Piercing Through the Silence

by James Sandepp

  Thomson’s only claim to fame was it had one of the highest populations of those towns surrounding Vinder making its people the only natural resource I guess. Having people as a natural resource had its own problems too and I was not talking about overcrowding but somehow Thomson hadn’t faced this issue yet.

  The Council used all sorts of means to get a large amount of people in Thomson to work at other towns which needed many workers. With these ways came one big catch which was if you lived in Thomson you could not move to live in another town but instead only had the chance to work there. It was this and other reasons which pushed many of my classmates to want to get out of Thomson but I wished it was so simple because the Council and the town Magistrates controlled the population movements across the towns and Vinder.

  “I know you must be wondering,” Amelia smiled. “How come I get to live here on my own and not with my family?”

  “Yea I kind of wondered about it,” I signed.

  “This is my home away from home,” Amelia indicated. “My parents allow me to hang out here, but, in reality, I do go back home at night. My parents live next door in the adjacent block of homes so if you think I am living the free, independent life, it isn’t exactly true.”

  I wanted to ask her why she needed to have such an arrangement because it didn’t seem to help much but I don’t know her well enough to ask such personal questions.

  Her apartment was quite simple and functional with minimal furniture, a laptop on the kitchen table and a family photo, showing she had a couple of siblings, was hung on one of the walls.

  Amelia closed the door. “Feel free to use my bathroom if you need to shower or change and there are fresh towels inside the cabinet.”

  I thanked her, went off to shower, changed my clothes and realized the craziness of the last several hours had really taken its toll on me. As I returned to the living room I noticed Amelia was typing furiously away on her laptop.

  I decided I had intruded on her life enough and after everything she had done I did not want to bring her into the middle of my dangerous mess. Fortunately, she had not asked much about why my photo was on the Magistrate news and everything so far, which I did find a bit strange.

  “I wanted to thank you just now,” I motioned. “But I don’t want you to get in trouble or anything because of me. So it’s best I leave here on my own as not to attract any attention.”

  “It’s not a worry at all,” Amelia gestured. “But what’s really going on with you? I mean the news report I saw earlier was quite bad and those things they said about you were horrible. They said you are a murderer with some guy. Is the guy also from our school?”

  Oh no. So much for not wanting to get into explaining what was going on about the news and me with her. Knowing my luck had run out I decided to find a way to change the conversation and quietly get out of here.

  “It’s really okay,” I signed. “I should get going. I need to be somewhere in a little while.”

  I started moving to the front door.

  “Marinette do you think I helped you because I care about you,” Amelia started. “Or because I was at the right place at the right time.”

  I stopped in my tracks and turned to face her, as a shiver ran through me, and realized something was wrong. Amelia hadn’t moved, was still sitting at the kitchen table, looked up and stared at me and the look on her face was enough to tell me I had a big problem.

  “My aunt told me about you,” Amelia gestured.

  “Your aunt….,” I signed in confusion. Who was her aunt and what did she have to do with me?

  “Come on Marinette. Let’s not play games now,” Amelia interrupted. “We both know you were there at the car explosion incident with the woman. You were standing nearest to the woman and you either saw or heard more than you are telling anyone. When my aunt, Dr. Liverfield, told me, at first, I didn’t believe her but now, after meeting you, it is so obvious you are not so innocent as they say.”

  Who were they and what was going on here?

  “I think there has been a misunderstanding,” I signed back in defense.

  “Well you can tell my aunt all about it when you see her soon,” Amelia gestured. “One of her many talents is her creative ways of extracting the truth out of people.”

  I remained silent as I now knew I made a mistake giving into my need, trusting her and coming over to this place because Amelia wasn’t a random person at the right place and time for me but instead she had been given instructions by someone to be on the lookout for me and I walked right into her convenience store. Whoever her aunt was didn’t matter right now but Amelia’s arrogance, at least, confirmed for me there indeed was a woman in the burning car and they knew I had been the closest to her. So whatever was going on was a big cover-up by the Magistrate and I had no interest in waiting to meet this Dr. Liverfield who sounded as crazy as Amelia.

  “Look Amelia,” I signed. “The news report is a mistake because I wasn’t even there in the house. Yes, I admit I was there at the car explosion vicinity but nothing else happened which is what I have already told the Magistrate.”

  “Yes yes, I am sure you have told your version of the story,” Amelia signed. “Well it’s not my job to believe you or not since I informed my aunt I have you already. It is all she asked from me and I don’t care whose side you are on or what is really going on here because my job is done.”

  I raced to the front door, found it locked and then started pulling at the knob but before I could do any serious damage to the knob Amelia jumped from the table and tackled me to the ground.

