Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 91361 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91361 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Cold sweat crept all over my body. I struggled to stay in the present, but the words were too evil, too painful, too strong, forcing me to spiral back into the past.
Violent trembles afflicted my body as I struggled to get away, but it was too late. The past sucked me in, deeper and deeper—-
The courtroom was quiet as a tomb, and in many ways, the place was exactly that. If it did not have Ashton in it, then that place was dead to her.
At Aria’s right, Dan’s eyes were on her. It had been so all this time. Did he really think she still considered herself as his daughter?
She was eighteen now. Old enough to be an adult, old enough to choose how she wanted to face them.
And she had made that choice today.
Today, she was the plaintiff, and they were the defendants.
Amelie was the first to take the stand, and confronted with questions that she couldn’t answer, she ended up in tears. “I loved him. He’s my son, how could I not love him?”
Aria wanted to scream. Liar! Liar, liar, liar!
So many times she had heard Amelie say she wished she had gone through with the abortion. That she was sick and tired of having to care for Ashton all the time.
How could she keep lying? How?
Someone knocked hard on the booth’s extended edge, the sound jostling me out of my memories. I came back with a silent shudder, and I looked up, disoriented, wondering if it was all over.
But it was not.
They were still there, and everything they did only reminded me of the people I desperately wanted to forget.
“Hellooooooo? Any freak in there? Or maybe you can’t hear us, too?”
Their laughter stabbed me, and I found myself sinking in an ocean of memories.
“Hahaha.”
Oh God, I didn’t want to remember.
“Hahaha.”
But I was weak and helpless, always was, always had been, and soon I was drowning under waves of grief.
When it was her turn at the witness stand, Aria was extremely careful not to look at Amelie and Dan. If she did, she would lose it. She would want to kill them, would want to summon the devil and trade them to get her baby brother back.
Her hand shook as she took hold of the marker and started writing on the whiteboard, her only way to communicate since “it” happened.
THEY NEVER LOVED HIM. THEY ALWAYS THOUGHT HE WAS A BURDEN. AND HE KNEW THAT. MY LITTLE BROTHER KNEW IT EVEN IF WE BOTH PRETENDED HE DIDN’T.
Outside the booth, someone helpless, someone who couldn’t speak, someone...someone like him needed my help.
The silence was deafening, suffocating. It was unbearable because I knew.
Even if you didn’t hear a thing, it didn’t mean someone wasn’t in pain.
I swallowed convulsively, knowing what I had to do. I had thought I’d forever be silent, but this – surely this was a good reason to break my vow?
But before I could speak—-
“FUCK OFF.”
I jerked in shock at the words. The voice was menacing, mortally so. The guy who spoke hadn’t shouted the words, but he didn’t have to. If looks could kill, well, this man – he made it obvious that words could kill, too. Painfully.
Shuffling footsteps answered him, and I knew by the sound of it that the boys had scrambled away. Realizing it left me even more dazed. A part of me was incredulous, the other part awed.
Was he really that scary? I was tempted to see for myself, but I had a feeling if I tried to move, I would just end up falling.
“You okay?” It was the guy again, and he was speaking in a moderate voice. A normal voice, the way people should when speaking to the Deaf. It had been one of the first things Bobby taught me. With Deaf who were capable of lip-reading, there was no reason one had to speak abnormally slow or, heaven forbid, loud.
“Good. Sign language class, this club. Join, you?” The way the guy spoke, I knew he was adept at signing, knew that he was aware their grammar worked differently from ours.
“Cry. It’s okay. Scared, don’t be. Trust me. It’s okay.”
My chest tightened at his words. Like a bolt being screwed into place, forcing my heart to come back to life, it got so tight it was almost impossible to breathe without gasping.
“Hope, don’t lose.”
So, so, tight.
Why, I wondered painfully, did it feel like this guy was talking to me, too?
I looked around me, and the world I had known had turned into something different. It wasn’t as dark. Wasn’t as rotten. Wasn’t as...unclear.
“Not everyone like them. Shit on legs.”
I covered my mouth before a laugh could escape me.
So, so tight.
I wanted to laugh and cry, but it was beyond me. All I could do was breathe.
“Good. Strong, you. Good. Brave. Good.”
I pressed my hands harder against my mouth, trying to silence my gasps even as my chest felt close to exploding.