The Right to Remain Silent

Chapter 5: Chelsea, Later that Night

That night at dinner my parents and little brother sat down together at our dinning room table. "Anything interesting happen at school today?" My mom asked.

I picked at the corn on my plate, "Well, we got a new student today." I tell her with Zach still on my mind.

"Oh," she says, "the new sheriff's son?" She looks at me but I avoid eye contact and just nod.

"I hear the boy has quite a record," my dad said. 

I look up, "What record?"  I ask.

 My mom looked over to my dad with a questioning look, "Kurt, a person's past is none of our business." She tells him.

He shrugs, "I think she should know who she's going to school with Sophie," my dad looks at my little brother like he just noticed he was still there, "Timmy why don't you go up in your room for a little bit?"

"Aww, but I want to know!" He makes that puppy dog face that is pretty hard to resist but my dad shakes his head and gives him a sad smile. He puts down his fork with a clatter and trudges off to the stairs and we watch him disappear onto the second floor.

 "I think you should do your best to. . . keep your distance from Zach. Sweetie he's bad news." My dad tells me looking me in the eyes.

My mom cuts in, "Kurt, that is his past. We don't know the whole story."

My dad shook his head, "Zach is a no- good- self- proclaimed- bad boy. He's not a good influence."

I was shocked. My father had never been one to judge. "Dad, we all have our problems. I have to give him a fair chance. I can't just excommunicate him without getting to know him." Even though I didn't know Zach at all I knew there was something about him that was different. Despite his apperance I knew he wasn't what he seemed to be. But as I suspected people were already having a hard time accepting him. "I met him today. He plays basketball dad. He's pretty good in fact and he-"

My dad slammed his fist on the table and my mother and I both jumped, "Stay. Away. From. Him." He looked at me and the look on his face scared me, "I don't want you near him, do we understand each other?"

"Yes sir," I say.

My mom stands up and takes our plates without a word. I stand to help her and once the kitchen is cleaned I head upstairs to get ready for bed. I take a shower and throw on my gray flannel pajama pants and orange tank top. I was sitting at my desk trying to figure out how I was going to do this project my Bible teacher assigned us today. Miss. Robson has been going over spiritual gifts for the past few weeks, I've been talking to her and trying to figure out my spiritual gift. I remember the talk we had this past Sunday. "What are you good at?" She asked me. I really didn't know how to answer that question. I was good at a few things, but there wasn't that one thing that I was great at. When I didn't answer she smiled at me, "Don't worry about it Chels. Pray about it. God will give you direction." I sat at my desk staring at the prject guidelines and started to pray, "Lord, I need your help. I know you have given me a gift that I must use. But Lord, I fear that I don't know what it is. Can you show me?" I finish and I hear a knock at my door, "Come in," I call. 

  My dad pops his head in the door, "Hey sweet heart," he says smiling softly. 

"What's up dad?"  I ask.

"I just wanted to apologize for what happened at dinner," he starts, "I never meant to scare you. I'm just looking out for your best intrest."

"I know dad."

"Good, I just wanted to make sure you knew that." He walks over to my desk and peers down at my work, "What you workin' on?"

"Just a Bible project," I tell him.

"Oh yeah? What's it about?" 

"Spiritual gifts," I say, "we're suppose to go through the Bible and read about all the great gifts God gives to people. Then we have to pick our favorite, do extra research on it and explain why it's our favorite and give a presentation on that gift and on the gift we think God has given us."

My dad nods, "Wow, that's a pretty heavy project." He kisses the top of my head, "Night sweetie, don't stay up to late."

"Alright dad."

"I love you," he says as he heads out my door.

"Love you too dad," I say as he closes my door. I stare back at the rubric and just sigh. It's a good thing Miss. Robson is giving us almost a full semester to do this project. I think and put the guidelines back into my folder. My next thought shocks me, I wonder what Zach's doing?

~~~ Zach, At That Same Moment~~~ 

I sat at the dinner table picking at a hot pocket when my dad walks through the door. "Where were you?" I ask.

"I had some paper work to file." He says and throws his jacket on the coat rack, "What's for dinner?"

I shrug not looking at him, "Whatevers I guess. I kind of just heated something up." I take a bite out of my Peperoni hot pocket. I hear my dad open the fridge and look around for something.

"Do we have anything in here," he calls from the kitchen. 

I scoff, "Nope, just some TV dinners in the freezer!" I take another bite and my mind starts going again. Ever since my lunch with Mr. O'Connell my brain had been working over time. It was like it was trying to work through something. In every class I couldn't focus, my mind kept wondering to lunch. Had he said something? My dad joined me at the table but I still hadn't focused on that yet. I was still thinking about lunch. I know he had said something. Something about a gift. I shake my head and my train of thought just disappears. I look at my dad and he's looking at me like im weird. "What?" I ask. 

He raises an eye brow at me, "I said, how was your day today? You okay son?"

I shake my head, "I'm fine dad. My day was good. The school's pretty good, friendly people. But it was a pretty uneventful day, besides meeting a few new people." I take another bite out of my dinner. I really didn't know what else to say. I tried to think about what I had been thinking about earlier, but I just couldn't remember.

There was just this block that I couldn't get over. I stare blankly at the wall where the kitchen clock is hanging. I tried again to remember what I was thinking about, but again I nothing. I give up and finish my hot pocket with three bites. I crumble up the cardboard carrier thing and throw it away. "I'm going to head on up to my room pops," I say heading up the stairs.

I get to my room and take out my books to start working on the homework assigned today. There's a wrinkled paper at the bottom of my bag, I take it out and it's folder paper with sharpie writing on it: Your time has come. You can no longer hide. Look to the sky, to the One you will succumb. I stare at the words for a long, long time. Honestly, it freaked me out. 

Someone broke into my locker and stuffed this note into my bag. It was at the bottom of my bag so it must have been early in the day. No one knew who I was yet. I think about it for a while but I soon give up and do my homework. I finish quickly and pick the note up again. I shake my head as I read the words again. "This makes no sense," I say and finally set it aside and call it a night.