Excellent Danielle tells Callum about the letter His Silence : His Silence - Chapter Two by Jacob1395

Warning: The author has noted that this contains the highest level of language. Background When Harvey murders his parents, he refuses to say why he did it. Twenty years later, he's finally ready to talk. The hand on Emma and Michael’s huge clock in their kitchen is closing in on quarter past ten when Michael opens the front door. A breeze sneaks through and I look up from the table. Emma’s staring out of the patio door and into the garden, holding her hand around a mug I painted for her at school with the words, BEST MUM, in bold and different colours. It’s her third cup of coffee this morning. I don’t think she’s even heard the door opening. She looks lost in thought. Michael carries three bags of shopping through the front door and slings his Hugo Boss jacket onto the bannister. I leap up from my seat and run into the hallway. ‘Supermarket busy?’ I ask, my heart ricocheting against my ribs. I eye Emma out of the corner of my eye in the kitchen, watching us. She sips her coffee. ‘No more than usual,’ Michael says, running his hand through his thinning grey hair. ‘I thought you would’ve been off by now.’ ‘She’s staying for tea,’ Emma says moving away from the patio door, her voice a little tight. I carry two of the bags into the kitchen and dump them on the table. Emma’s eyes are flickering between me and Michael. She’s wondering if I’m going to say anything about the letter to him. Michael raises an eyebrow and drifts into the kitchen carrying another bag with him. He places it on the table. ‘No plans for tonight then?’ he asks. I laugh. ‘You know me, I’m not exactly a party animal, am I?’ I pick out a packet of bread from the bag and take it over to the bread bin. Emma starts loading food into the fridge. ‘D’you mind if I ask Callum over?’ Emma looks over her shoulder. There’s a frown in her forehead. She’ll know I’ll want to speak to him about the letter. ‘No of course not. He’s welcome to stay for dinner as well if he wants.’ I smile and pull out my phone. Callum was round near enough every day when I lived here. He stayed over every couple of weekends and we’d have a movie night with pizza and popcorn. I’d always take the micky out of the pineapple he always had on his pizza. I type a message on my phone. Can I see you this afternoon? I’m at Emma and Michael’s, there’s something I want to talk to you about x I press send, my hands shaking. He normally tells me if he has plans for the weekend. He shouldn’t have anything going on. I need to speak to him. A reply buzzes on my phone and I look at the text flashing on my screen. Sure, can come over for one pm x I take in a deep breath and help Emma and Michael with the rest of the shopping. * I’m waiting by the front door at one p.m. God this is what I used to do back when I was ten. I’d wait for Callum to arrive, my chest tight. I think perhaps there was a part of me, back then, that thought he might not come. I stare out of the window on the right hand side of the front door. The nose of Emma’s white BMW is parked close to the front door. If she’d eased forward any further, she would’ve ended up hitting the porch. My breath fogs up the glass. Callum’s at the foot of the drive, air pods plugged in, hands in his pocket. He’s wearing a red Tommy Hilfiger top and jeans. He spots me and waves, grinning. I pull open the door, cool afternoon air hitting my face. ‘Wasn’t expecting to see you this weekend,’ he says with a bright smile, removing his air pods and pocketing them in their white case. I hug him and linger for a moment, my head nestled on his shoulder. Tears escape my eyes. ‘Hey, what’s wrong?’ I wipe my eyes. I can’t let Emma and Michael see me crying. Michael still knows nothing about who the letter was from. I put on a smile. ‘Oh it’s . . . can we talk outside?’ He nods. I clasp hold of his hand and drag him through into the house, pushing the front door shut. ‘Hi Callum,’ Michael says as we breeze through into the kitchen. The kettles roaring in the background. ‘Good to see you.’ Callum barely has the chance to open his mouth before we’re outside. Michael’s staring after us a frown in his forehead. ‘Blimey, what are you so keen to speak to me about?’ Callum asks, raising an eyebrow. We sit on the rusty swings at the bottom of the garden, Emma keeps going on at Michael to get rid of. They’ve been here since I was six. I breathe in the scent of Emma’s daffodils in the flower bed behind us. ‘Oh, well it’s . . . it’s just.’ God, I thought it would be easier talking about the letter to Callum. He’s my best-friend, I should be able to tell him everything. ‘OK, what’s up?’ Callum asks, running his hand through his blond hair. ‘Do you not like the top I’m wearing?’ he pinches at his top, grinning. I half smile, trust Callum to always know how to lighten the mood. ‘You don’t need to worry about your top, Callum. It’s just . . .’ I say, my eyes flickering from the freckles nestled in the corners of his nose, to his apple green eyes. I used to tell him his freckles made him look cute, then he’d punch me lightly on the arm and tell me to stop being stupid, before grinning. I look away. He frowns. ‘Come on, Danielle, you never look me in the eye when something’s bothering you,’ he says. ‘Well, I . . . I wanted to ask your opinion on something really,’ I say, shifting on the swing. I train my eyes on Michael helping Emma load the rest of the food into the fridge. ‘Go on,’ he says, swinging a little on the swing. I swallow. ‘I received a letter today. From Harvey.’ Callum stops swinging. ‘OK. What did it say?’ he asks, folding his arms. ‘He’s asking me to come and see him.’ Emma flings the fridge door shut and she and Michael move into the hallway. My skin bristles. What did it say? Callum’s words echo in my mind. This is like the time I told Callum the truth about my family in the school library. We were thirteen. Our English teacher, Mrs Harris, the day before, asked everyone to write a short story for Halloween. One of the boy’s in my class, George, had obviously been looking into my family’s case. He’d sauntered to the front of the class, holding his story aloft. ‘My story takes place in a big house on a dark stormy night,’ he’d said. ‘A young family live in this house, there are two children. But on this night something horrible will happen to them. It’s half past eleven, the parents are downstairs. They’d enjoyed fish and chips earlier in the evening.’ I’d sat up in my seat at this part of the story. ‘There’s a creak on the stairs, the parents don’t hear it. They’re busy entertaining their friend. A shadow falls across the living room where the adults are sitting. It’s the boy grasping an axe.’ ‘Stop,’ I’d yelled, making everyone jump. ‘Stop, please.’ I’d jumped from my seat and ran from the room, tears flowing. The next day, Callum asked me why I’d reacted the way I’d done. ‘Promise me you won’t tell anyone else,’ I’d said, my heart skipping against my ribs. He’d crossed his heart. ‘Promise.’ I told Callum everything, fearful he would see me in a different way, and wouldn’t want to be my friend. But he hugged me. I can still remember the relief sweeping through me. I focus my gaze back on Callum. ‘Why’s he asking you to come and see him?’ Callum says. ‘He hasn’t exactly told me why, but . . . I don’t know. Something about his letter doesn’t sit right with me,’ I reply, gripping onto the cool metal chains. Emma’s warning about seeing him flickers in my mind. No, I’ve got to hear what he has to say. ‘He’s a little shit,’ Callum says. I sigh. ‘That’s what Emma thinks. But I . . . I’ve always wanted to know why he killed our parents. They loved us, they didn’t abuse us. I feel I won’t be able to lead a normal life until I have an answer. I’m stuck in this constant state of limbo.’ A shiver races through me. ‘But what do you think seeing him is gonna achieve?’ Callum asks. I look to the clouds rolling across the face of the sun, blinking back tears. ‘I don’t know. But these questions have been hanging over me for the past twenty years. Can you imagine what that’s like? Imagine if your Mum didn’t die and she just simply disappeared with no trace. Sometimes I lie awake in bed of a night and the questions just haunt me.’ God, I feel guilty for talking about his Mum. Callum never talks about her. Please don’t say I’ve overstepped the mark. His expression remains neutral. Callum sighs and rubs his chin. ‘No, I can’t imagine it. But, you’re not seriously thinking about going to see Harvey, are you?’ I need him to be on my side. ‘I honestly don’t know yet, but I . . . if I do, I don’t want to go on my own. I don’t mind driving, but if I get there and he says something to me . . . I . . . I don’t know what sort of state I’m going to be in when I leave. If I drive, I’d be worried about losing control and crashing, and . . .’ I picture myself walking out of the prison, my head in a daze, my legs shaking. ‘You want me to come with you?’ he asks. ‘Look, there’s no way Michael and Emma are going to come with me. Emma looked like she wanted to tear the letter up this morning. I know they think seeing Harvey is going to be painful, but I just don’t think they really understand how important this is for me. I . . . I guess I just want to see what Harvey has to say, maybe then I might finally be able to find some peace.’ I keep my focus on the back of the house, my heart running hard. ‘OK, see if you can arrange a visit with him. If he wants to still go ahead with meeting you, then yeah, I’ll come,’ Callum says. ‘Thank you,’ I say. I want to lean my head on his shoulder, breathe in the musky scent of his cologne and Lynx deodorant. I dig the heel of my shoe into the soft grass. I won’t. Michael opens the kitchen door and peers out at us. ‘Come on you two, I know you’re both adults now, but that doesn’t mean you have to be unsociable.’ There’s a glint in his eyes. He’s joking. ‘Yep just coming,’ I call to him and wipe my eyes. ‘You OK?’ Callum asks, looking at me with concern etched into his forehead. I nod. ‘Fine, I’m just hoping Harvey really wants to tell me what happened, otherwise, where the hell do I go from here?’ I get up from the swing and Callum follows my lead. We trudge back towards the house in silence, the only sound filtering through is the chirp of the birds and my beating heart. There’s no way Harvey can be messing with me. He’s got to want to talk to me. He’s got to. Callum opens the patio door and we step back into the kitchen. Author Notes Characters: Danielle (protagonist) Callum (Danielle's best friend) Harvey (Danielle's brother Michael (Danielle's adoptive father) Emma (Danielle's adoptive mother) John Cole (Danielle's biological father) Laura Cole (Danielle's biological mother) Ian Jones (third person who Harvey killed) Max Hardy (podcaster) Luke (works with Oliver) Oliver Adams (Raven House owner) Mary (works with Oliver) Abraham (Raven House resident) Abigail (Raven House resident) Isaac (Raven House resident) Noah (Raven House resident) Eve (Raven House resident)

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