Emerging Above the Silence

by James Sandepp

  Josh remained silent and signalled to his man something, which I guessed was instructions for the others to stand down. I knew I had Josh in a corner, but I tried my best not to show my delight.

  “What do you want?” Josh signed in frustration.

  Josh was trying his best to control himself, but it was so obvious he was on the verge of losing it, which he couldn’t do out here in such a public space without causing a commotion.

  “A trade,” I signalled. “Me for Felix.”

  Josh’s eyes widened in surprise because he hadn’t expected such a proposal from me, especially since I had the upper hand and could have asked for anything I wanted. He probably thought I had gone crazy or something.

  Josh then smiled. “Alright. I really don’t understand you Marinette, but I will play it your way.”

  “I will let you know when and where and make sure you bring Felix with you next time,” I highlighted and walked away before Josh could say another word.

  My heart was beating like crazy as I resisted the urge to turn around to see what Josh was doing, and instead walked away and disappeared into the crowd of shoppers.

  I took a long walk around the fringes of the shopping festival in case any of Josh’s men were tracking me, got rid of my jacket halfway through my walk and circled back to meet Oliver inside the Compound building again.

  “You were brilliant M,” Oliver high-fived me. “You should have seen Josh’s expression when you turned and walked away. He was so angry and looked like he wanted to strangle you. He even raised his fist in the air briefly and I couldn’t stop smiling.”

  “Where did he go?” I signed.

  “Not sure, but after a minute the both of them left in the opposite direction,” Oliver highlighted. “He must be wondering if you had gone crazy when you proposed the trade.”

  I smiled. “The whole idea is to keep him confused and in the dark. He will probably be thinking what I am up to.”

  “So, do you think he will throw away the phone you gave him,” Oliver motioned.

  “Let’s hope not because the tracker is on the phone and I want him to lead us to Felix,” I signed. “In his fury with me I hope the phone would be the last thing he wants to get rid of now. And he may get his people to analyze the video to find out if I am bluffing or not about the vials. That itself, is another reason for him to keep the phone.”

  THIRTY-TWO

  We waited for an hour walking around the main mall to give Josh and his men time to head back to wherever they came from. I also didn’t want him to spot me following them in case he had left some of his men behind to look out for us at the mall.

  “The tracker isn’t moving anymore now,” Oliver motioned showing me the location on his phone.

  “Do you think he discovered the tracker?” I signed.

  Oliver shrugged. “I doubt it, but either way we need to be ready for anything.”

  “Hopefully this place is where Felix is being held,” I signed. “Let’s get going. I want to get Felix back before nightfall.”

  I sounded so confident in my reply as if I had become this new warrior-like person going to rescue the people who had been captured. Simply because my plan had worked when saving Oliver I knew I shouldn’t be over confident as Josh was quite clever, Thomson was really his town and he knew my strengths much better than before.

  After taking two buses we reached an area of factory-like buildings, which didn’t appear to be abandoned because I could see people strolling around. I guessed this was one of those working zones in Thomson, which had sprouted up in recent years all over the town. Many people worked in such zones, but most of them were middle-aged to older workers while my classmates often treated these working zones as places they would go to if they had no other options.

  I was surprised that Josh would pick such a location to possibly hold Felix, but, then again, the Magistrate was clever in selecting buildings, similar to the Compound building, which didn’t stand out much.

  “The tracker is inside the building over there M,” Oliver pointed to a cream-colored three floor building a hundred meters away. “Do you think Felix is there?”

  “There is only one way to find out,” I signed. “Follow me.”

  There wasn’t a plan we had made for this part and I had even considered just crashing in, using my abilities and freeing Felix, but I decided to be a bit more patient without drawing any attention to ourselves first.

  We started walking towards the building and passed a few people on the way and, as we neared the place, we quickly darted behind it.

  There was a locked door in the back and Oliver turned to me. “I don’t think I need to break it right?”

  I smiled, used my voice to open the door, and we stepped inside and found ourselves inside a room. The sunshine entering from the windows provided us with enough visibility to look around the bare room.

  “Where is the tracker?” I signed.

  “Third floor,” Oliver motioned.

  I walked up to the door, discovered it wasn't locked, opened it and there was a corridor ahead of me. Oliver followed me as we stepped out of the room and walked down the corridor until we reached a staircase. Strangely the place seemed empty and we didn’t hear any footsteps anywhere.

  “Be careful,” Oliver signed. “There could be people, but they may be sleeping.”

  I pointed up the stairs and we started to slowly climb it. At one point the steps creaked slightly and I held my breath hoping no one had heard it as Oliver stood silently. Once we reached the top of the stairs at the third floor there was another corridor with two doors on either side and, as Oliver pointed to the last door on the right, I walked to it and listened against the door, but heard nothing.

