Things We Lost

The Sound of Silence

Timothy Pepper sat on the edge of the recliner, crossing and recrossing his legs, watching the boy laid out on the couch. He wished Mrs. Pepper hadn't insisted on leaving, she was so much better at talking this sort of thing out. And they still knew so very little about Lewis. Could the boy be trusted?

That was a choice no longer in their hands. He could only hope he could persuade Lewis to keep their secret.

Lewis finally stirred, groaning and putting a hand to his forehead. "Unnnngh... aspirin..." He staggered to his feet, swaying.

Mr. Pepper stood, catching him by the elbow. "Kitchen. Water and aspirin, come on."

Lewis jerked his arm away, taking several steps away, his eyes darting toward the door.

He was going to leave, right then and there. He was going to run out the door and never return. Mr. Pepper spread his arms slowly, palms open, and then held very still. "Lewis, I'm not going to hurt you. And I'm not going to stop you from leaving. It's just me and Aji right now, and Aji's asleep. Teles-Mrs. Pepper-took Kay out, they won't be back for... some time. I won't stop you, I'll even pack you some food to go. All I'm asking is that you hear me out."

Lewis' eyes drifted between Mr. Pepper and the door, his eyelid twitching. Finally, he put a hand to the back of his neck, grimacing. "Fine, I'll listen, but you keep your distance."

Gesturing to the kitchen, Mr. Pepper headed for the fridge, filling a glass of water and setting it on the counter. He grabbed the aspirin from the kitchen drawer, putting it next to the glass, and stepped away.

Lewis lunged for the aspirin, downing three with a gulp of water. He kept his eyes on Mr. Pepper the whole time. "Alright, so talk. What do you want to say?"

"Well, it depends on what you remember." Mr. Pepper fidgeted. "What do you remember?"

"What I remember depends on what you got to say," Lewis countered.

Mr. Pepper sighed. The kid wasn't making it easy for him. "Look, you've been here, what... eight months? I'm sure you've noticed a few odd things-" Lewis snorted, but Mr. Pepper continued. "We were going to explain, maybe after a year. You have to understand, Lewis, we had to know we could trust you. Unfortunately things happened and, well... here we are."

"Explain what?" Lewis' eyes narrowed.

Mr. Pepper braced his hands on the countertop and hopped up onto it, crossing one leg over the other. "Well, you see, between you and me, we're the only two fully human people in this house."

Lewis blinked slowly.

"Of course, we don't know that much about you, so it could be just me." Mr. Pepper smiled a little too widely. "Not that there's anything wrong with not being human, ah, it's just..." He sighed, dropping the smile. "It just tends to not be safe for the people who aren't fully human."

"What are they?" Lewis asked, coiled tight as a spring.

"I married a siren," Mr. Pepper stated matter-of-factly. "I was working the galley on a cargo-liner when the ship ran aground. I was the only survivor, and on the island we ran into, I found her. Together, we assembled enough supplies from the ship to escape on a lifeboat, and made our way to the mainland."

"Why would she go with you?"

Mr. Pepper looked down at his knees, his knuckles flashing white on the edge of the counter. "She was in a bad way. There's not much more to say about it than that. But she took a liking to me and, well, it's hard to not fall head over heels for a siren." His smile returned, a little warmer. "We married, settled down, started to have kids."