Silence //A Carl Gallagher story

Chapter 8

I swear this is going to be at the beginning of every chapter->

I am having my arse whipped by school but I'm still here. I'm not as close to this story as I want to be but as long as I have people to read my works then I will keep working on this story. I can't promise the next update to be soon but I can promise that I will make one. Again, my deepest apologies but nonetheless, here is Chapter 8 -

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6 months later

"92...93...94...95" The deep monotone voice of a young boy can be heard amongst the noise of the weights clashing with metal and hollers of the other young men inside the institution.

"...100." The monotone boy stood on top of an older and buffer guy, who just finished doing push ups, before jumping off and landing on the cold, hard floor. He cracked his neck before lending his hand to the boy on the floor.

"Hey, Taipz," The braided haired boy said to the muscled guy."I think you were lagging a bit, don't ya think?" He smirked, breaking his emotionless mask.

Taipz stood still. Anybody could tell that he was easily intimidated by the boy that was a head shorter than him. He was about to reply when the noise was silenced.

The loud bang of the old entrance door echoed throughout the mini gym, followed by a shout of the most hated guard in the compound. "Gallagher! Get your ass out of here!"

Carl looked up Taipz, the smug smirk plastered on his face. "See you on the outside, dawg...maybe." He tipped his invisible hat to him before turning to all the others in the gym.

He did his not-so-secretive handshake with all of them before walking out of the gym, pride oozing out of his walk.

Carl slapped hands with the inmates in behind the bar, slowly starting to pick up as they started to shout his most famous nickname. "White boy Carl!"

Still following the guard, he picked up his outside clothes and headed into the closest restroom. A few minutes later and the boy that was once wearing a navy jumpsuit now wore jeans that hung low enough to show his boxers, bright red shoes, a tight black shirt, a tri-colored jacket, and to top it off, a gold chain.

Carl looked at himself in the cracked mirror with the smirk never once wavering and laughed. "Badass."

He walked out of the restroom, his old clothes in a plastic bag and walked out of the doors that held him for 6 months. The boy turned around before mock saluting the outside guards, who just scowled at the boy's audacity. Making sure he was at least on the street, he turned around and flipped off the compound. He laughed like a maniac and ran the rest of the way to the place that has a special place in his little cold, blackened heart.

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Inside a little run down house in the ghetto part of Chicago, the somewhat peacefulness was ruined by the noise of a lady shouting into an old phone.

"Do you think I care about that? The answer is no. Now I want to know why, young lady.... Okay calm down...I'll think about it...Just come home Debs and we'll talk it over.... bye."

A young woman rubbed her eyes out of tiredness. There were bags under her eyes, her shirt was disheveled, and her hair greasy. "Not one thing goes right in this damn house. " She muttered as she reached for a water bottle halfway across the small counter.

The front door opened but the woman did not bother to move. "Are you home already, Debs? I thought you were barely leaving school."

Carl looked around the house that he missed before answering. "I'm guessing this is a bad time but no. It's Carl. Hey Fiona."

Fiona looked up startled and turned to see her younger brother standing in their messy living room, a complete 180 of when they had last seen him. "Carl? Holy sh!t w-what are you doing here?"

She rushed to pull him into a tight hug before holding him at arm's length to look at him. "Wow. Aren't you a little early, though? I swear did you freaking bribe the guards because if you did I'm going to drag your sorry as-"

"Chill chill," a genuine smile on his face. "I got early release for good behavior," the smirk back on his face. "They couldn't take me anymore."

The eldest looked at her younger brother with adoration in her eyes as she looked at him with a soft smile on her face. "It hasn't been the same without you here. I really mean that."

He looked around the house and turned his attention back to her and did a sly grin. "Well, I'm a new man now. I've changed. Say hello to White boy Carl." He stepped back and flashed his thick gold chain. "Nice, aye? Got it for a grand."

Fiona maintained a neutral face before snorting and clutching her stomach. " 'White boy Carl'? Please, that's a $3 chain. Ah, children never change," She wiped away her fake tears before walking towards the kitchen. "C'mon, you must be hungry after today."

"I actually wanted to see Elena first. Where is she?"

Since Elena is mute, she attended a day school that only lasted for five hours: 8am to 1pm. She had very minimal homework and slept for most of her free time.

"She's asleep in your bed. She's missed you a lot and she's been distant since you have left." Fiona replied from the doorway with a sad smile. A twinge of guilt passed through Carl but he tried not to let it show. "I'm here now. I'm going to see her."

He left without another word and practically ran up the old staircase to his bedroom. It felt like his bedroom was so far away as he stood at the top of the stairs. The distance seemed to get bigger as he took a couple of steps. Like the clumsy person that he is, Carl didn't see the box that had Liam's old baby toys on the floor and knocked it over with a loud crash.

He cringed as the noise echoed throughout the silent house. A few seconds passed before Fiona called out from the kitchen below the second floor. "Is everything okay, Carl?"

He paused before replying. "Yeah, it was just some stupid toys." He pushed the toys aside but froze midway when he heard the familiar creak of a door slowly open. He looked up at the sound of soft footsteps approaching him.

His breath got caught in his throat when he saw Elena standing before him, eyes half open and clearly tired. She looked up at him and smiled sleeply.

She had grown in many ways. Her hair was longer, reaching to her waist, she grew at least an inch but was still shorter than Carl, and looked more mature despite being half awake.

He smiled at her, his eyes filled with longing before pulling her into a hug. She hugged him back but not as tight as he did to her and laid her head on his shoulder, well what she could reach.

"I missed you so damn much, Lena. I missed you so much. " Carl repeated into her ear multiple times but stopped when he heard soft snores coming from her. He chuckled when he realized that she fell back to sleep on his chest.

After positioning himself, he easily lifted the silent girl. She was light and made him worry about how torn she was when he had left. As he walked towards his room that he had missed so much, he couldn't help but notice how much she had developed as woman. 'She has more curves, that's for sure,' Carl thought to himself but immediately stopped and started blushing at the random thoughts.

When he walked into his room, he laid the sleeping girl softly on the bottom bunk and tucked her in. It was only when he sat by the foot of the bed did he realize how tired he was.

Quitely, he took off his jacket and red shoes before debating whether to sleep next to Elena. Sleep was making him close his eyes so he decided to just go for it. He moved the girl over without disturbing her sleep and wrapped the blanket around the both of them and pulled her close.

He did miss her and he wasn't going to leave her anymore.