Don't Make a Sound

Chapter 1: Moving

Somewhere in northern California, San Francisco...

The clock kept ticking in the room and it happened to be the only sound in there. They all sat down waiting for her to come in for the day's session. Finally she entered the room. Dressed in a black suit, Ms Carter entered the therapy room sweating. She just had a private meeting with her boss.

"Good morning." She forced a smile. The issue on ground was nothing to smile about but she didn't want to give her patients any cause to worry. They had not fully gotten over their past yet.

"You are late." Caroline Howard didn't take her eyes off the magazine she was reading.

"I'm sorry about that." Ms Carter forced another smile. She quickly brought out an handkerchief to clean off the beads of sweat on her forehead and nose. "I have some news."

"Are they finally letting us go?" Ruby Brown muttered in a low tone. She had longed to go home.

When she was 12 years old, she was raped by her uncle. Sadly, her parents didn't believe her story. She tried convincing them that she was raped but they shunned her. Coincidentally, that was the period her beloved grandma died.  They dismissed her claims with the theory that she was just pained and depressed.  When her parents couldn't control her and subdue her rape tales, they sent her to a therapy home. Then she was 13. Now 19, she hoped for freedom after spending six years of loneliness and neglect in a therapy home. Her parents had deserted her.

"No. Not that. We are leaving here."

"What's wrong with this place?" Krymson asked.

Krymson Mayer was a victim of bullying and was an orphan. Her parents died in a plane crash when she was 4. Being adopted by her uncle was no better. His wife was a devil who made her life miserable at home while the bullies did the work of making her life miserable at school. There was nobody to turn to for help. She always cried and cried wishing her parents would come back and take care of her as they always did. What brought brought her to a therapy home was when she attempted to commit suicide. Luckily, her uncle had seen her. He couldn't handle the matter by himself so he took her to a therapy home where she would recover mentally. To him, she was mentally unstable. This was her 8th year in the therapy home but she didn't wish to leave. It was better than the outside world.

Ms Carter continued. "I was told by Mr Bale that the population in this home has exceeded the estimated population we are supposed to have. Meaning that we would be offered a home outside here to continue with our therapy sessions."

"Why can't they send the others out? Why us?" Kevin didn't like the fact that they were asked to move. It seemed partial just like it would seem to another party if they asked to moved out of the therapy home.

"I don't know. It's an order from the boss."

Nicole and Gail Sage kept whispering to themselves while keeping an eye on Ms Carter. They were both 18 years old as well as identical twins. Their past wasn't too rough as others. Maybe it was because they made their past rough by themselves. Gail was a chain smoker while Nicole was into cocaine. The apple really doesn't fall far from the tree. Mr Sage was in prison for dealing with hard drugs and now his daughters were already walking in his footprints. It wasn't surprising that they found themselves in a therapy home. They had been to several therapy homes across the state. Notorious twins! They always escaped. Here seemed to be their final therapy home. They had been here for a year without escaping. Mrs Sage was relieved at last.

"You all have this weekend to pack your things. By Monday, we should be at our new therapy home." She began packing her things to leave the room. "To keep you all occupied, you must read your novels. It's important." She waved and walked out.

Steven Wilkinson, Matt Armstrong and Justin Hart began discussing after Ms Carter left. They were known to be perpetual thieves. First, it was Mrs Murphy's dollars and golden wristwatch. At that time, they were 10. Poverty was the reason behind the talent. Just poverty, nothing else.

As neighbors, they thought of what they could do to assist each other. It was all Steven's idea but everyone benefitted. 'Smart thieves' was what they used to be before they came in contact with Ms Georgia. They were caught in her home stealing from her fridge. How they got into the home was what surprised her. The old lady decided to teach them a lesson despite the pleas from their parents. It landed them at first to a juvenile delinquency corrective home after being tried in a juvenile court and now to a therapy home. Sometimes they wondered why they were put in a therapy home. The stress they encountered perhaps. Steven was 18 while Matt and Justin were 19.

Emmanuel Gray began reading his novel silently. He couldn't assimilate a thing. He took a deep breath and began reading again.

Naomi Kingston had been looking at him from where she sat. She brought out her novel and went to sit beside Emmanuel.

"Can I read with you please?" She looked pleadingly at him while hoping he would say yes.

"Sure. You can."
She sat down and they read together.

Naomi Kingston had a similar case to Krymson. She was bullied. She was never an orphan, she had her dad and mom.
They assured her that she would be at the therapy home temporarily till she was able to overcome her emotional breakdown. Something the bullies at school had done. She tried speaking out, but the school management wasn't able to deal with them. The bad part was the bullying only increased.

She was 17 and had five months to stay at the therapy home.
It was indeed temporal.

Emmanuel's younger sister died of heart failure at the age of 11. The only sister he had and loved. His character changed suddenly few months after her death. He was talking to invisible people and hearing voices people around him couldn't hear. He was declared crazy just as Ruby was. His parents couldn't bare the pain and sent him to the therapy home hoping for his quick recovery.

Caroline Howard was also in a Juvenile delinquency corrective home for stabbing her father. Her dad and mom were having a dispute  when her dad started hitting her mom till a point she started bleeding. She loved her mom so much and had no remorse for stabbing him. He was drunk as usual and was venting his anger on her mom. She tried separating them even though she was very little. Her dad pushed away in anger. That was when she ran to the kitchen crying and carried a knife to attack him for hurting her mom. Her dad wasn't aware she was with a knife when she walked out the kitchen.

"Dad stop it! Don't hurt mom." She warned.
Her dad ignored her and kept hitting her mom who was unconscious. She then stabbed him with everything within her till he stopped breathing. Blood was all over her clothes when their neighbour came into their home to find out why the house was noisy. He immediately called the cops. She was taken to a Juvenile court then to a Juvenile delinquent home. Her mom was immediately rushed down to the hospital for treatment when the cops discovered she was still alive. She was 12 when the whole drama happened and currently 18 in the therapy home.

Kevin Phillips and Lucian Turner also had similar cases. They had both lost their mom and their dad couldn't care for them.

Mr Webb entered the room where the teenagers occupied to inform them they could go to their various rooms.

Thanks for reading this. I hope you found it interesting. Don't forget to vote, comment and correct me.
                                           I-am-Rare