The Sounds in a Silence

Some Sort of Beginning

Life wasn't easy. Especially with three other siblings, a lawyer for a mom, and an unemployed dad. Plus, the fact that her brothers had to share a room while she and her sister shared a room was hectic. Silence had to listen to her identical sister's babbling everyday, with her "Omg so-and-so is sooooooo cute," and other gross stuff like that.

But even with all of the gawking at random boys from their school or celebrities, she never said anything. Part of the reason was because she didn't care how her sister decided to live her life, as long as it didn't get in the way of her grades- no- studies. The other part of that- no wait, back up. Ever met a parent who favored one child over the other. Yea...in Silence's case, that was her sister and older brother Nemo.

Silence never really paid attention to it much. She learned how to live with it to the best of her ability. And sometimes, that wouldn't be enough. Most of the time, it wouldn't be enough. Every day, constantly, you could walk into the medium sized house and hear the names "Nemo" and "Luna" thrown around like a dodgeball. Shep and Silence, however, not so much. Maybe the occasional "Do your homework, Shep," or "Clean the table off, Silence," from her dad.

It was always their dad giving away the instructions or the praises or the affection. Their mom was always filing papers or hours away at a court case or she was sleeping. Long story short, she didn't get to spend much time with the kids. Silence thought that that was why her dad got away with so much; because her mother was barely home.

Either way, she was still alive, wasn't she? Still kicking? Still...surviving? At least, that's how she saw it. As long as she wasn't dead, dying, or failing, everything was alright. To her, anyway. Minus the fact she didn't really have a social life. Friends, technically. But other than that, a pretty a-ok kid.

But that part changed the first time she heard that disgusting dinosaur alarm.

"WAKE UP!" The voice of Luna echoed through that stupid room of theirs.

"Leave me alone," Silence had grumbled, covering her head with her pillow. Luna already tore the blankets off of her.

"And let you sleep? Never!" Luna protested. "Get up, or I'm telling dad," her sister whined.

"I don't care. Go ahead and tell him." By this time, Silence had sat up, and that alarm of her sister's was getting on her nerves. She chucked her pillow at it.

"DAAAAAAD! SILENCE BROKE MY ALARM!" Was the chosen phrase as Luna whizzed down the stairs.

"'Broke it' my glasses," mumbled Silence as she picked the green clock up and tweaked the gears in the back until she was sure she fixed it. "I could have smashed it with a rock by now. But I'm a nice person."

It took Silence maybe ten minutes to get ready. That includes getting dressed and the calming of the curly lions mane on the top of her head. She cautiously rounded the stairs, stepping down them and fixing her glasses. She found three people at the table in the dining room; Nemo, Luna, and her dad. She took a piece of bacon off the plate in the middle, not bothering to acknowledge the people in the room.

At the door, she took her empty book bag off of the coat rack. She was guessing Shep already hightailed his way to the bus stop. His fear of being late (especially on his first day in a new school) probably devoured him whole. They'd dropped off their school supplies the day before, that way it wasn't such a hassle when they actually joined classes.

Silence made her merry way to the bus stop she'd be using for the next year- or more, if her family didn't move again. But, sure enough, there was Shep, propped against the stop sign with his nose in a book.

"Will you ever stop reading about Shakespeare?" Silence joked.

"Shakespeare is the greatest playwrite ever and don't you ever disrespect him again."

"Yea but...didn't he kill like, all of his characters?"

"Alas, it's something a great author must do. That's why you should never get too attached to a character. Like Game of Thrones."

Silence rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I don't even get attached to real people. What makes fictional people so different?"

Shep shrugged. "Sometimes, there's a character who's so pure that you just...," he struggled for the words. "You just fall in love."

"Most of the time, that pure character isn't the main character, but a friend who ends up being an absolutely TERRIBLE person."

Shep scoffed, putting his book back into his bag. "Don't you ever badmouth the sidekick ever again." He joked.

Silence positioned herself to slide down the other side of the stop sign, letting out a heaving sigh when she hit the ground.

"Why did you get here so early?" Shep asked.

Silence shrugged, taking off her glasses to clean them. "I didn't feel like being ignored today. So I decided to grab a piece of bacon and just go."

Shep nodded. "Me too." He was quiet for a minute, probably thinking. "So...are you as excited as me to start a new school?"

"I dunno. How excited are you?"

"Not very," Shep admitted.

"Then yes, I'm as excited as you."

"Oh haha you're hilarious." Shep rolled his eyes. "I hope those seals take too long to eat everyday. I'd rather they not ride the bus with us."

"Oh believe me. If daddy's little babies miss the bus, he'll take them to school without the slightest volume raise in his voice. But oh boy, the second little Sheppy and Sisi are late it's all 'Why are my kids so lazy?' and 'Why do my kids always wait until the last minute?'"

"Calm down, Silence. It's not the end of the world."

"Guess not, but still. I'm just proving my point. And I don't hear you disagreeing."

Shep sighed. "Fine," he said, standing up and brushing the dirt and grass off of his legs. He offered Silence a hand, which she took to stand up.

And just in time, too, because she heard the bus roll around the corner in all of its yellow glory. The brakes screed and the doors opened. Silence looked in the direction of their house to see Nemo and Luna just now step out of the door. Silence nearly laughed as she saw their faces fall, and stepped into the bus.