  “This place is empty,” I signed.

  Was this a trap? I began having thoughts that Josh had discovered the tracker, planted it here for us to find and were waiting to capture us. I tried my best to push away those thoughts and focus on Felix.

  Oliver showed me the phone, which indicated the tracker was inside the room we were standing outside right now.

  I turned the latch, the door opened inwards and I found myself inside an office-like room with a sofa, some chairs and a desk with a monitor, but the room was again empty.

  Oliver walked over to the desk. “I found the phone with our tracker.”

  “They must have gone out for something,” I motioned. “Check the other rooms quickly before they return.”

  I was starting to lose hope Felix was even here since this place was empty.

  Oliver and I returned to the corridor and went room by room until we found one which was locked. I used my voice to open it and inside found a figure sitting on a chair facing away from us. I rushed forward and couldn’t believe my eyes. It was Felix!

  THIRTY-THREE

  Felix’s eyes opened the moment I hugged him forgetting he was still tied as Oliver followed me in and locked the door. I quickly untied Felix and he was able to stand up and, as I hugged him again, he held me tightly and I started to tear.

  “Marinette, I never thought I would see you again,” Felix motioned, wiping away my tears. “This is really a miracle.”

  “I also didn’t expect to see you,” I responded with my voice slowly.

  I realized the more I spoke the easier it became for me as the words began to flow together.

  Felix’s eyes widened and then his face broke into a huge smile. “You have learnt to speak. Oh my goodness I am so proud of you! This is amazing!”

  Felix hugged me tightly again, it felt so good being here with him and I wanted to share with him what had happened so far in Vinder, but I knew this wasn’t the time.

  “Do you know where is Josh?” Oliver motioned walking over to one of the windows overlooking the road.

  “They came about 30 minutes ago and then left again,” Felix highlighted. “I don’t know where they are now.”

  I shared briefly with Felix our encounter with Josh in front of the main mal
l.

  “No wonder Josh seemed upset,” Felix signalled. “Because he came up here, walked up and down next to me and I pretended to be sleeping, but his heavy breathing told me something was going on.”

  “Do you know how many men are here with him?” Oliver gestured.

  “Only two,” Felix signalled. “I am no threat to them. I have been here for a few days now. They moved me here recently after they forced me to take the photo and the video.”

  “Did they hurt you?” I motioned.

  “Not really,” Felix gestured. “After I was treated at the hospital and recovered from my wounds the Magistrate took over and locked me up for a few days. After that Josh came by and interrogated me about you and where you were.”

  “What did he ask?” I signalled.

  “He wanted to know how you were able to speak,” Felix indicated.

  So, it seemed Josh didn’t know much about the purple fruit and the process yet.

  “Let’s get out of here,” I signed.

  As I was about to leave the room with Felix, Oliver stopped me. “We have a problem. Josh and his men are back.”

  I heard car doors slamming and footsteps approaching the front door.

  “Quick tie me back up,” Felix motioned. “They always check on me first. You can hide in the closet over there.”

  I didn’t want to do what Felix suggested, but realized there wasn’t any other option and after placing Felix back in the chair we hid in the closet.

  We were just in time as the door opened and Josh walked in, moved in front of Felix and looked at him. Josh stood in front of Felix for a few seconds and, as he was about to turn towards the door, he stopped and looked at the floor.

  Then, Josh kicked the chair Felix was sitting on once.

  “Wake up old man,” Josh signed.

  Felix turned his head up and down as if he was still sleeping.

  “You don’t need to pretend for me,” Josh gestured. “You may think your dumb act works with people, but I know what’s going on with you.”

  Felix’s head turned towards Josh.

  Josh kicked the chair again and Felix nearly toppled.

  “Who was here?” Josh motioned.

  Josh must have seen something on the floor or maybe we had left behind something and I knew I would have to do something before things spiralled out of control.

  Felix shrugged.

  “I get it you cannot say anything,” Josh gestured and untied Felix’s arms. “Tell me who came to see you. I know someone was here.”

  Oliver turned to me ready to rush out of the closet, but I waved my hands at him to wait.

  “What are you talking about? If someone was here why would I still be here,” Felix indicated.

  Josh looked up immediately, scanned around the room and I knew our time was up. As he was about to step in our direction, Oliver jumped out of the closet with me one step behind him.

  “Well well well if it isn’t Thomson’s most wanted fugitives,” Josh started, but before he could say anything else I used my voice to shove him and he was thrown violently across the room and hit the wall.

