Silence by Rebekah Shimer (best novels for beginners txt) 📖

that he hadn’t seen me. I got into my car quickly and turned it on. I made it to my house and ran inside. I shut the front door and locked it. I ran around my house doing the same to all of my doors and windows. I knew that I was going to listen to Edwyn, beings how he was usually right most of the time.

I heard a car pull up, but I didn’t bother to look and see who it was. I heard a knock on the front door, which brought my attention to it immediately.

It was quiet for a few seconds before I heard Edwyn say from behind the door, “Audrey! Audrey it’s me. Edwyn!”

I opened the door quickly and pulled him inside when I saw that it was actually him. I shut the door just as quick and leaned against it. He set his bag down uneasily in the foyer and looked at me for a few seconds.

I said sternly, “You better tell me what’s going on or so help me-“

He said quickly, “I know who the killer is.”

What? How had he found out?

I asked after a moment of silence, “Who?”

“Bruce. Him and me had a fight today and he practically told me that he had killed them.”

Bruce? Why would Bruce kill Emily, Delilah, and Logan? They didn’t have anything against him and Emily was even dating him!

I asked him skeptically, “Why would he tell you that?”

“Well he didn’t I actually just wanted to talk to him about the way he was looking at you, but after that the conversation wandered and I put the pieces together.”

The way that he was looking at me? He was looking at me?

“Looking at me? How was Bruce looking at me?”

“Did you not notice?”

I shook my head and he said patiently, “You were walking in the hallway and Bruce was looking at you funny. I didn’t like it, so I took him outside and tried to talk to him about it.”

I told him carefully, “Are you completely sure about this Edwyn? This is a huge accusation and could get you in a lot of trouble if you’re wrong.”

“I know I’m not wrong. I have a gut feeling about this one Audrey. Please. Trust me.”

I crossed my arms and thought about the possibility of Bruce being able to kill someone. He had come over to my house after Emily’s death so torn up about it, but it could’ve just been all an act. I knew that Edwyn didn’t really have a lot of gut feelings, but whenever he did they were always right.

I said after a minute, “Whatever you say, I’m going to believe. I know that it’s serious when you really think that it’s true, so I believe you on this one.”

He nodded his head and said, “Good. Did you do everything I told you to do? All the windows and doors are locked?”

I nodded, “I double checked all of them.”

He nodded again, almost trying to convince himself that we were safe at the moment. I brought him into the living room and we both sat down on the couch. I turned the TV on and turned the channel to the movie Tron: Legacy. I didn’t really like the movie, but the music was really good. Halfway through the movie, I started to think about Bruce and how he would have to be so sick-minded to kill all of those people. I started to scare myself with my thoughts, so I moved closer to Edwyn and rested my head on his shoulder. This didn’t really seem to get my mind off of things, so I took his hand and started to faintly draw the lines on his hand. After a few minutes, I had finally calmed myself down a little by just blocking everything else out except Edwyn and me watching a movie together.

I started to feel really tired, even though it wasn’t that late in the day. I grabbed a pillow from behind me and put it in Edwyn’s lap. I didn’t really know how he would react to that, so I slowly put my head down on it. Almost instantly, he started to rub my back, which I took as a sign that he was okay with it. I smiled and he started to rub my back a little more. After a while, I felt myself falling asleep, but I tried to stay awake as long as I could for Edwyn’s sake. After a while though, I couldn’t fight it anymore. I fell asleep and didn’t wake up until I felt someone moving me. At first, I just thought that I was dreaming, but I knew that it was real when I felt someone set me down on my bed. I opened my eyes a little and Edwyn smiled down at me.

I asked him, “Is the movie over?”

He nodded and said, “Yeah. It’s okay though. I was about to fall asleep myself. Goodnight Audrey.”

“Goodnight Edwyn.”

He walked out of my room and closed the door behind himself. I heard him walking around outside my room for a little while, but I knew that he was just going back and forth to the bathroom. I closed my eyes and let sleep overcome me again. When I woke up, it was to the sound of Edwyn screaming. My eyes flew open and I shot straight up on my bed. It was pitch black in my room, but I knew it well enough to be able to run through it without hitting anything on my way. I flung my door open and ran out into the living room. I turned the light on, but I wished that I hadn’t. I screamed as I saw Bruce standing above Edwyn with a bloody knife. I didn’t know where Bruce had stabbed Edwyn, but I knew that it couldn’t be good if there was that much blood on his knife. My stomach churned at the thought of the same knife being plunged into Logan.

