Page 35 of A Silence So Divine

I don’t want to. But,

“My father,”I sign furiously.

He throws his head back and huffs incredulously, swiping muck onto the front of his jeans. My hands tremble, and I wrap my arms around my midsection to hide it.

A wind wisps between us. He stares out at the pond, forehead creased in thought. The ruddiness of anger has faded from his cheeks, leaving him subdued.

Finally, he turns his gaze on me.

“Well, you share his blood. So which one of us is really like him?”His words are a punch to the gut, knocking breath from my lungs. The truth is a poison.

I deserve it.

I don’t get the chance to respond before Creed’s taking long strides to the house, leaving me beside the water. My heart urges me to chase him and beg for forgiveness, but my mind refuses, insisting he won’t want to be near me.

In my solitude, I allow a few errant tears to fall. Hands filthy, I use my sleeve to dry my cheeks and lower myself to the ground, sitting cross-legged along the bank. The sun is hot on my hair, but the wind carries memories of a chill and raises goosebumps on my arms. Shoulders back, I watch the sway of weeds and ripples in the pond.

Time passes, and the sun rises further into the sky. Most of my life, I’ve been alone with my thoughts and it hardly bothered me at all; mindless fantasies kept me from growing antsy. Now, though, it’s difficult. I’ve become accustomed to having a partner. Realizing this makes me angry at Creed all over again. He’s made me reliant on him.

I’ll show him. I’ll stay out here all night.

Most of the mud on my hands is gone. With nothing but time, I waited for it to dry before flaking it off with my thumbnail. That only occupied me for so long. Now, I’m braiding the stalks of weeds together one after the other. There’s a small pile of them to my left.

The sound of rustling makes my heart skip a beat. Creed has come to me after all.

“Miss?”

My blood runs cold. That isn’t my friend. It’s not Cecil, either.

I don’t turn around. My fingers grow rigid around the stalks, bending them in half.

“Are you alright, Miss?” The stranger asks, voice drawing closer. Definitely male, but not as deep as Cecil’s nor as assertive as my father.

Digging my fingers into my thighs, my heart jumps against my breast bone. Even if this man had pure intentions, which I doubt very much, no one is supposed to know we’re here.

The longer I stare ahead, the more my senses prickle with unease. What if he’s wielding a weapon, one I’ll never see coming? The thought has me leaping to my feet and I whirl around. The man is only a few feet from me, and he holds a hand out as if it’ll calm me. The other hand is wrapped around the barrel of a gun.

“I didn’t mean to startle ya. I was passing through…” He takes another step toward me. “And I thought I saw someone sitting out here. Turns out, that someone was you.”

His words are innocent enough, but something about him is… off. It could be the large gun that hangs at his side, or it could be the way his eyes rove over my body like they have the right to do so. I wish I hadn’t worn my blue sundress beneath my jacket.

I want to dart my eyes to the house, but I’m too afraid to give him any sort of indication I’m not alone. It might scare him off if he knows I live with two men, but if he told anyone… Cecil would never forgive me. I can’t betray them.

“What ya doin’ out here all alone? Fishin’?” He asks with a chuckle, lips stretching to display yellow teeth. There are signs of aging on his face, but he’s not as old as Papa. Probably somewhere between my father’s age and the boys’.

The excuse he provides is as good as any, so I nod. He humphs, and swivels to look around. With a tilt of his head, he looks back toward me.

“I ain’t see no fishin’ poles…” His sentence trails off, and I swallow heavily.

I’ve never missed my voice so much as I do now.

Offering a polite smile, I make to step around him, hoping he’ll get the hint and leave. If not, maybe I could lead him away.

Or wait for Cecil to get back.

For the first time since I met him, I find myself wishing that he were here.

His free hand shoots out and grips my forearm.