’t see anything, but it was only at the end of my bed that I could see. I stretched out my arms, they made a loud unpleasant cracking noise, which made me cringe slightly. Closing my eyes I rubbed away the remaining sleep. However when I opened them back up again my Aunty Sophie’s face was hovering centimetres over mine. A wide smile had stretched across her tired face, lighting up her tired, bright green eyes. My arms instantly shot up and grabbed her around the neck, embracing her tightly. She laughed softly and hugged me back. Guys she's awake, Tarleigh's awake. She called pulling away as she called them over.

I smiled wearily, and sat up. The tubes had miraculously disappeared, giving me free movement. I looked around me, and saw my Uncle Phillip, and my three cousins Jasmine, Jessie and Chastity. Their beautiful faces had bags under their identical sparkling green eyes, despite that fact though they all looked happy. “Well we have all been waiting quite a while for you to wake up Tarleigh”. I nodded.

I opened my mouth to ask how long I’ve been out, but my voice didn't come. I tried again, only ending with the same results. Yes come on darling, what are you trying to say? Aunt Sophie asked hope filling her voice. I just shook my head, and looked around, searching for a pad and pen. Spotting one next to a bunch of flowers on the bedside table. I grabbed them, and started scribbling down the question. "Two days" Chastity’s quiet voice was the first to answer. I merely nodded again. "Well do you think that you are well enough to go now, you must be tired of this place after twelve years?" I nodded again smiling widely. 'Great, I'll just go fill out the release forms and we can go" Aunt Sophie said clapping her hands together. "Oh and before we go chuck on these" she threw me a bundle of clothes, with that she walked out. I tucked the clothes under my arm, and lifted myself out of the bed, with some effort. "Hey Chastity, do you want to take Tarleigh to the bathroom so she can get changed?" Uncle Phillip asked. Chastity just nodded quietly.

I could tell that she was the smart quieter one. Despite how beautiful she was, she wore purple square framed glasses, her long black hair was in a messy bun at the top of her head, her sparkling green eyes were surrounded by thick long lashes, her lips were red and plump,  she wore sneakers and a pair of knit shorts and an over large shirt. I could tell that although she was smart, she was also popular. The way she held her posture gave her an air of confidence that no normal nerd would have. I could tell that I was going to like Chastity a lot. She didn't try to fill up silences with meaningless chatter. And I liked that about her.

The ladies bathroom is to the right, I’ll wait out here for you" she informed me. I nodded my thanks and walked over to the toilets. I hurried into a stall. Only then did I notice how unnaturally skinny I was, my arms and legs were rather small, and my wrists looked delicate and breakable at the slightest touch, my stomach was flat. So much so, that you could trace the outline of my visible ribcage. My skin so pale, it looked nearly translucent, yet I wasn’t surprised by that, because of my long period in the hospital. I slipped on the clothes. shorts that were fastened with a belt so they don't fall to my ankles a top that was like four sizes to big, and flip flops. I walked out of the bathroom stall. I looked up into a mirror for the first time in twelve years. For a moment I just stood there and stared at my reflection. I could have been pretty. No where near as beautiful as my cousins, but pretty none the less. My hair jet black hair was long and wavy, and my once neat little box fringe reached my chin. My eyebrows were the naturally nice one’s, they were arched into a nice shape. I had blue eyes framed with long dark lashes that stood out against my pale skin. My lips were thin and pink, my teeth were straight and white. I stood there for a moment taking in my appearance. Yeah I could be pretty, but there were minor set backs to how I looked. My hair was a knotty mess. I had dark shadows under my eyes despite my period of being in coma, my skin was too pale, and my eyes didn’t have the pretty sparkle that my cousins had. I splashed my face with water, combed through my hair with my fingers, and stuck it in a long ponytail. I walked out of the bathroom smiling, satisfied that I looked decent.

I saw Chastity leaning casually against a wall, I approached her, she looked up sensing my presence, well aren’t you a skinny little thing, she said laughing, I nodded. “Your lucky looking like that you’ll make it into the popular group, no problem”. My eyes widened, Chastity laughed sensing something was wrong, "no, no, they are really nice, they aren't like most popular groups, they wont care that you cant speak" she told me. I nodded slightly reassured by the fact. "So do you want to get back to the others?" I nodded.

We walked back silently, when we arrived everyone was ready to go. "Wow, your a bit on the skinny side aren't you" uncle Phillip said. I nodded and smiled. Guys are we ready to go? I’ve signed the release forms and everything.” I nodded enthusiastically, along with everybody else. Eager to get out. “Ok guys lets hit the road”!