  Josh’s body slumped from the shock of hitting the wall as Oliver rushed to Felix, untied his legs and as we were about to leave the room, an alarm went off.

  I glanced at Josh who was grinning. “Did you think you could get away so easily? You will all die here. My men will surround this place in a matter of minutes.”

  In Josh’s hand was some kind of device, which he must have used to sound the alarm.

  I remained silent as Oliver and Felix placed a chair in front of the door.

  By now Josh was trying to get up, but as I used my voice again, he slipped further and fell down.

  “What ... what is going on? Is that you Marinette?” Josh signed. “Have you become the monster I predicted you would be?”

  I didn’t care if Josh knew what I could do now because it didn’t matter anymore and I was tired of hiding who I was and who I was meant to be.

  “Why don’t you just shut the heck up?” Felix motioned.

  Josh continued to grin and I knew he was having fun despite the fact that he was injured.

  Felix walked over to Josh, hit him on the head with his fists, Josh blacked out and it was the first time I had seen Felix be so aggressive with anyone.

  Felix turned to me. “I should have done this a long time ago.”

  We heard footsteps at the door and then gunshots as Josh’s men tried to get into the room. I turned my attention to the door and used my voice again to blast through it as Felix observed quietly.

  The door shot out of its hinges and took the men with it slamming them against the corridor wall.

  Oliver walked over to the space where there used to be a door. “The men are out cold. Nicely done M.”

  It was exhilarating to be able to do some good using my voice and I felt like I was at the top of the world.

  “There are more coming,” Felix motioned as I heard more car doors slamming and footsteps.

  Josh’s alert must have triggered the rest of his men to come over here, I knew the danger level had gone up another notch and we needed to get out of here quickly.

  Then, a bullet whizzed by us and hit the ceiling and we all ducked for cover as more bullets invaded the room through the windows.

  “Keep your bodies against the floor,” Felix took charge. “We need to barricade those windows somehow.”

  I glanced around the room for anything as more bullets kept whizzing by.

  Felix continued. “Marinette, the closet doors. Can you use them?”

  I turned my attention to the closet doors and used my voice to move one of them to one of the windows. It was a bit more tricky to move the closet door to the window because I needed to control myself and get the door to an exact location. After the closet door was placed over one of the windows, the hail of bullets slowed down.

  I turned to Felix and realized his worried eyes weren’t looking at me; instead, his eyes were looking towards the door. As my eyes turned to the door, there was a body slumped on the ground. It was Oliver and he was motionless.

  THIRTY-FOUR

  Oh my gosh! No! It cannot be. I quickly crawled towards Oliver’s body, checked his heart and thankfully found he was still breathing, but then I saw some blood trickling out of one of his ears. One of the bullets must have brushed his head or something, which I hoped was all it did and nothing else.

  I tried to turn his body towards me, but it was too heavy and I couldn’t stand up as bullets continued to whiz past us through the second window and wedged themselves into the ceiling while some ricocheted and hit other parts of the room.

  By now Felix had managed to reach me and I pointed at the blood on Oliver’s ears.

  “We need to move him away from here,” Felix motioned. “I will drag him. Can you do something to stop the bullets?”

  Stop the bullets. What a thought? Felix was really thinking out of the box. Could I even do it? I didn’t even know what I could or couldn’t do with my voice and the raw power behind it.

  As Felix dragged Oliver’s body out of the room and into the corridor I turned my attention to the windows, clenched my fists and with my heart pounding shouted the words “Bullets stop!” It sounded so ridiculous to say it. I didn’t even know how to say what I wanted to say, but I hoped something would happen.

  What happened next was both frightening and incredible because the bullets didn’t stop in their tracks, but instead the walls surrounding the windows started to crack bit by bit. I saw small cracks appear at the top of the wall followed by larger cracks which emerged in the middle of the wall. As the cracks increased in their size and pace, large chunks of the wall began to break off from the rest and then these chunks went flying out of the room. I heard several thuds as the chunks landed I assumed on the ground and then the hail of bullets came to a sudden stop. The only noise I could hear now was a few car alarms ringing loudly from all directions. I glanced back at Felix
and he remained at Oliver’s side, but Oliver still wasn’t moving at all. Turning back, where there used to be a wall with two windows, now what was left was a big hole with sunlight streaming in.

  I got up and walked closer to the ledge, which used to be a wall and, to my horror, the chunks of wall had all landed on the ground and I realized all of the men who had, I guessed been shooting at us, were trapped beneath these chunks. Under some of the chunks I saw some legs twitching involuntarily and I nearly puked at the thought that there was a person below them. It seemed like all the men were either dead or in the process of dying.