Silent

Chapter 2

Loren's POV

"Loren, come on out, sweetie." Mrs. Curtis said.

I ignored her. I never wanted to come out. I wanted to stay there forever. Until this nightmare ended.

"Loren, we need to talk to you." Mr. Curtis said. "If you could just come out-"

"NO!" I yelled. "I don't wanna." I said continuing to cry.

"Where's Loren?" Sodapop asked coming up to his parents.

"She's in the vent." Mrs. Curtis said.

"Loren, are you ok?" Sodapop asked. I ignored him.

"Hey, ma. Where's Loren?" Darry asked.

"She's in the vent. Why?" Mr. Curtis responded.

"Her dads looking for her." He said softly. I think it was intended for me not to hear but it didn't work. "Says he wants to go home. Doesn't sound to happy." He said nervously.

"Shoot..." Mrs. Curtis mumbled.

"LOREN! WHERE ARE YOU!" Dad yelled. I looked up and I shivered. His words echoed. His voice cracked mid-sentence. He didn't sound remotely ok.

Sodapop crawled through the vent and hugged me. "It's ok, Loren. I'm here." He said sitting on his legs with a big grin. It was impossible to not smile at Sodapop's shinanigans. I grinned.

"LOREN! G-GET OUT OF TH-THE DA-AMN V-VENT!" Dad yelled getting down.

"Will, knock it off. She just watched her mother die right in front of her." Mr. Curtis said defending me.

"I j-just lost my f-f-fucking wife, too. She als-o died r-right in fr-o-nt of m-me. We're in the s-same goddamn b-b-boat." Dad said continuing to slur his words.

"No, you aren't. You've been acting like an asshole ever since Haven got sick. Loren is five. You're an adult. You should be the mature one and comforting her. Instead you're scaring her." Mr. Curtis retaliated.

"F-Fine! Then-" He swallowed. "You can t-take her h-home. Or wherever she- she needs to g-go." Dad said. I heard a bang against the wall. "You- You ungrateful b-brat!" Dad yelled at me looking me dead in the eye through the vent.

I started crying harder. Sodapop hugged me again. "Loren, listen to me." Mrs. Curtis said. I barely looked up. "Stay there as long as you want. Alright? We're gonna wait here with you. We'll take you back to our house. We'll make you dinner and you can sleep there and get a good nights rest, ok? We'll make whatever you want."

I sighed. I started to crawl out of the hole in the wall and she hugged me. "We're gonna make sure everything is ok for tonight. I promise." Mrs. Curtis said.

Sodapop crawled out behind me and we all went to their car. Mrs. Curtis was mama's best friend. They've known each other forever. They have one older kid who's nine named Darrel. Then Sodapop is about my age. He turned six in October about two months ago. I turn six tomorrow. Then they have one more son named Ponyboy. He's younger than all of us. He's three. He turns four in July so it's kinda far away. Darry turns ten in January.

We all sat in silence as Mr. Curtis drove us all back to his house. We all walked inside and this wasn't the first time I've had to stay here. I've called them a few times when dad was really bad. It wasn't often but I got scared sometimes.

Mama got sick about a year ago with pancreatic cancer. It's been in her body for a long time but she's always brushed it off like it was nothing. By the time something was done about it, it was too late. After six months of her treatment, that's when things got bad for dad. There were always cigarette's laying around. Nobody in my family ever smoked until mama got sick.

The doctors almost didn't believe it was pancreatic cancer because mama was only 34 when she was diagnosed. Apparently that's very young to develop it. But not impossible. But it was true. It was too late to cure, too. I feel like every person knew before me. I didn't find out until about two months ago. And even then, I wasn't supposed to know. The only reason I knew was because I heard mama and dad talking about it. I almost wish I didn't know. But they're my family. I deserve to know. It's not fair they kept it a secret from me for so long. I was the last to know and I'm their child.

"Alright, sweetie. What do you want me to make for dinner?" Mrs. Curtis asked.

All eyes were on me but I couldn't look anyone in the eye. "I'm not hungry." I said walking to my room. It wasn't really my room but I've been here so many times in the past six weeks that I know where I'll be staying for now.

I laid on the bed and just crumbled into a small ball. "Loren, can I come in?" Mrs. Curtis asked. I didn't respond. "Loren..." She said opening the door. She sat next to me. "I know things are hard right now. They'll be hard for a while. Your mom was an amazing person. But she's in a better place now. She'll be happier up there. She's looking down on us right now. I promise. But we don't want her looking down and seeing us upset. She wants us to be happy. She'd hate me if I let you go to bed hungry."

"It's not like I haven't skipped meals before..." I mumbled.

"It's not good for you. I know your dad's been a little..." She struggled to find the words to describe it. "off... lately. But he's hurting. We all are. But we just have to put on a brave face. I'll make whatever you want and then you can go to bed, alright?"

I sat up. "Can you make mac and cheese?" I asked.

"Of course. Just rest for a bit and I'll come get you when it's done."

I sighed. I looked at the ring mama gave me. It doesn't feel like she's with me. It feels like the complete opposite, actually. I feel completely and totally alone.

And it feels like something really bad is about to happen.