  The next several minutes was a haze as I only remembered Amelia grabbing me by my hair, pulling hard, I thinking my head was going to pop off and then I kicking her in the stomach and somehow her head before getting up. I then pulled against the knob, kicked the door and finally the knob came off as I rushed out of her apartment. I never looked back to check if Amelia was chasing me as I ran across the apartment parking lot and, after a few minutes, eventually slowed down to a walk.

  I reached another carpark lot, stopped to catch my breath and realized my heart was still pounding, my head hurt big time, I had scratches over my left arm and my shirt was slightly torn. I was happy that my backpack was still with me although it looked like it went through a dust storm and, as I turned to look behind me, there were no signs of anyone chasing me.

  As I went around to the back of the store, only a portion of the moon made its presence felt again tonight and trying to open the back door, I found it locked as I pressed against it several times before it gave way allowing me to enter the store.

  Only once I was inside did I notice it was nearly midnight before I fell asleep. My phone alarm woke me several hours later and realizing it was nearly 5am, I quickly changed my clothes, grabbed a few things from the store and wore my cap again so I could leave this place before the employees started walking in. By now I was sure Amelia, if it was even her real name, had informed her aunt I had escaped, and they would probably send out people looking for me.

  Leaving the store, as the first signs of light appeared over the horizon, I noticed a stack of newspapers on the ground. I gently pulled one out of the stack and went over to the nearby park and settled myself on a bench where a few people were doing their morning runs.

  Opening the Thomson Daily newspaper, I was expecting more of what the news reported last night but was still shocked by the headlines which screamed “MURDER IN THOMSON: TEEN KILLERS ON THE RUN.” The same photos of Oliver and I were splashed below the headlines and further down was a photo of Mrs Wills in the front yard apparently tending to her flowers or something. I scanned through the article but there was nothing mentioned of either Felix or Mr Wills which showed how the Magistrate was obviously using the incident at the Wills’ house for their own agenda.

  Again, with no other options left and knowing it was a risk, I sent a message to someone who could help me. I didn’t expect a reply so soon since it was so early in the morn
ing, but Susie surprised me yet again with her quick reply and asked me to meet her just outside of school in the evening. I could not believe I was returning to school again which was the last place I wanted to be at.

  TWENTY-NINE

  Thomson’s large and growing population had given way for the town having the rare opportunity to be blessed with two schools, of which the larger and better one was still my one. Thomson was fortunate to have two schools as I had heard many other towns either had only one smaller school or none due to their shrinking and aging population.

  It had only been over a week since the incident and my world had been turned upside down in so many ways. For the last several hours I had managed to keep a low profile and, of all places, I chose a smaller mall near my neighborhood to hide in. I knew a mall wasn’t your top hiding choice and Oliver would probably think I had gone crazy, but well he wasn’t here, it was my decision and being in a crowded area in disguise has its advantages since I got to watch in on what people were talking about today.

  It was important to get a sense of what’s going on and I realized a lot of the people in the mall’s food court, both young and old, were discussing the murder news report. I saw phrases like “Teens and murder! Finally, some excitement in this place!”, “I hope they catch the girl soon”, and “The girl they mention doesn’t have parents which isn’t a surprise to me.” The last one made me bite my lip because how dare they judged my lack of birth parents as a greater reason for me to be linked to murder. Felix had done an amazing job raising me and I doubted most of my classmates’ parents could ever match Felix’s care for me.

  I didn’t like the fact I had officially become the talk of the town for the wrong reasons and wondered why people assumed it was the girl who committed the act of murder. To be honest the news report did mention two teenagers and it could have been either of us or both of us who did it. This kind of discrimination was so annoying and just showed how gossip took a news story and spun it into a completely different beast.

  Checking the time, I walked over to the empty school car park knowing the security guards were located at the other end of the school and wouldn’t be doing their rounds until later. Walking over to the rear of the school Susie, not to my surprise, was already there sitting at one of the outdoor tables. I took a seat opposite her as she smiled at me and I honestly didn’t know where to begin this conversation but was thankful when she started.

  “I don’t believe a word the news report is saying Marinette,” Susie gestured. “It is all just a bunch of lies. So, tell me what is really going on.”

  Susie had really gone beyond any expectations I had of her as every time I met her I was encouraged by how much genuine concern she showed, and I knew she wasn’t doing a fake act of compassion because she really cared. With Felix gone I decided to take a chance since there was nothing much else to lose.

  “I want to share something with you,” I signed. “It will help you better understand the rest of the story and what’s going on.”

  As I told Susie about making the sound on the day of incident her shocked expression with her mouth hanging half open was something I had never seen with her before.

  “Oh my gosh,” Susie motioned shakily. “I…. I…. I like don’t know what to say.”

  I gave her a little time to think about it all and what’s cool about Susie was her lack of a negative reaction to my sharing because fear wasn’t her first response which gave me hope.

