The Sound of Silence

Chapter Six

Word Count: 3,618

I took a quick shower, repeating Emily's name over and over like I was under some sort of spell. I was just thankful for some way of communicating with her. Something to call her that wasn't who she was. It made me happy that I was slowly getting to know her. I put on some clothes and exited the bathroom just as the horn for lunch blew. I waved gently, getting Emily's attention before pointing towards the door. She placed her book down on the table and followed me to go eat.

Lunch was busy and many were tired and dirty from working on the wall. Construction was slow, but progress was being made every day. It was nice to have a strong line of defense around the whole area, especially with talk of the impending attack and the possibility of us attacking first. Five more soldiers were introduced to the crowd who graciously accepted them with cheers to welcome them. Emily just sat there and smiled and clapped, happy to be apart of it, even if she couldn't hear what was going on. After lunch she made her way back to the War house while I made my way to the wall with some of the guys. I kept an eye out on all the guys working, but also tried my best to help them out by carrying things from one place to another, holding things for them, steadying ladders and even doing some of the work myself as they grew tired and needed breaks.

Dinner was nothing more than usual. I didn't see Emily and I wondered if she even heard the dinner horn. I stuffed some extra food into my pocket so I could give it to her later. After dinner I left for my room, surprised to find it empty, Emily's book sitting on the table. Curious, and almost panicky I crossed to hall to Alicia's room and knocked. She came to the door, papers of something in her hand and she barely looked at me before speaking.

"She's in the kitchens. She wanted to help, she's a good cook, I assume she's still there." I smiled a little in relief.

"Oh, okay. Thank you."

"No problem. You know, Jane D-"

"Emily," I corrected, almost proud to be able to be the first to know. Alicia opened her mouth, then closed it, her brows furrowing before looking at me confused.

"Emily?"

"It's her name."

"And she told you this?" I shook my head, chuckling a little.

"She's teaching herself to read with like, pictures and such. In one of her books someone's written her name in cursive." Alicia shrugged.

"Well, you've cracked the case then. Anyway, I was about to say that Emily has been a bigger help than any of us realized. I appreciate your judgement."

"Of course," I replied, slightly flustered by the unexpected comment. She nodded, before shutting her door and returning to paper work.

Back in my room I wandered the corners. I really didn't have much to do the rest of the night. Tomorrow evening was going to be the progress report on the wall and other issues that needed addressed, but nothing was going on tonight and it wasn't my turn to be in charge of the night patrol. That would be a few days from now. Aaron and Mike would be out there tonight, Aaron training to take on a leadership role. I wondered how the other soldiers felt, being completely passed up by someone who was unfamiliar with war at all, and now he was going to be in command. Mike had reassured me earlier that his responsibilities would be small, mostly just helping out with night patrol since he was well organized and easily kept a cool head, even if panicking. I felt proud of Aaron, I had taught him cool-headedness from a young age since he had a tendency to get angry when he was younger, but he learned to control his anger and eventually grew out of it.

I stopped my pacing for a moment, realizing once again how much of his life I missed because I left him for the war front. We had stayed in touch, but when it got too dangerous to even speak too loudly I had stopped sending letters. It was dangerous and I couldn't stand the thought of giving away our position, even to stay in touch with my brother. I shook my head, getting rid of the bad thoughts and memories. I'm sure Aaron understood why I stopped sending letters, but even still I promised myself that I would talk to him in the morning about it just to make sure. I wanted things to be open between us, even if it was a few years too late.