TELL

Talking Doesn't Help

After another day of Maya not saying anything everyone was getting worried. Her friends couldn't get her to talk, her teachers couldn't get her to talk, except her art teacher, but he could only get a few words. Now it was up to Shawn Hunter. Shawn was worried that maybe she was upset because he proposed to her mother.

Maya sat, waiting for Shawn to start talking to her. She glanced up at him, then she looked down at her hands.

Shawn sighed and scratched at his beard. "So you're not talking, kid?"

Maya shook her head.

"Any reason why?"

Maya looked up and opened her mouth, but no words came out, just a small 'uh' noise. She shook her head.

Shawn frowned. "Maya, I care about you Kiddo, and I'm in love with your mother. I want you to be happy, but even if you can't be happy for us you have to understand that us getting married is about us, not you. We want you to be part of our family, of course, there's no question about that, but we want to get married. We are tired of being afraid of life. We want to invite life in and we want-" He licked his lips. "We need something different. We are ready for different. For New, for something new, and amazing and we hope you'll be supportive of that."

Maya blinked. "It's not about you."

Shawn did a double take. "You talked, okay so it's definitely not medical. Why aren't you talking?" He asked.

Maya shrugged. "I don't want to."

Shawn sighed. "I can understand that. You're not in the mood to talk, but sometimes even if you don't want to, you have to, like in class, especially Cory's class." He chuckled. "That way I don't have to get a call about it."

Maya sighed. "Talking doesn't help."

"Doesn't help what?"

Maya opened her mouth and let out air, she closed it, then opened it again. "All that crap you hear on TV about communication and expressing feelings is a lie. No one really cares what you have to say." She frowned.

Shawn frowned too. "I care. I care about you and I care what you have to say. You can say anything. Doesn't matter if it's weird or stupid or, if you just want to swear." He shrugged. "Let it out. Let out whatever is inside." He put his arms down, slapping his legs with the palm of his hands and waited for Maya to say something, anything.

Maya took a deep breath and opened her mouth letting an ear piercing scream of anguish fill the air. She started sobbing, her tears mixing with her loud cries making Shawn's heart break. He rushed to sit down beside her and take her into his arms. He held her and comforted her, rocking her back and forth gently as she wailed like a banshee, shaking in his embrace until she couldn't muster another sound. She closed her mouth.

Shawn sighed. "Okay. Okay, it's okay." He whispered into her ear. "It's okay. I got you, kiddo. I got you." He soothed.

Maya sucked in a breath, bit her lip, and held it for a minute before letting it out like an untied balloon being let loose into the surrounding air.