  “Okay so you want to tell me the rest?” Susie signed.

  Then I recounted for her everything I told Oliver and the way her expression changed as I shared my story was all I needed to validate the rollercoaster I had been going on and it wasn’t over yet, not by a long shot.

  “I am really sorry to hear about Felix,” Susie motioned at the end of my story.

  The moment she said it with such genuine concern was the perfect trigger for me as my eyes began to tear and I let go of everything I had been holding back since Felix died. Susie walked over to my side and hugged me as I continued tearing and I was glad no sound emerged because I didn’t want the sound to be a distraction to my mourning of Felix.

  Making a sound had sadly taken on a life of its own hitting me on all sides with the fragility of life from the loss of Felix, who has been a lifeline to me. After a while, I eventually stopped and was glad Susie had been here when it happened because being vulnerable in front of people wasn’t my thing as I had always been a closed-up kind of person. It didn’t mean I was an introvert but I was a keeper of my own thoughts and I guarded the doors to it well. Felix and Oliver were the only two people I had always put my trust in but it felt good to have Susie join this exclusive club because I needed someone now.

  “So do you know how the sound thing happens to you?” Susie questioned.

  “I have no clue yet,” I signed. “It really has a life of its own. Sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn’t, and I cannot risk asking anyone for help on this.”

  “Now I understand why the Magistrate has been abuzz lately,” Susie revealed. “Ever since the day of the incident I have seen my dad messaging to his bosses even at home sometimes late into the night. He doesn’t share anything with me or my mom, but I can see the anxiety on his face.”

  “But why do you think your dad’s late-night work is connected to me?” I signed. “It could be a million other things and nothing to do with me.”

  “Because he uses his computer to do the messaging,” Susie started. “And once he forgot to log off when he rushed to get something. Then I went in, took a quick peek and only saw the last part of the conversation which was with his boss and I saw they mentioned about the incident and something powerful happening after it. The conversation I read never mentioned what that something was, but it was enough to make my dad’s boss’s anxiety level go up.”

  So the Magistrate, for whatever reason, was scared of my sound.

  “Yes, I am guilty of snooping around,” Susie reluctantly gestured.

  It was good Susie snooped around because if not she wouldn’t have known something was going on since the incident and she wouldn’t have been around to help me escape from Mrs Wills.

  “Is this why you contacted me a couple of days later,” I motioned to her. “Honestly I was quite suspicious of you when you messaged me.”

  Susie shook her head. “I would be suspicious too but the reason I messaged you wasn’t because of the incident. Hmmmmm. Actually, your name was mentioned in my dad’s computer screen.”

  “What????” I signed stunned by this new information.

  “Yea I am sorry I didn’t tell you this earlier,” Susie motioned. “I wasn’t so sure about many things at the time but when I saw Mrs Wills go all psycho on you in the classroom I started to suspect your part in the incident was true.”

  I was still stuck back at the point where Susie had said my name was mentioned in a conversation between her dad and his Magistrate boss as it was one more confirmation of my picture being captured on the cameras because there was no other reason for them to talk about me. Yet maybe it didn’t reveal me making a sound and this could be why Josh and the Magistrate were unsure about me because being at a location and making a sound didn’t necessarily go together. Whatever actions I took on the fateful day unknowingly saved me from a prison cell or worse.

  “Ehhhhh…. there is one more thing Marinette,” Susie interrupted my thoughts.

  What else could be worse than discovering at least two people in the Magistrate and who knew how many others at the higher levels, including those in the Council, were aware about my part in the incident and had been discussing it in their secret adult meetings?

  “My dad’s boss also talked about this powerful thing being a threat,” Susie indicated.

  First, they were scared of me and now the Magistrate saw me as a threat which explained the news report, the newspaper headlines and their intense focus on me.

  “Now since you told me about the sound it all makes
sense,” Susie signed.

  I nodded.

  Susie continued. “I think your sound making ability is an amazing thing for our generation if you think about it. Your ability could be a game-changer for us as this ability to speak could change how our generation could express ourselves so freely. I mean it will change everything and just like Felix said you really are a silence breaker Marinette.”

  I could sense Susie’s excitement because for her this was a positive thing but for me this was something I was still not sure about. It is a fact that my ability to make sounds would change everything, but it has already made my life worse because it was the only reason the Magistrate was after me. The Magistrate was determined to go to any lengths to keep me quiet, but I must resist their desire to silence me because a high price, which I must never forget, had already been paid by those trying to protect me.

  Then I shared with Susie about running into her friend Amelia at the convenience store.

  Susie scratched her head. “Are you sure it was Amelia? I know Amelia quite well and she doesn’t have a separate apartment you know. Her parents are actually super strict, and they don’t even allow her to go out alone on weekday nights.”