The Mute

07 | seven

Isaiah McHale

I walked inside, seeing no one but Mel. She had headphones on, so she didn't hear me come in.

"Hey, Mel," I smiled. Mel just kept moving her body to whatever song she was listening to.

"Mel!" I exclaimed. She didn't even flinch.

"Melionë!" I yelled. Mel jumped, almost dropping her phone in the process. "Sorry, Mel. You didn't hear me the other times."

"No, no, I'm sorry. I should have had one headphone out," Mel signed.

"Mel, I've told you this already. You don't need to apologize for everything," I sighed.

"Sorry, I forgot," She signed.

"You just- It's ok," I had to fight the urge to not strangle this girl for apologizing even though the other person is in the wrong. Mel has been doing great since she started going to in-person school, and so far, it's been fantastic for her. She has friends that can understand and talk to her.

But, most importantly, they protect her when I'm not there. Which is good to know because as much as I want Mel to be glued to my side, I can't bring her everywhere with me. We don't have the same interests, and Mel hates big crowds and is generally by herself or with one or two other people. On the other hand, I'm usually surrounded by people because I'm the football team captain.

"Where's mom?" I asked.

"In the kitchen. She is making some snacks," Mel signed.

"What about dad?" I smiled. I never knew what to call my dad around Mel. He is my dad, of course, but Mel never called him that once. Instead, she always calls him by his first name, Dimitri. He's told her countless times that she can call him dad when she feels comfortable, but she never does. Her mom has even asked her about it, and she responds with, "I'm not ready yet." We think it's because of the trauma that her real dad caused her, but you could never really know.

"He went out for the day. He said, "There are going to be a bunch of teenagers in this house, and I'm not staying for that." And he said it in a funny voice," Mel signed, with a smile on her face.

"Of course," I laughed. I walked into the kitchen, where mom had just pulled out a fresh batch of cookies. "Those smell so good," I hummed.

"Oh, hey sweetie, I didn't hear you come in. Here, have one," She smiled, offering the plate to me.

"Thank you," I nodded.

"No problem, honey," She smiled, kissing me on my cheek. Sianna, Mel's mom, my stepmom, is the kindest person in the whole world. Both she and Mel did not deserve to go through the crap that they did. I'm happy they got out of all that, though. She made small talk with me, asking how my week back at school was going when I heard a knock on the door. I went to see who got here first, and to my surprise, everyone was here.

"Sup," I greeted.

"Hi, Isaiah," Selene smiled.

"Hey," Ace waved.

"Sup, dude," Jay smirked.

"Hi, Selene, Ace, and sorry, I don't think we've met before," Mom smiled.

"Oh, I'm Jay," Jay grinned.

"It's nice to meet you, Jay. Make yourselves at home. I made snacks; they're in the kitchen. Um, if you need me for anything, I'll be upstairs, in my room, or the backyard," She explained.

"Thank you," Mel signed.

"No problem, baby," She smiled, kissing Mel on the forehead, before walking up to her room.

"So, what do you guys want to do?" I asked.

"Well, me and Mel were originally going to online shop before you guys asked to come," Selene glared at the two boys standing next to her. "So we can do that and watch a movie, I guess."

"Sounds fine to me," Ace shrugged.

"I'm going to get some food," Jay cheekily grinned, making his way towards the kitchen.

"Don't you dare eat all my snacks!" I yelled, knowing he'd swallow all the food in one gulp. As I was strangling Jay because he ate the last cookie, Mel walked in and stopped dead in her tracks. She looked from me to Jay, then back to me, then walked to the fridge, pulled out some brownies and a Pillsbury cookie dough roll. She handed me the cookie dough, then walked out with the brownies in her hands.

Jay followed her out because, wherever food is, Jay will find a way to be there. I put the cookie dough back in the fridge to make later with Mel, and so Jay wouldn't eat the cookies after they finished. I grabbed some Doritos from the cupboard and headed to the living room. Mel and Selene sat on the love seat, looking for clothes on Mel's computer, while Ace was looking for something for everyone to watch. My eyes fixed on Jay's hand as he went to grab a brownie.

"Ah!" I smacked his hand and snatched the brownies off the table. "No brownies for you."

"What?! Why not?!" Jay exclaimed.

"You ate all the cookies, so that means no brownies," I smirked.

"I agree," Selene smiled, grabbing a brownie from me.

"Yeah, dude, not cool," Ace shook his head disappointingly at Jay. "Oh, do you guys want to watch the 100?"

"OH, I've been wanting to watch that," Selene exclaimed.

"I already did, but I'm down to watch it again," Jay nodded.

"Really? I only just finished season 1," I shrugged.

"Is it scary?" Mel signed.

"Nope," I shook my head. "There are suspense scenes, and there's blood and death and fighting sometimes, but if you get scared, you can come sit with me, ok?"

She nodded.

I plopped myself down next to Ace. Ace is a nice dude and all, but I think it's weird that Mel held his hand so quickly and willingly. OH, WAIT, DOES MEL HAVE A CRUSH ON HIM? No, no, no, no, that's impossible. Mel only likes the boys in her books (Mel has a million books, which means she has a million different boyfriends). Imagine them all meeting.....that would not be pretty.

Surprisingly throughout the five episodes we watched, Mel didn't get that scared. She jumped a few times for things she did not expect to happen, but Selene just held her hand and smiled at her. She got up once to help Ace find the bathroom and then stayed comfy in her seat next to Selene.

At around 3 pm, everyone had to go home because they had to get their homework done. Me, being the responsible being I am, I did my homework before I came.

"Bye!" Mom waved to Selene, Jay, and Ace as they got into the taxi she paid for them. I walked back inside, to the kitchen, grabbing the cookie dough from the fridge.

"Mel, you wanna make these with me?" I asked.

She nodded her head vigorously.

I laughed and pulled out a cookie sheet. She unwrapped the cookie dough roll and took a tiny piece of cookie dough, and wiped it on my hand. I shrugged and licked it off, causing her to smile. Mel never laughs. Only smiles. If you do manage to make her laugh, it's just a huge smile and some puffs of air that manage to escape her mouth. Even when she cries! When she cries it's just tears. No whimpers. No mumbling. No words that are hard to make out. No sniffling.

I think she forgot how to even make noise.

Hi!!!!!!! Sorry for not posting yesterday. I was so so tired from school and I had a lot of work to do but I got most of it finished.