Deadly Silence (complete) Chapter 54

“Where were you this morning?” Was the first thing out of Miriam’s mouth when she found Vivian at their usual spot in the cafeteria. “Weren’t we supposed to meet up before first period? I even texted you and you never responded.”

“My phone died,” Vivian explained with a bit of a shrug. “Someone decided to give my things a shower after practice so I spent first period going home to change.”

“…what? Why would someone do that?”

Vivian shrugged. “Beats me. I’m guessing Abby is the mastermind behind it, but hell if I know why she had it done.”

“I’ve never had anything like that happen to me before,” Miriam said as she settled in with her food. “I just get insults thrown at me for the most part.”

*Because you react to their insults so they stick to them. I talk back so they don’t get satisfaction when they go after me. Is that why this happened? Because I opened my mouth?*

Vivian mulled this thought over as she ate. Would it be best if she just took everything on the chin without speaking? Would that be enough? Or would she need to try and make herself seem smaller, show fear, embarrassment, hurt? Unless she figured out how to conform to what they wanted things like this morning would keep happening.

What if it was too late and no matter what she did moving forward they wouldn’t revert to just verbal insults?

This was why Vivian disliked being even remotely social; once shit hit the fan it was already too late, and she was prone to doing just that without even realizing it.

“What are you gonna do about it?” Miriam asked, breaking Vivian’s train of thought.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing? Really?”

“What do you usually do?”

“…well… nothing, but you’re not me. You…” Miriam waved her hand in the air a bit, as if an impromptu game of charades would explain what she was trying to say.

“I have no proof of who actually did it, only speculation,” Vivian explained. “If I go to a teacher with just that, then whoever did it would retaliate. If I act like nothing happened, maybe someone will step up and claim it.”

“Or they’ll do worse next time.”

Vivian ticked her fork in the air. “Or that. Now that I know to expect it I won’t be so unprepared.”

“How are you supposed to prepare for something like this?!”

“Well, for starters, waterproofing my stuff would be a smart idea. And making sure everything is safely locked away so no one but I can get to it.”

“Vivian… how can you not be bothered by this? I’m bothered by what happened and it didn’t even happen to me.”

Vivian looked over at her friend’s worried face and shook her head. “It’s not that it doesn’t bother me… it’s that…” She had to pause, unsure how to continue. What she wanted to say was that when you’ve been bullied far worse, by someone who was supposed to love you, things like this weren’t worth giving a second thought. “I just don’t… show it, I guess?”

“Yo!” Theo dropped his tray on the table and sat across from them again, effectively ending their conversation without realizing it. It was one of his better qualities — showing up in the middle of an awkward conversation without meaning to, thus saving Vivian from saying more than she wanted.

“Hey, Theo, did you hear what happened to Vivian?”

Vivian let out a sigh as Miriam filled the boy in on what had transpired that morning. Not that it bothered Vivian that her friend was telling someone else about it, just that there wasn’t really any point to it. What could Theo do that neither of them could?

“What the hell,” he said once Miriam had finished. “That’s just… what the hell.”

“Yep,” Vivian nodded, popping the p for emphasis. “It’s been a fun morning. Actually, I need to get to the library to finish rewriting my homework…”

“Wait a second,” Theo called out as she was already on her feet. “Are you alright?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” She asked in response, giving him an odd look. “It was only water.”

“Well, sure, but…”

“I’ll talk to you guys later.”

Vivian left without waiting for either of them to say more, not wanting to discuss how she felt or any of that with them, or anyone else for that matter.

This wasn’t their problem to deal with and it was starting to feel like they wanted to do something about it. It wouldn’t be right if Vivian allowed them to become entangled in it so she left before they could offer.

It was bad enough she needed to figure out how to explain it to Samuel that evening. There would be no hiding certain facts from him, either, and if he found out she hadn’t told the entire truth? Vivian was certain that wouldn’t be looked upon favourably.

That left one available option: downplay the hell out of the situation and emphasize wanting to deal with it herself.

As the bell signalling the end of lunch rang, Vivian let out a sigh of relief having finished redoing her homework in the nick of time. Safe from scolding, she attended the rest of her classes as usual.

After the final bell of the day, she instructed Gilbert to bring her to the mall; a new phone was needed as hers, now dry, still refused to turn back on.

It was an odd feeling. Vivian wasn’t particularly attached to the device, but she’d had it for nearly five years so it felt a little sad to know it was now just a piece of junk.

“Shall I accompany you inside?” Gilbert offered once he found a spot to park in the busy parking lot.

Vivian thought about it for a moment. For the most part she preferred being alone; but when there was a crowd of people being alone made her nervous. “As long as you don’t mind,” she replied with a small nod. She remembered how he’d accompanied her to pick up her uniform, following without saying a word. His presence had helped keep her nerves in check, something she’d never managed to thank him for, either. Was he asking this time because she didn’t look as uneasy? Or maybe he worried following her into the mall would make her feel uncomfortable — in case another student saw them together?

Shaking her head, Vivian pushed those thoughts away and exited the car. It didn’t matter why he asked, only that he somehow knew enough to ask.

Having only been to the mall once before, Vivian was forced to stop at the electronic map and kiosk near the entrance. Wandering around in search of the store she wanted felt like a waste of time so finding it on the map and planning the shortest route in and out was essential.

Getting a new phone turned out to be more involved than she realized.

They first inspected her old device, attempting to turn it on in a number of different ways only to conclude it couldn’t be saved; even the SIM card hadn’t survived the shower.

Next they had to show Vivian all the newest models, explaining the different features and specs — most of which flew over her head. All she wanted was a phone that worked; make calls, send texts, take photos, and access the internet so she could search things when needed. Whatever extra it had was just… whatever to her. So what if this one’s camera was better, or that one had more storage when she only took photos to remind herself of things and stored everything remotely important in an online drive she paid a monthly subscription to use. Once she bought and activated the new phone all she had to do was import everything from said drive and that would be that.

When she’d finally chosen the phone she wanted, the clerk then went into their sales pitch on which plan best suited Vivian’s lifestyle. Maybe it was hard for someone to believe a teen girl didn’t need extra data or access to whatever services were being thrown her way, or maybe the clerk just really wanted to make their monthly sales quota in a single day; regardless Vivian wasn’t having it and stubbornly refused everything she didn’t want or need. There was defeat in the clerk’s eyes when, finally, they activated the phone with one of the cheapest plans available.

Importing her information from the online drive would take a little while, so Vivian decided to deal with it after she returned home; it wouldn’t cost her any data that way, too.

“All done here,” she told Gilbert as they stepped out of the store. “Let’s go home.”

The parking lot was as busy as it had been upon their arrival, making Vivian want to tell Gilbert to get the car and just pick her up at the curb, but that was just a selfish thought that didn’t hold much weight. Instead she led the way through the parking lot until the car came in sight.

*Finally.*

Before she could take another step there was a loud pop, followed almost instantly by a strong force crashing into her from behind. Another loud pop and whoever had slammed into her grunted but didn’t move, keeping her pinned face down on the ground. “G-Gilbert?” She managed to stutter, catching sight of him out the corner of her eye.