Bruce looked up at me as I screamed and he took a step back. He looked between Edwyn and I, almost as if he was confused with who was who. He realized why Edwyn was over at my house in the first place and smiled at me.

He said, “Ahhh. I see. He was going to be your knight in shining armor that would’ve saved you from the dreaded killer. So much for that fairytale.”

He laughed and I knew that that laugh would haunt my dreams for the rest of my life. He started to walk towards me, but I ran back into my room. I slammed the door shut and leaned against it, but Bruce ran right into it. I screamed slightly when he slammed into the door, but the door didn’t break down since I was leaning against it.

Bruce said menacingly, “Oh come on. Come out and save your boyfriend before it’s too late!”

I could feel tears rolling down my face, but I didn’t care. I heard a sharp cracking noise and the door gave a slight shutter. I looked to my left and saw Bruce’s knife, not five inches from my face. It slowly retracted, so I took a few steps away from the door. The knife came through the door again, only it was in the spot where my head had been resting not two seconds ago. The knife slowly crept back away from the door, but Bruce didn’t plunge the knife into the door again. I didn’t hear anything from the other side of the door actually, which was what really worried me.

After a few seconds of silence, Bruce said from behind the door, “Fine. If I can't get you to come out, maybe Edwyn can.”

I screamed as loud as I could, “Don’t you dare touch him!”

Bruce laughed and said, “Words from a coward who won't even come out of her bedroom to play.”

I heard him back away from the door, but I didn’t open the door. I knew that I had to come up with a plan of some sort to get him exposed and out in the open. I heard Bruce whispering some things to Edwyn, but I couldn’t form the words of what he was saying. After a few seconds, I heard Edwyn start to say something over and over again, but again he was too quiet for me to hear. I heard the loud guttural scream come from Edwyn right after his pleading though, which sent knifes through my own heart. I breathed in deeply and stood up on my shaky legs. I grabbed the doorknob and slowly turned it. I opened the door and let it swing open fully. The sight that met my eyes was not a pretty one. Bruce was holding something, the knife I guessed, to one of Edwyn’s calves.

He stopped pushing the knife further into Edwyn’s leg, though, when he saw that I had come out of my room. He looked at me thoughtfully and then back down at Edwyn.

He said, “See. I told you that I have very good persuasion skills.”

Edwyn looked up at me and shook his head. He tried to form words with his mouth, but every time he tried, Bruce would shove the knife further into his calf.

Bruce said, “Well, well, well. She comes out to play.”

“This isn’t a game Bruce. Stop hurting Edwyn right now.”

“Or what?”

At that, he took the knife out of Edwyn’s leg, which made him scream even more now that blood was gushing out of his leg.

Bruce said, “I ask again. Or what?”

He put the tip to Edwyn’s other leg and I screamed, “Don’t!”

Bruce laughed and said, “See. I can control you, him, and probably this entire town if you know who to target. I can easily see that you’ll do anything for him, as sickening as that is, just as long as he’s safe.”

I glared at him and he knew that he was messing with the only thing in my life that I was actually happy with.

Bruce asked quietly, “How does this make you feel? When this happens . . .”

He started to put the blade farther into Edwyn’s leg and I closed my eyes at his screams.

Bruce laughed and said, “I like this. This is fun.”

I gave him a sick expression, which changed his mood quickly, almost as if he were bipolar. His face darkened and I knew that he was going to hurt me when he stood up. He pulled the knife out of Edwyn’s leg and started to walk towards me. I started to back away from him, but he ran up to me before I could’ve made it to my room. He pinned me against the wall and held the knife up to my neck.

Edwyn said from behind us, “Don’t you dare touch her!”

I looked behind Bruce and saw that he was trying to stand up, which made even more blood come from his legs. I winced at how pale his face was, but he tried to walk towards us. He fell without even a step of progress and went limp on the floor.

I screamed out, “No! Edwyn!”

Bruce laughed and said, “Guess it’s just you and me now sweetie.”

I shook my head and looked at him straight in the eyes. I brought my hands up and pushed on his chest as hard as I could. He only fell back a couple steps, but that was enough to make him fall over a table that was behind him. I took that as my chance to run upstairs to one of the rooms that had a phone in them. I heard Bruce get up as I was halfway up the stairs, which made me start to full on sprint towards my mom’s office, which was the only room in the house that had a phone, along with a door that would close shut and lock. I ran into the office and slammed the door behind me. I locked it right as Bruce rammed into it. I jumped back