The Silence She Speaks✔

One-Quinn

The storm blew loudly. Upstairs the children played, while the adults spoke below. None of them had any knowing of what was going to happen. Except for my mom, she knew exactly what was going on.

A loud boom exploded from beneath our feet. Screams and cries from the adults were barely heard over the ringing in our ears. The fire alarm was beeping and smoke began to flow upstairs. The little ones cried and clung to the older kids. I stood there, looking down the stairs. The bloody corpses of my uncles, aunt, grandparents, and father all laid there. My mom was nowhere to be seen.

My brother's large arm wrapped around me and pulled me away from the scene. I looked up at Sammy's large, blue eyes. He was seventeen, the oldest out of the six children upstairs. He lead us all away from the scene and out onto the balcony.

A loud gunshot erupted from behind us. It hit my younger cousin in the head and he collapsed. He was no longer breathing.

My mom was standing there, holding a gun and a knife. She shot at all of us. Having nowhere to go we all pulled into a small huddle in the corner of the balcony. She was killing us off, one by one, until only two remained. Me and my brother. I was holding my cousins, hoping to hear even the faintest beating of any of their hearts.

Silence.

Sammy charged Mom, but was stabbed by the knife. It went right into his stomach, and he fell quickly.

She pulled her knife out and looked at me. Her eyes were cold and filled with hatred. Her knife was ready and she pulled it back. Her movements were quick and full of pain as she pulled her arm down. The knife cut my face, from my blonde hairline down to my cheek, I was lucky to have moved back so it just barely missed my fearful blue eye. Blood poured down my face like a waterfall.

My mom's face grew red with anger. She pulled the knife high into the air. Bringing it down hard, she stabbed my leg. I screamed out in pain. She pulled her knife back out and raised it again, she stabbed my leg once more. She pulled out her gun and shot at my other leg. One, two, three shots.

Now ready to make a fatal shot, she leveled her gun, but, before she could shoot me, my brother jumped into the way. The bullet went into his head, but he kept a strong face. Slowly, he lowered his body onto mine and whispered, "I love you." Then, he died. I barely heard his words over the roaring thunder, but they were there.

Slowly, with a shaky hand, I reached up and touched Sammy's blonde hair. Wet. I prayed that it was just from the rain, but when I pulled my hand back, it was completely red.

My mother grew even angrier and yelled. She leveled her gun one last time but a shot from the backyard hit her arm. She dropped her gun and gripped her wounded arm. "Freeze!" An officer yelled from behind. He had his gun pointed to her head, his finger looking trigger happy. "Turn around with your hands in the air!" She did as she was told. "Now walk over there and turn around!" She slowly walked over to the edge of the balcony and turned around. A larger man came over and cuffed her, then dragged my mom away.

I slipped out from my brother's body and turned him around. I whispered for him to wake up, I begged him to open his eyes. Tears flowed down my cheeks. "Come on, it's not funny anymore," I urged. "Come on, joke's over, wake up!" He still didn't move. "Please Sammy. Please, you can't die—you can't. You promised me you'd stay forever. You're not allowed to break your promise, it was a pinky promise. You can't break pinky promises, you told me that. You can't, you just can't. I need you, don't go, Sammy!"

I violently shook my brother as tears dripped from my face onto his. I even resorted to banging my fists on his chest. Nothing was working.

Another officer came and grabbed my shoulder. "Please, come with me." I shook my head and gripped at my brother's shirt. The officer sighed and grabbed my waist. He pulled me off, kicking and screaming. I told the officer that Sammy was not dead—that he was just sleeping. I begged him to let me go, but he never did.