The Story of Silence (Book 3)

Chapter 14

Sunday, March 12th. About five o'clock in the morning:

Silence rose on Sunday morning just like he would every other morning before, but in all of them, he was rising after the sun. Today began with him rising before the sun and walking to the park.

No-one else was there when he arrived. The grass still wet from yesterday's rain and the dew from the night. It was also slightly chilly due to it being before the sun had even risen. Silence enjoyed the quiet moment alone as he seated himself onto one of the green park benches with the peeling paint and watched life slowly start to come alive.

He wasn't tired despite being out late the night before and his early rise. He wasn't sure what time he had arrived home, he just remembered that he had arrived after Thomas had. Thomas was blacked out on the sofa when Silence had entered into the apartment, he didn't stir as Silence wandered around the room, unsure of whether or not he should go to bed. He hadn't been tired then either, he had been wide awake, and felt that going to bed wouldn't do much for him, so he just lay down on his bed until about four when he decided to get up and go for another walk.

As per usual for the last few days, Susan was on his mind. He couldn't get her out. She plagued his dreams at night and in his waking moments in the day. And he wasn't sure if it had to do with the fact that he worried about her finding out about his past, or if it had to do with something deeper. But the thing was he wasn't sure which reason for her being in his mind scared him the most. He didn't like her, that's what he told himself anyway, but he hated himself for yelling at her, even though technically he didn't yell. But he had still lost his temper at her, and it wasn't really his fault. He hadn't given her permission to look into his past, she'd just accepted that he had, and now she wouldn't stop because he wouldn't -couldn't- give her a reason why she should.

He also didn't want her to find out in case she got hurt. He didn't want her to get hurt, even though he told himself it would serve her right. But if he didn't mind her getting hurt, why didn't he want to tell her? Besides the obvious. He didn't want to see her hurt, and normally he didn't care about other people's safety.

He groaned. Why did things have to be so difficult? Why did she have to mess up his head? He'd been fine until he'd met her. He hadn't seen her for about seven years and now his head was feeling messed up because of her. Things he didn't understand -he wasn't sure if he did want to understand them- fluttered through his mind. They were all thoughts about her. They were so fuzzy, so confusing and hard to understand. He placed his head in his hands and groaned again, wishing he'd never met her.

He tried to take his mind off her and think about something else. Remembering something, he tracked back through his early thoughts. What was it he had thought about earlier, about not giving a reason? It reminded him that he should meet with his uncle and get sorted out why he had handed the roll of CEO over to George Oldwood.

At six thirty Silence headed home as he needed breakfast, though he didn't need to be home to eat it. So he made a detour and got breakfast at an open MacDonald's before hailing a taxi to take him to his uncle's place.

About an hour later he reached his old home, and knocked loudly on the front door. Inside he heard their old dog, Rover, barking, and a pair of footsteps taking their time to reach the door.

Silence guessed by the amount of time it took the person to reach the door that it was his aunt. His aunt always took forever to answer the door, whereas his uncle would always call out something to let the knocker know that he was coming, to know that he would get there as soon as he could. His aunt never said anything and always made people wait, even if Silence's uncle had told her he was expecting important people and for her to let them in as soon as possible.