Silence

Chapter Six - Silent Waltz

"Music and silence combine strongly because music is done with silence,  and silence is full of music." – Marcel Marceau

Chapter Six – Silent Waltz

Jaron glared at the woman as he got to his feet. He clenched his fists as he eyed the gun hesitantly. She only grinned back at him, indicating with her finger for him to come closer. Mentally groaning, he traipsed towards her.

Without hesitation, the woman grabbed one of his wrists and manoeuvred the gun so it was pressing between his shoulder blades.

"Now, march!"

As Jaron stumbled through the undergrowth, and the initial shock of the gun wore off, his mind drifted to the inevitable question, why?

Who was this woman and what did she want? Surely if she was some school official, busting him for not turning up, she wouldn't have found him so fast. She wouldn't have resorted to physical violence, and she definitely wouldn't have had a gun. Jaron gulped.

Could she be the police? Then again, he hadn't been doing anything wrong. Surely she'd have a badge or a uniform. Unless she was a plain-clothes officer, but she would still have a badge.

Jaron looked up at her face. She had sharp features twisted into an expression of gleeful seriousness. Her eyes darted around, surveying every inch of the forest ahead. Though she had no map and there seemed to be no specific path they were walking, the woman's composure revealed no evidence that she seemed to be lost. In other words, she knew exactly where she was going, and made it known.

Jaron on the other hand didn't have the foggiest idea of where they were headed, only that they were going deeper into the forest and getting further away from safety. 

Jaron lifted one cautious finger and reached up to tap the woman on the shoulder. She glared down at him.

"I was just wondering, how did you find me? I mean normally I would be at school so how did you know I would be here?"

The woman rolled her eyes before letting out a dramatic sigh.

"There have been people watching you for a long time. Lets just say, longer than you would be comfortable with."

"But why?"

"Kid, I would love to tell you, I really would, it would just be a dream come true if I could tell you," her tone dripped with sarcasm. "But, alas, I'm not going to. So, if you don't mind, I'm going to ignore you now, so uh, pipe down."

Jaron would have continued, if not for the gun tucked in her waistband.

Above him, the trees danced, their branches swaying to a silent waltz. Wind weaved its way through the foliage. Leaves twirled as it brushed by, filling the air with soft, pleasant rustles. The quiet warmed Jaron's soul. It was almost hypnotising. He could feel each individual leaf as it quivered in the cold. Every move of all the branches around him and how the wind twirled across the sky. If he had wanted to, Jaron could have made himself believe he was up there too, moving rhythmically to a song that wasn't there.

It was captivating. Blissful. His fluttering heart, preoccupied with the fact that a woman quite capable of killing him was walking beside him, only a foot away, had calmed. It thumped a steady rhythm, ever slowing as the trees' music floated about. The wind swept by Jaron's ear with the force of a breath, seeping through his hair and stinging his cheeks. A small smile rested on Jaron's face, as his eyes glazed over and he became completely immersed in the melody of the forest.

The rumble of an engine in the distance yanked him out of this state of mind. Jaron's eyes focused on a large black van, sitting stationary in a clearing. 

"No. No way am I getting in that!" Jaron attempted to tug his arm out of the woman's grasp. She smirked down at him, and continued forward. Digging his heels into the dirt, he tried with all his might to get away. He had his mind set on sleeping in his own bed that night. 

Tossing her mop of hair over her shoulder, the woman sighed and kicked out her leg. It collided with Jaron's own and forced him to the ground. The woman let go of his wrist, allowing him to fall and within seconds, her gun was locked squarely between Jaron's eyes.

Jaron, frozen like a rabbit in headlights, only had eyes for the gun. A small ray of sunlight glistened off the barrel and he wondered how such a small hunk of metal could ever have the capacity to do so much damage. Then again, the Internet could do so much harm, and it wasn't even a physical thing. 

"Karen! What the hell do you think you are doing?"

A woman of similar caliber to the other one, 'Karen,' Jaron assumed, came running out of the front seat of the van. She slammed the gun out of Karen's hand.

"Don't you even think about using that on him! What are you playing at? Orders were to bring him straight here, not threaten him with firearms. I should never have trusted you with this assignment, you always find some way to make it about yourself."

The two women had their eyes locked in a staring contest; neither of them were willing to lose. Jaron's eyes, however, had found the gun lying amongst the grass and leaves.

"Now, you two are going to let me walk free, or I shoot." His hands shook violently as he struggled to keep the gun pointed at the women. They turned their heads and looked Jaron up and down, before opening their mouths and laughing loudly. 

"I'm serious! I'll do it." Jaron could feel his cheeks flaming.

"Look kid, it might be scary when I do it, but right now you look as lethal as cotton wool. There are about fourteen ways I could disarm you right now and you have the combat skills of a drunken frog. Drop the gun, and you don't get hurt." Karen took a step towards him. 

With one trembling finger, Jaron fumbled with the hammer, attempting to load the gun. Without warning, a boot covered foot knocked the gun from Jaron's fingers and a fist made contact with the side of his face.

Static crackled across his vision and he dropped like bowling ball. The trees rustled above him, singing him to sleep.

***

I am truely the laziest person I know. Please forgive me <3

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Goodnight