A Golden Silence - Dalia Vaughn (best books for 20 year olds txt) 📗

Xander

Clinically insane, crazy, emotionally challenged.
That’s what I had to have been.
I stretched out on the bottom of my bed, stroking the frame of the picture with my thumb. The smiles on the faces of the people behind the glass filled my mind; they seemed so happy, so carefree and full of life. It had been awhile since I’d felt like that, felt like I belonged somewhere…except when I was with her. Since the day we first met, I knew I loved Emery Rogers unlike anyone I had ever loved before. And the first time she said my name…it was like I had just heard it for the very first time.
But then shortly after her fifteenth birthday she stopped talking, she just…stopped. It felt like my entire world stopped spinning that day. No one knows why Emery stopped talking; her parents think it’s just a petty game she’s been playing for the past four and a half years, but Em is my best friend, I know it’s more than that.
There was a faint knock at the door and my roommate walked in. “Hey bro, Emery’s upstairs. It looks like she’s had another rough night, and I can’t really tell, but I think she’s been crying too.”
I sat up and shook my head. “Are you sure?” I asked looking at Ben. He nodded and I rushed from my room. Ben had a knack for over exaggerating a lot of things but Emery wasn’t one of them.
She was sitting on the couch looking through an old photo album from when we were kids. She was always so happy whenever we sat and talked about the old times and how much fun we used to have.
“Hey Em, is everything ok? Ben said you’ve been crying. What’s wrong?” I stood in front of the coffee table and waited for her to look up. I knew she probably wouldn’t tell me, she hated me worrying about her. But I couldn’t just ignore the fact that my friend was hurting and no one else seemed to care enough to try and figure out why. “Look Em, I know you don’t want to worry me, but whenever you’re ready, I’m always willing to listen. You know that, don’t you?”
Finally Emery looked up at me, her brown eyes shimmering as she smiled. I loved seeing her smile, I really wish she would smile more often and not just when she was with me, not that I minded at all. She patted the couch cushion next to her and smiled again. When I played at leaving the room she stuck her bottom lip out and patted the cushion again.
I laughed and sat down next to her. “Okay, okay. No need to get impatient.” She rolled her eyes and I braced for a punch. Surprisingly she scooted closer and laid her head on my shoulder, something she often did when she’d had a rough time the night before. Instead of prodding, I slipped my around her; although I longed to know why she wouldn’t talk to anyone, I wasn’t going to push her for answers. It wasn’t long before she’d fallen asleep and I decided I would let it go until later.
About two hours later Emery woke up, we were still in the same spot we’d been in when she fell asleep; partly because she needed to sleep and moving would mean that I’d run the risk of waking her up, and partly because I knew she felt safer when I was there.
“Ah, look who’s finally awake. Feel better?” I asked as she sat up, I knew she probably didn’t, but I had to ask anyway.
Emery smiled, nodding she pointed to the photo album that now lay on the table in front of us. Grabbing it I flipped open to Emery’s favorite page; it was filled with pictures of us on an all-day trip to Wild Waves.
“You got so angry with me when I pushed you down the slide, I thought it was hilarious.” At that, Emery scowled which made me laugh and I knew exactly what was coming next. Emery reached over and punched my shoulder. “What? You didn’t get hurt and actually went on the same ride about ten more times. So if you think about it, I was only speeding up the process.”
She stuck her tongue out at me but ended up smiling back. That usually meant she knew I was right but didn’t want to admit it. This was the side of Emery that I loved to see, she didn’t stick around long, but I always enjoyed it so much more when she visited. I was sure Emery would be happier if she could put everything behind her, but her parents wouldn’t just forget that their perfect daughter hadn’t spoken a word in almost five years.
Emery nudged me with her elbow, when I looked over at her she raised her eyebrows.
“I’m good Em, just thinking. So, you wanna go for a walk? We could go get some ice cream.” I said putting the photo album down. I waited patiently as she made her decision. Her forehead wrinkling slightly as she furrowed and unfurrowed her eyebrows in thought. After awhile she smiled and nodded her head.
We left my house and started walking towards the park, about halfway there Emery stopped. When I turned to face her, she raised her hands and cocked her head to one side asking why we were headed toward the park instead of to the ice cream parlor in town.
I laughed, “I thought you wanted ice cream? Those sidewalk ice cream venders are out again, I figured we could sit in the park and eat.”
Once we got our ice cream we went and sat on the swings. I wanted so much to ask Emery what had gone on the night before, but I knew it would cause her more pain than relief so I left it alone. She would tell me when she was ready to. It was rather warm for a fall day, orange, brown, yellow, and red leaves swayed in the wind; it looked to me as if they were dancing. After a few minutes of silence, I looked over at Emery.
“Em, are you sure you’re ok? It’s not like you to sit this still for so long…and so quiet too?” I added that last part hoping to get a smile out of her, but she just rolled her eyes and sighed. “Oh come on, that was funny…or at least it was supposed to be. But seriously though, you never show up at my house and sleep like that unless something went wrong the night before. You can’t push it aside forever, Emery. Sooner or later you’ll just have to face your problems.” I was no doubt being a little too hard on her, but like everyone else, I was starting to wonder if Emery really was playing a game.
As if she had read my mind, Emery scowled. We had been friends for nearly six years, why should I doubt her even for a moment when she’d never lied to me before? Suddenly I began to feel guilty. Emery had stuck by my side when most of my so-called friends had judged me based on what they saw on the outside instead of what was in my heart. She had given me countless chances when it was quite clear that I didn’t even deserve one, and she had been so forgiving of the mistakes I’d made in the past.
We sat there in utter silence for quite some time, if she had made any indication at wanting to explain what had happened the night before, I couldn’t tell. So far she’d mostly kicked the leaves at her feet and shook her head when I’d finally asked her if she wanted another ice cream cone. Sitting this way for so long was new to me; we were usually laughing or chasing each other through the park, I was beginning to worry that I’d actually hurt her this time. Emery’s heart was fragile and once it had so much as a tiny crack in it, fixing something so near shattering seemed almost impossible.
I contemplated pressing further for information, but decided against it since I hadn’t really redeemed myself from my earlier comments. I knew I’d have to apologize some time, but I figured it’d be better to let her cool off first. “Hey, it’s getting late, we should head back.”
Emery would much rather have stayed in the park, but deep down we both knew what her parents would say to breaking curfew, even if she had been with me the whole time….especially her dad. In all truth, he really wasn’t that bad of a guy. But at times he held on to Emery a little too tight, it seemed like he was trying to make sure she stayed his perfect little girl. I wondered if he paid any real attention to her at all. Both of her parents tried their best to understand her, although with both of them working the crazy hours that they do, Emery was lucky if she even saw them on the weekends.
We started walking back to my house where her mom was sure to be waiting, nothing but silence passing between us for what seemed like ages. We were just about to cross the street in front of my house when Emery sprinted off in the other direction. I didn’t even have a moment to think before I was running after her, stumbling along the way as I struggled to keep up the pace. What was she thinking? Dashing off like that without warning. This was a whole new side to Emery that I’d never seen before, she was defying everything that she’d been taught.
I watched somewhat in awe as Emery sped down the street, never slowing down, much less looking back to see if I or anyone else were in pursuit of her. It was like she was answering some far away call that only she heard. Gaining mile after mile, she continued to slip further and further away from me until she was nothing more than a distant blur against the street lights of Vancouver. My legs ached, burning with every stride that I took. But I kept going, kept running; wherever Emery was going, I would go too. Even if it meant that when and if we were found, I was told to stay away from her. I would risk it all just to spend one more moment with