Excellent Oliver works with Danielle His Silence : His Silence - Chapter 31 by Jacob1395

Background When Harvey murders his parents, he refuses to say why he did it. Twenty years later, he's finally ready to talk. ‘You sure you want to go with him back on your own?’ Callum hisses at me. Mary takes my plate from me. She lingers for a few moments, looking once over her shoulder, and marches across the room and disappears through the kitchen door. ‘I’d watch out for her if I were you,’ I say to Callum. I still haven’t asked him what they spoke about earlier. ‘I think she’s going to be keeping an eye on us. It’ll be fine with Oliver though, I’ll catch you later. Try and get talking to people if you can. Ask them about life here, and see if you can get anything more out of them.’ I hug him and stand. Oliver’s waiting for me by the kitchen door, he’s looking at the ceiling. I hurry after him. I slip into the kitchen and spot Abigial at the sink, her back is to me. A brown haired man walks over to her, leans in and places his hand on her shoulder. She shoves the man off and bangs the saucepan she was washing on the drainer. I frown. She doesn’t even look back towards him. What’s going on between them? The man shakes his head and edges back into the hallway. I focus my attention back on Oliver. What sort of exercises does he want to practise with me? There wasn’t much Mary gave away earlier, other than her talking nonsense about finding your life partner. Oliver smiles, holding the kitchen door open for me, letting me past through first. The door bangs shut behind him. ‘I promise you, Danielle, what I’m about to teach you will change your life in more ways than you can imagine.’ He totally believes what he’s saying. There’s excitement in his voice. We head back towards the annexe, the salty air kissing my cheeks. Oliver waves to Abraham, he’s back by the vegetable patch. I don’t look towards him. I keep my gaze fixed on the gravel path ahead. I need to find out more about him. Oliver holds the door of the annexe open for me. ‘Do you want to come through into my room?’ he asks. I stand still for a second, replaying what he said to me over in my mind. ‘OK,’ I say. He opens his door. I was expecting to be hit by a musky scent, like Callum’s room at his house, but instead there’s an aroma of vanilla. My eyes water. It smells of, it smells of Mum, she . . . she always wore vanilla scented perfume. I take in a deep breath. The smell was always so comforting. Tears build. I squeeze my fists. I won’t cry. Not in front of Oliver. I take in a deep breath and flick my gaze around the room. His room’s a similar size to mine. In the corner to my right there’s a television. His window’s open a smidge, I eye the vanilla scented diffuser on the windowsill. ‘Please sit,’ he says. He’s directing me to a plush purple armchair by the window. I sit in the soft chair, cool air racing up my arms. Oliver moves over to his bedside cabinet on the right hand side of his bed and yanks the top drawer open. ‘I’ve always hoped I would be able to give these back to you.’ He lifts out a couple of items. Why couldn’t they have been kept in a safe, where no one could touch them? ‘I’m sure you’ll be interested in these. This watch belonged to your father, it’s a very nice watch, a Rolex, and I believe he inherited it from his parents. I imagine if you choose to sell it, it might fetch you quite a bit of money.’ There’s something in his voice I can’t quite place. Perhaps he’s feeling resentment at handing the watch to me. He glances towards the window, then back to me. There’s another object in his hand. A gold necklace, glinting in the light. ‘And this necklace belonged to your mother. She wore it every day, near enough.’ ‘You’ve never actually told me how you met, and why you ended up living here,’ I say, my heart beating hard. Sweats forming under my arms. I take the watch and the necklace from him, a shiver racing through me as my skin comes into contact with the cool metal. I swallow. Is this all Oliver’s got? Oliver sits on the edge of his bed, wiping his forehead. ‘I met them both when your brother was less than a year old. I got chatting one afternoon to your mother on the promenade, they lived in Southend. But . . . a few months later, my wife and I were involved in a car accident and she . . .  she didn’t make it.’ He rubs his hands together, his Adam’s apple bobs up and down in his throat. Did he get the scar above his eye from the accident? I look away, my cheeks burning. ‘Oh God, Oliver I’m really sorry.’ Why the hell did I ask? He shakes his head. ‘It’s fine. It happened a long time ago now. But as I’ve always believed, everything happens for a reason, and although I suffered a tragedy, like you did, it led me to the path I’m now on. But your parents and I, we remained firm friends. Shortly after my wife passed away, we talked about living together and things grew from there. Now we’re a thriving community. I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved together.’ ‘So, you and my parents were the founders of this place, then?’ I ask. He nods enthusiastically. ‘Yes, Danielle, and look at what we’ve achieved and how we’ve helped everyone. You too can achieve the same level of happiness everyone here has. Now, if you’d like to, I’d like to practise these exercises which I believe Mary may have spoken to you briefly about before lunch.’ ‘Um, she did, yep,’ I say, my body tensing. He hasn’t explained yet what he wants to do. ‘Oliver, I just had quick question about Abraham . . . he . . . told me he’d been in prison. What was he in prison for?’ I picture Abraham, standing above my parents, axe in hand. I shiver. Oliver sighs. His eyes glide around the room and he runs his hands down his trousers. ‘I think it should be Abraham who tells you his story. I don’t feel as though I could, it would be a breach of trust.’ My heart crashes in my chest. What doesn’t he want to tell me? ‘Now, firstly, I want you to focus on your breathing. Can you do that for me, Danielle? I’ll shut the window, so there’s no distraction from any noise outside.’ He gets off the bed and heads over to the window, gently shutting it. The back of my neck prickles, tension coils around my stomach. Oliver sits back on the bed. ‘Now, focus on your breathing, in and out. Close your eyes.’ I don’t want to close them, but there’s something about his voice, it’s so smooth, like honey. I’m unable to resist. I close my eyes. I sense him move closer to me, his warm breath tickles my nose. I shift backwards in my chair. ‘It’s OK, it’s OK,’ he says. ‘I want you to picture a place where you feel most at ease. Somewhere you can be yourself.’ I’m in the garden back at home. Emma’s beside me, like she was the other day, sunbathing. My shoulders drop. ‘Excellent, now, slowly, I want you to count backwards from ten, and I . . .’ The vision distorts. My spine’s pressing into the back of the hard cupboard. No, please. There’s a scream coming from downstairs. Coats are flapping in my face. ‘Danielle, Danielle.’ Oliver’s voice tries to reach me. I’m drowning. Mum’s calling out, begging Harvey to stop. No. There are footsteps. Thump, thump, thump. Harvey’s staring at me through the gap in the wardrobe, his shirt soaked in blood.  ‘No!’ My scream snaps me out of the vision.  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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