June

Chapter Two: The Mute

Chapter Two

"The Mute"

"Help me, please!" her eyes were frantic looking at my face then at the door, "I beg you...please...please...I beg you." She started crying. They always do that.

I kept rearranging his tools and wiping the floor with the filthy rag he gave me, she started to thrash in her chair as if the ropes she's tied up with will come undone. She's pathetic. "You'll only hurt yourself if you kept doing that" I murmured still wiping the floor.

"Do you think I care about hurting myself! Your psychopath of a father will kill me" She screamed and kept thrashing. "Can't you ask him to let me free, please? You seem like a nice girl. Can't you do just this one thing for me?" her pleas faded at the end. Finally, some quiet.

I was about to get out when she started screaming again "You psycho bitch! You're just like your father! How can someone that young be this indifferent! What's wrong with you! Just cut my fucking ropes!!" and here we go with the crying.

I closed the door again and approached her slowly and for the first time I looked directly at her. She seems young. Eighteen, maybe. Not older than twenty. They're always young. I stopped when our faces were only few inches away.

"You think you're the first one to beg me?" I whispered enough for her to hear. He is listening to us. "What makes you so special than the others? Why should I help you?" she started shaking but kept looking at me in the eyes.

"I'm just like him and I don't give two shits if he kills you..." I turned away not wanting to spend another second here.

"You shouldn't have gone with a stranger to his house" I told her before closing the door, "Stranger danger and all that".

Oh, I spaced out again.

"Miss. Smith, You care to join us into our discussion?" Mr. Carl, our history teacher, asked mockingly. I looked at him not answering, not doing anything.

"If the Mute talks, I'll be damned" the boy setting in front of me said and as expected the class laughed. I think I missed the joke.

"Quite please" Mr. Carl appears sympathetic, but I didn't miss the small smile when he turned to the board.

I looked out of the window watching the sky getting darker. It seems last night's awful rain wasn't enough. "Meet me after class, Miss. Smith" Mr. Carl said and continued his discussion.

Everyone rushed out as soon as the bell rang. They're excited about tonight's party at Megan's, the queen bee of this school and my number one bully.

I took my time going to Mr. Carl's office not caring what he has to say. "Come in" I left the door slightly open. "I'll get straight to my point, Miss. Smith" he put his coffee down as if that would make him look more serious.

"You're failing my class. Your grade in your last quiz is below average and if you don't manage to improve your grades, I'll have to arrange a meeting with your father." One word can make you feel like the ground is breaking underneath you.

I feel the sweat forming on my forehead and the blood rushing in my veins, but all Mr. Carl notices is my silence.

"I expect that you'll do better in your next quiz. I want an above average score" as soon as he finished talking, I left his office. This day can't get any worse.

I looked at the scrap of paper trying to remember how to get to this man's house. His home not that far, so I think I'll just walk. The rain is falling harshly on my skin because once again I forgot to bring an umbrella with me. I stood near his house observing my surroundings. This is the first time I'll enter a man's house whom I never met, nor did I know about his existence till yesterday.

Did these girls feel the same dark feelings of fear and anxiety when they came to our house?

I guess not they looked pretty happy to be invited over. Fools.

Some female barged out of his house yelling, but her voice wasn't clear. I took more steps to be closer and their voices became louder.

"This is the last time you'll ever see my face" The female yelled while she pointed her finger at the man accusingly.

"Are you waiting for a thank you? Just leave already" The man yelled back, "I never wanted you here in the first place"

"You're making a huge mistake Adrial. A huge mistake" She threw something at his chest that fell on the grass. She got into her car and disappeared leaving an angry man behind her. I'm soaking and the rain doesn't look like it will stop any time soon, so I approach the man I'll be working for.

He doesn't notice me at first as he's bent down looking for something in the grass. He stands up when he grasps something in his hand. I guess he's not as old as I expected. He's in his early thirties maybe. It's the first time I see a man built like him up close but what catches me off guard is the color of his eyes. How can someone's eyes be this shade of gold? And why does it look so intense?

"What the hell?" I think I startled him. I pull a paper out of my pocket and hand it to him, but he doesn't take it quickly.

As he reads it, his eyes keep drafting to me as if he can't make what I am exactly then he finally opens the door to let me in but my feet seem rooted into the ground.

"Come in. I don't bite" he meant it as a jock, but the world has a cruel way of reminding me with things I long to forget.

"Come in, love. I don't bite." I was sitting on the couch watching something not worth remembering when I heard my father's voice and seconds later, he came in with a girl clinging to his arms. A sweet smile on his face and a seductive smirk on hers. I stand up to go back to my room when he calls out for me.

"June, Come say hello." His deep voice never fails to make shivers run down my spine.

When I approach them, I notice the typical looks A brunette not older than twenty, short with a petit frame wearing tons of makeup. He wasn't supposed to bring anyone today but I guess he couldn't wait. "Hey." My tone is clipped and my father's eyes flash dangerously.

"Well, hey there sweetheart. You look lovely. How old is she?" she asks him not me. "She's eleven but she's way smarter for her age." I want to go back to my room.

"You can go back to your room now, June" it's his way of saying you're dismissed. Before I close my door, I take one final look at them and I see her hands moving back and forth along my father's arm while he's fixing her something to drink. I guess he's in a hurry today.

"Why did you freeze? Will you stand in the rain for the rest of the day or something?" I'm pulled back from my thoughts when I see his hands nearing my shoulder. I sidestep him and enter his house. I better finish cleaning before it gets too dark. He goes into one of the rooms and come out with a towel. "Take this. You're soaked." I took it out from him and start to dry my hair with it but stop when I notice that he's watching me, analyzing me.

"I guess you're the girl that Cole said she will clean my house. I'm Adrial, what's your name?" He looks at me expectedly, but he's met with a blank stare. "You don't seem very chatty, aren't you?" he sighs then starts walking without looking back and I follow him silently. He describes where everything is and what should I do then he stopped abruptly.

"Under no circumstance you should enter this room." His tone indicates that it's a life or death situation. Overreacting dude. "It's looked anyway". After he finish with the house tour, he looks at me waiting.

"You won't say your name, will you?" he says irritated, "Maybe next time then." He winks then get into his room and the sound of locking it echoes in this empty house. I guess I'm not like my father's girls. They didn't have the privilage of a next time.

What did I get myself into?

To Be Continued...