Deadly Silence (complete) Chapter 79

The second Vivian informed Miriam about getting permission to go to the amusement park with Theo the auburn-haired girl started a video call.

“What are you wearing?” She demanded, face a bit too close to the camera as Vivian grimaced.

“Clothes? Does it matter?”

“You have to look cute, Vivian. Cute!”

“What’s wrong with just looking like I normally do?”

“…technically nothing… but…”

“Do I need to remind you about our talk on meddling?” Vivian asked, raising her eyebrow as she glanced at the phone.

A sheepish look crossed Miriam face as she let out a matching laugh. “No, I remember. I’m getting carried away again, aren’t I?”

“A bit. It’s not a date, just two friends hanging out, anyway.” Vivian pulled open her closet door and stepped inside, turning the phone so her friend could see the available clothes. “I have all these to choose from.”

“Ooooh, some of those look super cute, Vivian! Why don’t you put on what you’ve got in mind?”

“You want me to put it on and show you? Can’t I just hold up the clothes?”

“Nope. I want a fashion show. So get changed and we can discuss! I’m gonna get some popcorn while you change.”

For the next hour Vivian modelled different outfits in an attempt to get Miriam’s seal of approval on something. It wasn’t that she needed her friend’s permission to wear anything, but Vivian wanted Miriam to feel like her opinion mattered; and it was kind of fun to talk about regular teenage stuff with someone.

The call ended once an outfit was selected and Vivian was stuck putting everything away afterwards. She’d only just finished when a knock sounded at her door.

“Come in,” she called, stepping out of the closet with a sigh.

Samuel entered her room, his gaze taking in the unchanged neutral wall colour and lack of any personal touches he’d told his daughter she could make. His expression didn’t change throughout his two second inspection and a smile graced his face when his eyes landed on Vivian. “Excited about tomorrow?”

She shrugged her shoulders a bit. “I guess? I haven’t been to an amusement park in a few years.”

Her father nodded. Silence enveloped them, causing Vivian to wonder why he’d come to see her in the first place. It couldn’t have been to just ask one question. “What’s up?”

Shifting his weight, Samuel looked almost uncomfortable for a second. “With Thanksgiving coming up, I was wondering what you were hoping it’d be like now that you’re home.”

Vivian tilted her head a little to one side, wondering what he meant by that. “What do you mean? I figured you’d just do whatever you normally do.”

“It’s normally a big family event,” he explained, his hands suddenly in his pockets as if he didn’t want to talk about it. “As in both mine and Annie’s family get together.”

It dawned on her what the issue was with this plan. “They still don’t know about me, do they?”

“They do, actually. Your first week of school they started hounding me to bring you around, but I told them you needed time to adjust after everything. For the most part they’ve been cooperative on that front, but… I’m not sure how long that’ll continue to be the case if we don’t show up for the holiday.”

So he’d been shielding her from their extended families? Vivian wasn’t sure how to feel about him doing this without asking but decided to let it go. The truth was she would have asked him to do exactly what he’d done anyway so it was a moot point. She would have to talk to him about making these kind of decisions without her input, though, but that could wait for another day.

Taking her silence as hesitation, Samuel continued to speak. “If you would rather we do something small, with just us, I have no issue telling them they’ll need to wait a while longer. Whatever you want I’ll make it happen.”

The thought of meeting the entire extended family at once was overwhelming to Vivian. “Can I… think about it for a couple days?”

“Of course,” he agreed. “I can give you til Sunday night to decide.”

“That should be long enough,” she told him.

“Good.”

Another silence descended upon them as Samuel stood watching his daughter. “… anything else…?” She hesitated to ask.

“Is there anything you want to tell me?”

His words sent a shock through her body, causing her to stiffen. Was he asking because he knew or because he had a suspicion? Had Laurent said something? Or was the man fishing… Vivian wasn’t sure why he’d ask that question.

If he already knew and she tried to skirt the truth what would happen? Should she chance it?

“Tell you about what?” She inquired, hoping he’d be willing to clarify.

Samuel let out a small sigh before shaking his head. “Never mind.”

“I can’t answer your question if you don’t tell me what it’s about,” she told him, crossing her arms. It felt like he was expecting her to just give up any and all information without needing to specifically ask. This wasn’t the first time he’d done it and as nice as it was for him to ask such broad questions she could avoid, it was starting to get annoying. She wanted to know what, exactly, he wanted to know, because she wanted to know what he knew. This would continue being the case until one of them bit the bullet and said something.

For a minute they stared at one another before Samuel let out a small laugh, his shoulders relaxing. Hands free from his pockets, he held them out as if in surrender. “You’re absolutely right. I’m sorry. It’s a bad habit of mine and I’ll try and do better in the future.”

“So what were you asking about?” She asked again, not bothering to comment on his apology. Vivian wasn’t sure if he was being sincere or not.

“I was hoping you’d be willing to open up a bit more about whatever happened on Wednesday with your… phone.”

“Oh.” That hadn’t the answer she expected. “Uh. Nothing else has happened…? I’m… dealing with it in my own way.”

“Mind sharing what way that is?”

For a moment Vivian said nothing as she stared at her father, debating her options. He’d decided to give her a little bit more information though not enough to mean much. “How about we make a deal.”