The Unspeakable

Chapter Twenty

Pictured above: Rachel (Madeline Carroll)

I woke up early on the day of Sam's trial.

As if in a daze I slip out of the room, careful not to wake Brady, and walk down the stairs.

Mother and father look up from their coffee and newspaper when they see me. It's rare that I catch them before they head into work, but by the pained looks on their faces I know that they feel the same way I do.

"Will you be watching his trial today?" I ask; I know that they're not allowed to leave the office. Now that I think about it, I wonder why mother isn't on trial along with Sam, and how she even had a Normal and an Unspeakable as twins in the first place.

There's just too many questions I can't get the answers to these days.

Mother stares down at her coffee, "I believe so, if we're not too busy," she answers.

She's trying to keep it together, for my sake.

I nod, "Brady and I are going to head down to the square in a couple hours."

Father purses his lips together, "Rachel," he says sternly, "I don't think you should be down there. The square can get wild, and with all this nonsensical drama over you're- our," he chokes, "-Sam," he finally settles on, "it's not a safe place to be."

I pull a bowl out of the cupboard, but don't fill it with cereal, "I want to be there," I say dully.

"At least bring Dustin with you, he'll be protecting," Mother intervenes, I know she's trying to help but-

"I'm not going with Dustin," I snap, "I'm going with Brady, and we're going to watch the whole trial until it's over, end of story."

"Rachel," Father says sternly, "drop the attitude, we don't want you going without protection. You either go with Dustin or you don't go at all."

I shoot him a look so deathly I hope he takes it to his grave, "So you don't think I can take care of myself?"

"Honey it's not that," Mom starts, clearly trying to put out the flame, but my father's eyes have caught fire.

"I didn't say that Rachel," he snaps, "I'm looking out for you, keep that attitude up and you're not going at all."

"What are you going to do?" I scoff, "Stop me? You're never here, I can do whatever I want and there's nothing you can do about it."

My father's face turns cherry tomato red with anger, he opens his mouth- probably to ground me- but mother steps in, "Rachel, go with Brady to the sentencing, be there for each other. And- and when your father and I get home- we'll- we'll talk about how we can move on."

She thinks there's no hope for Sam. Hopefully by tonight we'll be saying one last goodbye to Sam as he goes to live with the other Unspeakables, and finally- finally- the five of us will be a family, even if it's only for a minute.

"Thank you mother," I sigh.

She nods, and then turns to my father, "We better head out before the traffic gets too bad. Do you want to wake up Brady to say goodbye?"

That's one custom my parents always have. No matter what, in the morning they always wake us up to say goodbye and that they love us.

But this time my father just shakes his head, a soft look in his eyes, "Let's let him sleep, we'll be able to talk with him when we get home."

Mom doesn't look like she wants to agree, but she goes along with him anyways. They both give me a hug, the fight with my father already forgotten, and tell me they love me.

And then they're gone.

I pour myself a bowl of Cheerios, but I just swirl them around in the milk until they're so soggy it's inedible. Who am I kidding? There's no way I'm going to be able to eat today.

Brady stumbles down the stairs about an hour later, to find me in the same position, just swirling my soggy Cheerios.

He slides into the seat next to me, his hair is a mess- but at least he got some sleep.

"How are you?" he asks.

I shrug.

He sighs, "I know what you mean."

"I wonder what he's doing now," I mumble, "I wonder if he's given up."

Brady chews his lip next to me, "How would you feel if you were in his position," he says, "that's how I think of it."

"Well," I say aloud, "I would think that there's no hope. But- I would think that I saved my siblings- so I would feel- at peace?"

Brady looks at me, "Do you really think he feels at peace?"

I shake my head, "No."

Brady shrugs, "He might, you just said that if you were in his position that's how you would feel."

"Yeah but with me it's- different." I say, "We're not Unspeakables."

Brady stares at me, "Rachel," he says slowly, "don't you dare start thinking like that."

"What?" I ask, generally confused by what I just said.

"You're talking like them- like just because Sam's an Unspeakable he's not like us. Powers or not, we're all human."

It feels like he's taken the air out of my lungs. He's right, I'm thinking just like them.

I stare at Brady, terror in my eyes, "I- I'm sorry, you're right, you're so right Brady."

Brady cracks a smile, "You don't know how long I've been waiting for you to say that."

He's trying to make me feel better, for thinking that way, but I feel sick to my stomach with disgust for myself.

"I'm going to go take a shower," I say, sliding out of my chair, "we have to leave soon."

Brady sighs, "I shouldn't have said anything, Rachel I know that you don't really think like that!" he calls after me.

But I don't answer him; I'm just as bigoted as the other Normals.

Stop it Rachel, I chide, you know you're not like them- it was just a slip of the tongue. Now stop feeling sorry for yourself and start getting dressed, you have other people to worry about.

I grab a nice outfit from my closet and drape it over my arm.

It's true; I had a slip of the tongue- that's it. I'm not like the other Normals; we're worlds apart.