Muted

Chapter 4

The earth shaking woke me up. It wasn't until I felt a hand softly land on my shoulder that I sat up with a loud gasp.

"I'm so sorry Sweet-Pea! I didn't mean to scare you." Paige said quietly from beside me. I blinked at her for a second as my brain caught up with the situation. The earth wasn't shaking; it was just Paige trying to wake me up. That was new, usually I only slept a few hours at a time.

"You were so tired, that you slept the whole day away. I would've normally let you sleep but I didn't want you to miss dinner." I nodded and got off the bed with her. As we approached the door I caught sight of my back pack and an idea struck. I gently touched Paige's arm to get her attention before racing to the tattered bag and grabbing the pencil and pad of paper from the police station.

Thank you for all of this. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you before. I really do love it, it's just a lot.

I quickly handed it to her. I worried my bottom lip with my teeth while she read it. As she read, her lip quivered, and then suddenly I was enveloped in a warm, bone crushing hug.

"You are more than welcome Aurora." She let go of me to give me a large, watery smile. Her happiness was infectious and a small one formed on my face too.

"You must be starving! Let's go everyone is already down stairs I think."

Together we walked down the stairs and I followed Paige to the dining room.

"RORA SIT NEXT TO ME!! PLEASE RORA!!" Sam hollered from the other side of the room. I smiled at him and sat next him. He seemed to have other idea's as he climbed into my lap. I smiled and kissed the top of his head. Paige shook her head at us, but the smile never left her face. She sat next to us at the head of the table while Peter sat on the other end. Once everyone was seated we all dug into the delicious food. We all ate dinner in silence until Paige broke it.

"So Louis, did you know that Aurora has a real talent for art like you do?"

Both the twins looked at me stunned before they launched into a discussion about Louis' art and Logan's music. Half way through Logan even got me my pad of paper so that I could participate in the conversation. After that dinner went by smoothly. Peter cracked jokes and Paige scolded the boys when they started to throw food. I smiled into Sam hair and when I looked back up in time to lock eyes with Tyler. He was staring at me intently, a frown set on his face; Almost like he was trying to figure something out and couldn't quite grasp it. A comment from Logan drew my attention and when I looked back Tyler was talking horses with Adrian.

After dinner, everyone went their separate ways and I ended up finding my way to what Page said was Louis' and Logan's music and art room. I knocked on the door and Logan was the one who answered it.

"Hey Aurora come on in!" He said enthusiastically.

I walked in to what I would consider an Art paradise. Beautiful paintings were nailed to the wall; art supplies were everywhere on the right side of the room. On the left, there was a black grand piano – its glossy surface glinting in the light, two acoustic guitars and one electric.

"Ugh!" Louis said in frustration. I jumped and frowned in his direction but it was Logan who answered my unspoken question.

"He's just having some trouble with one of his paintings."

I cautiously walked over to the painting that Louis was having trouble with – not wanting to intrude. I examined it for a while. It was a portrait of Paige abut her hair was off. Tapping him on the should I pointed to the brush in his hand. He frowned but handed it to me anyway. Looking at the painting for a few more minutes before I knew what I was going to do. I darkened the shade of the hair before adding highlights to make it look more natural. I handed the brush back to Louis and he just stared at in with an expression of awe.