The Silence She Speaks✔

Ten-Alex

She acted normal in front of the others. None of them seemed to notice her red eyes aside form Camryn. She knew better than to say anything though.

Can pretended that nothing was wrong and went back to helping Mason with his homework. He spared her a few glances every now and then.

Mason didn't even notice that Quinn was in the room. He was startled when he noticed her, though. "Quinn!" He gasped, surprised. "I didn't know you were in here." Quinn shrugged and played with her bear.

Devin seemed like he was really concentrating on something. He kept on looking at Quinn's face very intensely. She noticed his gaze and refused to meet it. I was worrying that he was going to figure out that Quinn had been crying, but I had worried for nothing.

"I never noticed you had a freckle under your eye," Devin said. Quinn jumped out of her skin and looked up at him nervously. "What? I was just pointing out the freckle." Quinn shrugged and grabbed her book. "Are girls self-conscious about freckles?" He mumbled your himself before going back to the T.V.. Camryn punched his arm before explaining how to find a hypotenuse for the third time to Mason.

Oh Devin, only you could be so oblivious. Only you.

After an hour the others were sent off to bed. Quinn followed after them so she could brush her teeth.

Quinn always seemed nervous going into the bathroom alone. I never understood why, but maybe she doesn't like the noises. Our bathroom can make some weird sounds, and Quinn still jumps at them. The extra noise probably just put her on edge a bit. Something else could have happened, of course, but I'm just going to stick with the noise theory. I don't really want to think that even more bad things had happened to her.

When she finished, she came back down and read her book. The house was kind of cold, so I wrapped a blanket around her and pulled her closer to me. She accepted the warmth and even snuggled further into my side. She laid there reading for an hour or two. I stroked her hair absentmindedly and watched some T.V..

When Quinn finished her entire book, she closed it and sighed. Closing her eyes, she laid back on me with a content look on her face.

"You finished that entire book?" I asked. She nodded. "Was it good?" Another nod. "How many pages?" She flipped through her book and showed me the last page. "Eight hundred and twelve?" She nodded one last time and closed her book again.

"How long have you been reading it?" She held up one finger. "One week?" She shook her head and grabbed her notepad.

"One day," she wrote.

"Really? Only one day?" I was beyond shocked. "You read that really fast." She just shrugged. Then I remembered just how much free time she had. Sure, Quinn had made some friends at school, but she was still new and probably hasn't been asked to hang out with any of them yet. I hope she gets closer to some kids soon. No boyfriends, of course, but boy friends with a space in between that I call the friend-zone, I guess I'll allow.

...For now...

I went back to the T.V. and started thinking about what I had been earlier. About how she was different from the other foster kids. I just couldn't put my finger on what it was.

I got so lost in thought that I didn't even realize that Quinn was trying to tell me something. It wasn't until there was a harsh tug on my sleeve that I realized she had been trying to get my attention. Quinn was never rough, so this must have been a last resort. She must have been trying to get my attention for a while now, and here I was completely neglecting her.

"I'm sorry Quinn," I mumbled. "What did you say?"

She held up her notepad, "The T.V."

I looked over at the T.V. "You don't want to watch this, do you?" I asked. She bit her lip and shook her head. Panic was swimming in her large, ocean-like eyes.

A crime show was on, a woman had just killed somebody with a gun. The loud gunshot had made her jump. I changed the channel to George Lopez—which is always on late at night—quickly, and pulled Quinn close to me. Her hands were covering her ears, and she was shaking from head to toe.

"It's okay Quinn," I whispered. "It's okay now." I heard Quinn sniffle once, but no more than that.

When I pulled back from her, I noticed that she hadn't shed a single tear. Could it be that the entire time she didn't even cry?

Quinn wiped her nose and put on a brave face. I couldn't take it, if I looked at this poor girl any longer, I would break down.

"It's late," I whispered. "Why don't we go to bed?" She nodded and held my hand as we walked up the stairs.

Quinn grabbed a new book and sat in her window seat to read. "Goodnight," I whispered, putting a quilt over her. She looked up at me and nodded, her face was back to her nonchalant mode.

It broke my heart looking into her beautiful blue eyes. They looked so weak and vulnerable, even though the rest of her face hid it. Quinn broke our stare first and looked down at the book in her lap. Hesitantly, I hugged Quinn. She tensed, but the relaxed into my hold and cuddled into my chest.

The trust she just gave to me, that mended my heart. Quinn trusted me to hold her without leaving a scar. She trusted me to be her brother and protect her, and I swore I wouldn't let her down. I couldn't let her down.

Slowly, we broke the hug. I went into my room and flopped down on the bed. Caring for Quinn was probably one of the most tiring things I've ever done, but also the most important thing I've ever done.

I sat up and opened my desk drawer, feeling stressed out about my sister and having to perfectly protect her. Whenever I thought about perfection, my crave for nicotine grew so much stronger. I opened my drawer to find only one cigarette left. Next to it was a box of nicotine patches.

"Just one more," I told myself, "and then it's over. For Quinn." I grabbed my cigarette and lighter, then opened the window. I took my time to savor my last ever cigarette. This was it. No relapsing, no falling off the wagon; nothing.

For Quinn.

~~~

Later that night, it stormed as I called my girlfriend. Thunder boomed and I heard a yelp outside my door. Worried, I told Maddie that we would talk tomorrow, not giving her any time to respond before I hung up. I opened my door to see what was wrong, not ready for what I saw.

Quinn was there.

She was sobbing, her bear clutched tightly to her chest. She looked up at me with a petrified expression, tears streaming down her rosy cheeks and her bottom lip quivering. I wasn't sure what was the matter, but I didn't care. I pulled my little sister close to me and held her close as she cried.

Then I realized what it was that made Quinn different from the other kids. Those kids were my foster brothers. Quinn was my sister. There was no foster in it, and there never was. She was, as Mason said, the last part to our family puzzle. The missing piece that we finally found. That I finally found.

Gonna be a double update today! The two chapters go together so I was like, "Hey! These readers are amazing! I'll give them two chapters!"

Also, thank you for over 750 reads! I didn't expect to get a third of that! Thank you guys so much for reading my story! <3