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

Audrey

I slowly walked into school, not really sure if I wanted to be there. Everyone looked at me with looks of pity, which just made me angry. The only person who didn’t look at me with pity the whole time he talked to me was Edwyn. He used to sit with Delilah, Logan, and me at lunch. Today, he had his brown hair spiked up, but just at the front. He wore a black shirt that made his blue eyes pop. He was also the tallest person in the entire high school, so he saw me before I saw him.

He said as I made it to my locker, “Hey Audrey. How are you?”

I shrugged my shoulders and said, “It can’t get worse.”

He nodded and started to talk to me about his new comic book that he got over the weekend. I was trying to pay attention to his story, but I was searching through the crowd to see if Logan came to school. I seriously doubted it, but it was Logan. He was usually the most spontaneous one out of our little group.

Edwyn realized that I wasn’t paying attention, “Are you looking for someone?”

I quickly snapped my attention back to him and said, “No. Not really. I’m just really zoning out. Sorry.”

“Long night?”

I nodded and he took a deep breath. I was about to say something, but the bell cut me off.

He said, “I better go to class. I have Mrs. Phillips for first hour and you know how she gets when you’re late to her class.”

I nodded and smiled at him weakly. He smiled back and disappeared into the crowd of students. I grabbed my books and headed towards my first class, which was history. Before I walked into the class, I took a deep breath. I walked in, trying to appear confident. My teacher didn’t buy it though. He motioned for me to go to his desk and I complied.

He asked me when I had gotten close enough, “How are you doing? I knew Delilah and you were close friends.”

“I’m doing fine Mr. Heis.”

He nodded reassuringly and let me walk back to my seat, trying to ignore the stares as I walked past.

I sat down and Mr. Heis started, “Okay class. Today, we’re going to talk about the Spanish-American war.”

I looked down and started to doodle on my notebook. I was halfway through drawing the cliff that I had seen in my dream when the bell rang. I closed my notebook before anyone got up, making sure that no one had seen it. If someone saw it, they would think that I was suicidal or something like that. Most of my classes passed like the first and before I knew it, I was standing in line for lunch. I grabbed my tray and proceeded down the line like everyone else. I got my school food and walked over to the usual table and Edwyn was already waiting for me.

He asked me as I sat down, “How were your classes?”

I gave him a look and he smiled, “Same here.”

“I drew a pretty picture the entire morning.”

He laughed, “I just listened to music on my iPod the entire time. I’m surprised it still has battery.”

I pretended to scold him, “Now, now Edwyn. You know you aren’t supposed to have those in school.”

He shrugged and said, “Yolo. Besides, I’m a senior. What are they going to do? Kick me out of school?”

I actually laughed, which surprised me. I hadn’t really laughed since the weekend, which is like a record for me. I was usually the giggly one making everyone else laugh. I shook my head to clear my thoughts and turned my attention back on Edwyn.

He asked me, “Have you been talking to Logan?”

I shook my head and said, “He doesn’t answer the texts, so I was planning on going today.”

“Do you mind of I come?”

I shook my head and mentally thanked Edwyn. I was actually going to ask him to come with me so I wasn’t the only one with Logan. I was afraid that if we started to talk about Delilah, he would get mad. When Logan gets mad, he tends to break things and throw stuff, which scared me more than anything else that he ever does.

Edwyn pulled me out of my thoughts, “What do you think?”

I realized that he had been talking this entire time, but I hadn’t heard a word that he had said.

I asked him, “Sorry? What did you say?”

“I said that we should go right after school, since he doesn’t have practice.”

I nodded and said, “That’s when I was planning on it.”

Edwyn nodded and finished drinking his milk. He got up to dump his tray right as the bell rang. I got up and followed him to the trashcan.

I said to him as we walked out of the lunchroom, “Just meet by my car after school today.”

“Okay. See you later.”

“Bye!”

We walked our separate ways as he walked to P.E. and I walked to choir. I walked in and remembered that we had just had a concert, which meant that we were getting new music today. I sat down in my designated soprano spot in the front row. The music teacher, Mrs. Chie, handed me my music and I immediately smiled at her song choice. The first song we were going to learn was Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley. The second song was Faithfully by Journey. I already knew both of the songs, which meant that it was a free day for me. If we already knew the songs that we were going to sing, we would be able to have a study hall, since the day after a concert is just for listening to the new songs.

