Finding My Way

Chapter Two

Edited
The silent boy can talk

It was such a sunny beautiful day outside. I stood on the kitchen window spying on our new neighbors. It had been exactly one week since they arrived. The old mean guy would go away in his truck every morning, come back in the afternoon, and went out in the evening again. He would come back in the middle of the night drunk. Sometimes he made so much noise and woke the whole neighborhood up. It had been a whole week and I had not seen the mysterious boy come out yet.

“Honey, spying on the neighbors isn’t good manners. That’s invading their privacy. Take this basket and go pick me some beautiful flowers. My table is looking so plain,” mama said.

I went to the garden outside picking some pretty flowers. Mama loved flowers and had planted a small garden with different varieties. The back door to the small house open, someone was taking out the trash. I stared at him as he opened the trash bin and dumped the trash. I couldn’t believe it, it was the mysterious boy. He covered the bin and turned to leave. Before I could think about it, I yelled for him.

“Hey… new kid”

He turned towards me and I waved happily having gained his attention. He stared at me for a second and went back in. Maybe he was a Meany like his dad.

The next day, I sat on the kitchen window spying on the new neighbors again. When the old mean guy left, I took some cakes that mama had baked the day before and walked towards the small house. I knocked at the door three times like mama does and waited for a while. I knocked again and waited. I got impatient and knocked several times when the door flew open. My eyes grew wide seeing the boy on the door.

“Hi, my mum made these delicious cakes yesterday and I brought you some. Do you want to play?”

He took the cake and quietly shook his head. 

“Are you mute?” I asked curiously. He shrugged his shoulders.

“Do you want to hang out?”
He shrugged again. But this time, he came outside and closed the door. I took that as a yes. We walked past the open fields, right on top of a small hill. I told him about my life while he listened quietly. I told him my name, how old I was, how I was excited to go to school, when mama cut my hair and how I used to play in their house before they moved in.

“You know, I’ve been talking the whole day and you haven’t said a word. What’s your name?” I asked curiously.

He shrugged his shoulders, what was with him?

“Well, even though you didn’t talk, I liked your company. Let’s go back home, I’m hungry.”
This became our daily routine, going for walks, hanging out and just talking, well I talked he listened. Sometimes I would carry a basket of food and we’d spend the whole day hanging out. We were always careful to go back before his dad returned.

One day, his dad came back earlier than other days. We were still at the fields. When we got back at the usual time, he stopped abruptly and completely froze.

“Hey, you okay?” I asked, worried about his sudden change of behavior. Fear was written on his eyes as he looked at something behind me.

“Liam! Where have you been?” a loud scary voice boomed. I quickly looked behind and saw my mean neighbor stare daggers at us.

“What have you been up to? Is this what you do when I’m gone? How many times have I told you not to go outside without my consent? Get back inside!” Liam’s dad bellowed. Liam quickly ran inside. Hmm… so the quiet boy had a name, Liam.

The next day I went to get him as usual and knocked on his door severally. He never came out. This went on for three days. I eventually gave up and kept going to the hills alone. Two weeks had passed and still there was no sign of him. One hot afternoon, just like I had been doing every day for the last two weeks, I took my dolls and my new book that daddy had bought me, went to the kitchen and took the food basket mama had prepared for me. I headed towards the hills, another day alone with my book. This time though, it was different, a boy was sitting on my usual spot, Liam.

“What are you doing here?” I asked in anger.
Of course, he didn’t answer me.
How dare he disappear and just appear like that thinking that everything will go back to normal!

“So your name is Liam?”

Silence.

I observed him as he sat silently on my spot, a bowl filled with colorful beads.

“Where have you been?”

“…………….”

“What is wrong with you and your dad? My mama decides to be nice and bakes you a pie, he shuts the door in our faces. You and I start hanging out. You don’t even tell me your name, that’s fine. You don’t speak at all, fine by me. But you disappear without a word, and suddenly appear on my spot without an explanation . Is it me, do I talk too much? Mama says I always talk too much. Am I annoying? Do you even like me?” I rumbled, getting frustrated by the boy.

All his time, he was looking at me, just listening. Always listening. He walked towards me, held my hand and put on a bead bracelet on my wrist. One I guess he was making from the bowl. He then took my hand and led me to a path downhill.

“Where are we going?”

He just held my hand and led me to a small opening between some bushes that I hadn’t noticed before. There was a small lake surrounded by tall trees. It looked beautiful. How did he find this place?

“You are not annoying, I like it when you talk to me. ”

Did he just… did he just…
He took his shirt off and made a quick dive to the lake. Did he just talk? So he can speak after all!