Silence Isn't Golden

Flashback

Ok, I know this has nothing to do with the story of where it's at now, but... here's why Lucy acts mute.

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Chapter 19- Flashback

Lucy's POV

"Lucy, can you sing another song for me?" My mom asks me, rocking back and forth in her rocking chair with me in her lap. I was around seven years old.

"Ok!" I say. I would do anything for my mother. "What song do hear?"

"Anything you want."

With that, I start singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

After I finish, my mother says, "Lucy, you have such a beautiful voice. Cherish it for as long as you live."

"Of course I will, Mother!" I reply.

"Now, off you go to your studies!" she says, and shoos me away. As I was leaving, I hear her coughing violently. Little did I know, that was the beginning of my mother's illness that would kill her.

About a week later, I went to kitchen for breakfast. While I was eating, I see my father walking towards me.

"Lucy, your mother is in the hospital. She's very sick, and the doctors don't have a cure."

I start to tear up. "Mother? Sick?" I repeat.

"Why don't you go visit her? I have to go back to work."

"Ok."

I get to the hospital, and I find my mother's room. She's lying on the bed, and when I open the door, she raises her head to look at me.

I sit down on the chair next to the bed.

"Sing for me," Mother says weakly, "Sing for me one last time with that beautiful voice of yours."

So I do. I sing with all my heart a song that was about a girl's dying wish. It was haunting.

When I'm done, I look back over at my mother. Her eyes are closed and she looks peaceful.

Suddenly, a group of nurses runs into the room. They look at this big thing that Mother's hooked up to. Then they turn to me saying things like,"Your Mommy's in a better place, sweetie." and "Your Mother will always be in your heart."

"Does that mean she's dead?" I ask. I know about death because of all the books I read.

"Yes," they all say.

I run out of the room, crying. It was all my fault. I shouldn't have sung that song about death. It couldn't be a coincidence.

A couple weeks later, my father asks me to go to his office. Once I get there, I knock on the door.

"Come in," my father says, and I walk in.

"We need to talk about your mother, Lucy." he says and takes a breath.

"Do you think that it was your fault your mother died?" he asks.

I answer truthfully, "Yes."

"Why do you believe this?"

"Well, Mother wanted me to sing a song for her. And-and-" I broke off, crying. "And I-I was singing a s-song about death coming to claim a g-girl. A-and then M-mother died," I say stuttering.

My father stands up and slams his hand on his desk hard enough for me to flinch.

"This is no coincidence," he says and then suddenly changes the subject.

"You look and sound so much like Layla. Too much like her. Layla should have lived, not you! Layla didn't deserve to die!" he exclaims in a rage. He starts walking towards me. I shrink away, not knowing what he's about to do.

As I'm backing up, my back hits a wall. I follow the wall with my hands, not taking my eyes off of my father.

I didn't realize I was backing up into a corner.

My father closes in on me and slaps me. Hard enough to make me see black for a second and fall to the ground.

"You act like Layla and you look like her. Worst of all you sound. Exactly. Like. Her." he says, venom in every word. He kicks me, and I feel like I'm about to pass out. If only I didn't look like my mother. If only I didn't sound like her. If only...

I don't want to kill anyone else with my voice. I don't want to get hurt because of my voice.