The Silence She Speaks✔

Fifteen-Camryn

"Old people games?" Mom asked.

"He meant board games," I chuckled.

"He calls those old?" Mom gasped.

"Yeah," Alex smirked. "More exactly, the people who used to play them old."

"Oh that boy," she grumbled. "He can make his own dinner tonight."

"By the way, Mom, the calendar says that Chance is coming home on Thanksgiving, is that true?" Alex asked, dread evident on his face.

I snickered as I thought about his bet with Devin. Alex responded with a glare. "Looking at me like that doesn't change the fact that you have to mow the lawn," I teased.

"Shut up," he grumbled.

"He'll only be back for the day though," Mom sighed. "Leigh and Nora are going to try and come as well. With all of their college work, though, I'm not sure if they can make it.

"That'll be fun," I assured with a smile. "Quinn will get to see them again, and they'll be happy to see her, I'm sure. I know how close she was with Chance."

"That's right, she was his little shadow," Alex laughed. "Every time we went to visit, he'd open the door and say, 'I lost my shadow!' Quinn would come waddling in like her life depended on it."

"Now that I think about it, we all had our own nicknames for her didn't we?" I asked.

"Man it's been forever," Alex sighed. "I know Mason called her baby, since he was pretty young and couldn't think of anything else, and Chance called her his shadow, obviously. Then I called her giggles? Yeah, it was giggles."

"Devin and I called her tiny, and I think Leigh called her peaches," I added.

"Man, wish we could go back to those days, just for a minute, you know?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, I would trade anything just to see her smiling like that again," I nodded.

"Well I'm sure she will someday," Mom assured, giving us a soft smile. "She's come a long way because of you kids, thank you. I know it's really hard and stressful, and I hate to put all of this on you, but I'm so thankful for you and all that you've done."

"Mom, we love doing this," Alex assured. "Quinn is our baby sister and we'll always take care of her."

"How did I get so lucky to have boys like you?" She sniffled.

"Awe, don't cry mom, it's okay," I soothed. I stood up and rubbed her back, giving her a soft smile.

"I know sweetie, it's just... something so awful happened to her. I didn't think she would ever get over it. But now I see her with you boys, and I feel like there's still hope for her. But you kids have to put so much into helping her instead of living your lives. I just feel so guilty."

"Mom?" A small voice asked. We turned up to Quinn and Mason peeking through the rails. "Is everything okay?" Mason asked.

"Come on down you two," Alex whispered. Quinn held Mason's hand and they slowly walked down. "Sit please."

"Why's mom crying?" Mason asked as he sat down. Quinn sat next to him and leaned against him, Mason wrapping his arm around her. She snuggled into his side with a guilt-stricken look. Tears were welling up in her eyes.

"Well bud," Alex began. "Sometimes people just feel bad for others."

"Why? Did something happen?" Mason questioned.

"Quinn—she, went through a lot." Alex paused for a moment to take a deep breath. "And mom feels bad for her. And when she sees us working so hard to help her, she just feels bad because... well we put a lot of our time into caring for her."