Silence | Fillie

Chapter 8

August 10th
Millie 

I had prolonged going home just as long as I possibly could, but now the time had come. I couldn't hide behind Noah anymore than I could stand to stay in Barbie's house. 

My homecoming wasn't exactly like the ones in books and movies, in fact, it was quite the opposite. No one came to open the door so thankfully they hadn't changed the locks. That was only strike one. 

Father was passed out on the couch, a beer dangling from his hand. Mother was in the kitchen, awful jazz music playing in the background. I could imagine her dancing around with a cookbook in one hand and a spoon in the other. 

It was like they didn't even care that I was here. Might as well have stayed with Noah and Sadie, or in the asylum with Finn. Oh, Finn, how I wish you were here now.

Ava sat on the wooden floor playing with dolls, her hair up in pigtails with bows holding them up. Surely she cares, right?

"Hello? Anyone home?" I asked curiously. 

Ava was up so fast she was just a blur of blonde. She was me in a matter of seconds, crawling up me as if I were a jungle gym, little arms winding around my neck. "Mills!" She screamed into my ear. "You're home!" 

I hugged her back. "Yeah, I'm home." I sighed. Good old home.

Holding her as tight as possible, I looked around the room more. Not much had physically changed about the house itself, but it didn't feel the same anymore. I felt like an outsider who'd wondered in from the storm. 

"Well, Millie, look at you." 

Dear God, it's Paige.  I whipped around to see she was on the third step, giving me her usual judging stare. "You haven't changed one bit."

Her brown hair was swept up into a messy bun and vintage clothes made her seem like a librarian. She seemed so sweet and big sister like. 

"Hi, Paige." Sure my voice came out a little quietly but it was still a response. "How are you?"

There was so much I wanted to say to her, but I couldn't with Ava and our parents right here. 

She smiled. "I'm pretty good." She crossed the room and hugged me despite Ava in between us. "How was Hallows Health? Did they treat you okay?"

I didn't wanna talk about that place right now or ever. "Perfect." I lied. "Listen I just wanna go upstairs."

Paige gave me a weird look. "Upstairs?" 

"Yeah to my room, y'know." I pushed past her, Ava still in my arms, and started for the staircase. 

"Millie!" This time it was my mother, her voice tight and harsh. 

I turned to look at her. "Hi, Mum." 

She didn't look pleased. My mother looked stressed and tired, her brown eyes showed signs of little sleep. "No hello? And going upstairs with your shoes on?" Mom said, looking me up and down. "You were suppose to be home yesterday." 

There it was. I knew she was going to be mad about that. Hurry come up with something quick Mills! I sat Ava down, telling her to go play as I thought.

My excuse walked through the backdoor, the word tumbling from my mouth before I could stop them. 

"Romeo!" I called. 

He looked up at me and smiled. "Hey, Mills." He didn't look surprised to see me which was great considering my new formed excuse. 

I ran to him and jumped into his arms. "I missed you." I mumbled against his chest. 

In case, you're wondering I wasn't acting. I really had missed Romeo like crazy. He was my best friend since we were born and my safe place no matter what. 

"I'm waiting for an explanation, young lady." Mom snapped, her arms crossed.

I looked back at her, my arms still wrapped around Romeo's neck. "I was at Romeo's. I got nervous about coming home is all, right, Ro?" 

Romeo didn't miss a beat. "Yeah, she was at my house." He agreed. "Sorry, Mrs. B, I should have called to tell you." 

Immediately Mom's whole mood changed. "It's perfectly fine, Romeo, as long as she was safe." 

I smiled gratefully up at him. "You wanna go hang out?"

He kissed the tip of my nose, causing me to giggle. "Sure." 

___

Finn

"Well look at you." She leaned on the armrest of the chair I was in, an arm draped behind my back. "All back and tough as ever." 

I smiled up at the blonde and kissed her hand. "Ma chérie, how is business?" 

She sighed, worrying at the end of her braid. "No one's been happy since you left. The streets have been a mess in your absence." 

I nodded. Of course, the people would think they could take back over the streets during the year of my incarceration.  They were so wrong. 

"Oleff calling the shots again?" I asked, glancing over files.

"Isn't he always? He thinks whatever is yours is his when you aren't around." Lilia replied, reading the papers over my shoulder. "What are we gonna do with him?"

"He didn't touch you, did he?" 

After a moment of silence, I looked up at her. "Lils, tell me he didn't." I pleaded. 

She didn't look at me and that's all I needed. "He'll burn, ma chérie, I promise you."

Lilia nodded slowly, her green eyes meeting mine after a couple seconds. "I want him dead." 

"And he will be." I stood from my chair. "Come on let's go do something fun instead of work, yeah?"

She grinned. "Please." 

Oleff's days were numbered, but I imagine he already knew that since everyone was talking about my homecoming.