I got on my Mac laptop and checked my email. I didn’t have any new messages, so I closed my computer. I looked out the window of the choir room and smiled a little. The P.E. class was running outside and I could easily see which one was Edwyn. He was about a foot taller than everyone else, which made him easy to spot, plus the fact that he was almost a block ahead of everyone else. Edwyn had always been athletic, but he still ate like a pig. I never knew how he was able to run two miles without even trying after eating a huge bag of Doritos.

It was usually against the laws of physics for this to be possible, but Edwyn apparently broke the laws of physics. I shook my head and saw that it was also getting colder outside. I stepped away from the window and realized that cold air had been coming from the window without me even feeling it. Now that I was away from the window, I could feel the effect of the cold air. The bell rang after a few more minutes of wandering the music room and I gladly walked out of the room. My next two classes passed in a blur and before I knew it, I was walking out of the school. I smiled at Edwyn as I walked up to my car. He got in the passenger side and I got in the driver’s side. I turned the car on and immediately turned the heater on.

Edwyn noticed my expression and said, “Sheesh! It’s not that cold out here!”

I glared and stuck my tongue out at him. He laughed as I pulled out of the parking lot. It was a quiet ride over to Logan’s house, but Edwyn didn’t seem to mind. He actually seemed like he was in deep thought about something. I pulled into Logan’s driveway and got out of my car, secretly wishing that I could stay in the heat of my car. We both walked up to the front door and Edwyn knocked. Logan’s mom answered the door and seemed surprise at the fact that we were there.

She asked, “Yes?”

I asked her, “Can we see Logan?”

Understanding and recognition dawned on her face as she realized who we were. We didn’t really hang out at Logan’s house often, so I understood why she didn’t really recognize us. She nodded and led us inside.

She walked us over to a flight of stairs and said, “If you go all the way to the top, Logan’s room is the door at the end.”

We both nodded and walked up the three flights of stairs. When we finally made it up to his room, I knocked softly on his door. I didn’t get an answer, so I looked back at Edwyn. He shrugged and motioned that I should just open the door. I looked between the door and Edwyn, but he just rolled his eyes.

He whispered to me, “You really aren’t afraid of Logan are you?”

I took a deep breath and opened his door, which was an action that I immediately regretted. Items of his were strewn across his floor and I knew that he had a breakdown. I noticed a certain poster thought that was torn in two. It was a poster of some band, but I couldn’t read the name. The only thing I saw was that the beginning letter of the band’s name was an S. I shrugged it off and slowly took a step into his room. I searched the entire room until I found Logan lying facedown on his futon.

I quietly asked, “Logan?”

His head shot up, apparently not expecting us to be in his house. He sat up instantly and got off of his futon. He marched over to me and at first, I was afraid that he was going to hurt me. Instead, he took me into a hug that just about choked me. I hugged him back when I felt his hot tears fall in my shoulder. I looked back at Edwyn and saw that he was just awkwardly standing in the doorway.

He saw me looking at him and joined the hug. Logan looked up a little, but buried his head back down into my shoulder when he just saw that it was Edwyn. I knew that Logan was usually a tough guy, so seeing him cry just about made me cry. I held back the tears though, since I had to be strong for Logan. After a few minutes of the choking hug, Logan finally backed away form us.

He said with a hoarse voice, “Hey guys.”

We both tried to smile at him, but I'm sure that we looked like we were giving him lopsided frowns. He wiped his eyes and sat back down on his futon and Edwyn and I sat down on opposite sides of him.

I asked him, “How are you?”

He said a little too quickly, “Good. I’m good.”

Edwyn asked him, “How have you been? Really?”

Logan sighed and said, “I don’t know. I feel like this is just a dream and I’m going to go to school tomorrow and see her walking through the halls. It hasn’t really hit me yet I guess.”

I looked around his room and I knew that it had hit him sometime, but he just didn’t really want to admit it. I looked back at the two guys and saw that they were both looking at me.

I quickly looked down and Edwyn said quietly, “Man. You don’t have to lie to us. Why’s your room like this?”

Logan took a shaky breath and eyed me as he said, “It was fine until this morning.”

I asked him, “What happened this morning?”

He sniffed and said quietly, “Delilah’s dead.”

I nodded, letting him know that I already knew.

He said, “You know what? I wasn’t that mad. I kind of knew that she was dead when she disappeared. That wasn’t what I was mad at. I was mad at the fact that someone had the nerve to take her away from this town. I don’t know how someone could just kill Delilah mercilessly, without even realizing what it would do to this town.”

I could feel my hands