Quiet

Chapter Thirty-Five: No Cake

I had dreaded this day for a long time. It finally came though. Dad and mom had been talking about it and considering it for a while. It seemed smart but it was not fair to me. Dad was going to go on and finish the last of the tour while Ryleigh and I stayed behind. Ryleigh was going to stay with Debby. It gave me time to think about what I wanted.

I was going to be turning 18 soon. Not that I would tell mom or dad my birth date. They probably already knew it I was assuming. It's not like birthdays were ever a big celebration. Beckett however, now that we were dating, wanted to make a big deal of my impending birthday. I told him not to, he informed me he would be over bright and early with coffee and a singing Kolbi.

Speaking of Beckett, no one had yet found out his secret. I felt bad because I knew it killed Kolbi inside. Kolbi was such a sweet little girl and even though she was three she understood that it wasn't right. Beckett had somehow managed to get a day off one day and I went with him to drop off Kolbi. Kolbi in public did not call him dad but Beckett or Beck. It was cute but also so hard breaking.

Mom wanted me to decide if I was going to go back to public school. Mom wanted me to go and experience prom, my final homecoming, stuff like that. I was not really all excited about it. Dad told me I didn't have to. Ryleigh said we should go together but I honestly didn't want to go. Beckett told me he went to his only as a formality and the fact his family donated a lot of money into the school he went to. I think it would be nice to go as a group but, it would depend on Beckett. I didn't want to push or stress him out. I knew he had a bigger concern and priority and that was Kolbi.

I had looked at the school website and debated. Ryleigh said she was going to go back and see all of her old friends. I don't know if I could force myself to deal with those people. I mean I had heard worse. I guess hearing it from your peers was different. I looked at the sporting programs and rolled my eyes and how none of them were inclusive. Then something caught my eye. I had a new email.

I clicked on the email it was from a doctor, a group of doctors actually. The ones that were with Dr. Carter's group. They were reviewing my case for speech therapy as I was back and it was pending my approval if I would like to further my speech therapy. I had taken speech therapy for about 6 months, while living here. It doesn't feel like it had been 6 months though. Everyday was something new and different. I smiled and read the email in full before sending it to the printer to print. I quickly ran to the printer and then ran down to mom and dad who were watching some scary movie I had no interest in and dangled it in front of dad's face.

"Logan," he groaned pulling his arm from around mom and looked at the piece of paper before looking at me again. "Wait so you're saying you want to actually pursue this? Like, you know that you might not sound the same and it may take a while." Dad said looking at me after reading the piece of paper.

I nodded my head and started jumping up and down. I had noticed myself getting back into the groove of wanting to talk its just nothing comes out. I would walk around humming which was something mom enjoyed. She caught me humming to one of dad's songs one morning. Sneaking up on me she wrapped me in a hug and shook my body back and forth excitedly at the new sounds. My laughing had went from closed mouth to more open mouth projected laughing. Everything looked so promising with speech therapy and getting back to talking. Dad and mom were getting really good at using sign language in public when I was uncomfortable. I think I would continue to sign but I would love to talk again.

"Bren I don't think it'll hurt." Mom said and put her head back on dad's chest as I jumped up and down excitedly.

I wrapped my parents in a hug as dad chuckled into my hair and mom patted my back. I quickly ran upstairs and sent a picture to Ryleigh.