The Silent Speaker (Prologue)

Vien walked to to her house in a hurry, her navy cloak fluttering behind. She could not wait for them to arrive, the policia. It would be their seventh time here to interrogate her family members. The interrogation was the same for each time but their sight made her hopeful. The robbers would be found no matter what.

But with the way things were going, that seemed a bit too optimistic. It had been a month since the robbery happened. The loss had been replaced - scribbler device, communication orbs, ring watches, money, and everything else they had stolen. Despite that, the anxiety still lingered around. Her parents stayed awake at each night to keep watch on their house.

She hoped that routine ended soon. Robberies still happened and the policia still failed to catch the robbers but it did not mean it would stay like this forever. The robbers would be found. The problem would be solved. Everything would be as they were before. Or so she hoped. She hoped as she always did since she could not do anything else to help them.

Even my silent speaking won’t help me, she thought. They wore masks, their hands wrapped with gloves. Only one of them spoke with a voice I still couldn’t recognize.

She arrived at the cemented house. From the thick and transparent glass pasted on the wooden door, she saw no one in the living room. She knocked the door thrice. “I’m home!” she said with a heightened voice.

No one replied or showed up in front of the hard glass. She spun to look at the garage. There was no car. There was a steel broom, however. Someone should be in there, the house, and only one person who used it now. She sighed. He must be sleeping right now to be unable to respond to her words.

She took a deep breath and kept her mouth shut. A silent speaker could not sense the other but her words would still go through as long as it was still within the radius of her ability.

Niva, wake up, she spoke with her mind, directing her words to her older brother. I’m at the front door now. Open it.

No reply.

She sighed again and resumed the silence. Niva... WAKE UP! WAKE UP, I SAID! OPEN THIS DOOR NOW!

Still nothing. She was sure Niva had heard it though. He was not much of a heavy sleeper. She just needed to wait. She leaned on the gray corner besides the door and folded her arms. She breathed in the fresh air. Since the rain had ceased before she started to walk to here, the evening was cool.

Something clinked from inside the house and the door was opened, pushing her toward the corner. She could feel Niva inspecting the surrounding but she was sure he was still groggy or else he would see from the glass her presence. She smiled and jumped out from it with a loud voice. Niva trembled in shock, putting his left hand on his chest as if checking for his heart whether it was still beating or not.

“For Awin’s sake!” he exclaimed and frowned at her. “Don’t make me have heart attack, Vien. It’s not cool.”

She chuckled. “Heart attack’s never been cool.” She glanced at him from top to bottom before pushing him aside and letting herself through the door. “You sleep at the evening regularly now, you do. They haven’t arrived yet?” She inspected the living room, saw the familiar turquoise couch at the corner of it, and plopped on it, enjoying its fluffiness. It was true that it did not take long for her to arrive at home from school - it only took a quarter of an hour - but it did not mean she was not at least a bit tired.

Taking a seat on a similar couch opposite to hers, Niva leaned in and inspected her. “You should’ve asked me to pick you up, you know. You don’t have to sweat like this. Going home with a steel broom is easier and faster.” He frowned with worry.

She waved it away and smiled. They had this conversation at least once a week after she decided to walk to school six months ago. “It’s nothing, really. I just want to exercise. Plus, it takes you half an hour to reach this area after working. I don’t want to bother you.” She leaned in and patted his arm. “For a who-knows-how-many times, don’t worry.”

He gave her a faint smile and leaned back. He sighed. “I have to worry. The robberies are still happening, Vien.” He shook his head. “I know they always happen late at night but we have to be careful.”

Since you said they always happened at night, why are you worried at this serene evening? Vien thought, careful not to direct her words to him. It was easier to do that when you did not want any reply from someone you were thinking of. She checked her wristwatch. It was four in the evening. “Half an hour late and still counting,” she breathed.

He heard her. “They’re slacking, the policias these days,” he said and switched on the television located at the end of the wall opposite to him. The screen went alive with colours. He decreased its volume a bit.

She thought he did that to hear her reply but she was not going to give him one. Niva might gave up on policias but she was not. As long as someone were out there to help solve this robbery mystery, she still had hope. She clinged to it.

“I’m tired,” she said. “You’ve got your rest, now I want to claim mine. Wake me up when they come, can you?”

He gave her a slow nod, his eyes already fixed on the screen. Vien followed his gaze and found a rather inappropriate music video with a revealing female singer doing a rather erotic dance step. She quickly threw her gaze on somewhere else before focusing them to the direction of her room.

“Men these days know no shame,” she whispered and rushed away to her room. “Crisy protect my eyes.” A quick pray should be enough to avoid her from seeing those unnecessary erotic content.

She went into her room which was ten steps away from the living room and threw herself to the bed without a moment’s thought. A quick nap with a nice dream should be enough to get rid of her thought on the music video. It should be. She was frowning with curiosity right now on how the female singer did the intricate dance with her legs.

At the end, her mind spared her tired body and she slipped into the world of dreams.