Deadly Silence (complete) Chapter 80

“A deal?” Samuel asked. He couldn’t help being curious about what this deal his daughter had in mind could be. Making deals that benefitted him was par for the course in his world. Would Vivian be able to make one he’d interested in taking even if it benefited her more than him?

“Yes. A deal. You tell me everything you already know, and I’ll fill in the blanks. But… you aren’t allowed to do anything about it unless I specifically ask.”

*Interesting…* Samuel crossed his arms as he regarded his daughter for a minute. Getting her to open up was definitely something he wanted, but if it tied his hands to specifically prevent him from protecting her... “What if I decide you need help?”

“Then you’d be breaking your own rules,” she shrugged, not even the hint of a smirk on her lips. She wasn’t doing this to be amusing; this was a serious matter to her and it was to be taken that way. “You said I was responsible for the situations I got myself into and you’d only step in if needed and after the fact. So long as the situation is ongoing then you aren’t suppose to do anything about it.”

“Doesn’t that mean you’re currently breaking the rules by not telling me what’s happening?” He pointed out, wondering if she’d thought this through as much as she figured.

“You have a general idea of what’s going on, don’t you?” She countered with a shrug. “You said you didn’t want or need specifics so I’ve never given you any.”

Samuel let out a sigh, pressing his fingers against his temple. “You are far too much like me for my liking.”

Even he wasn’t sure if what he’d said was a compliment or not, and was grateful when Vivian decided to ignore his statement. “I’ve been dealing with my own problems my entire life. You’ve no doubt read my file and know I don’t talk about things unless I want to.”

It hurt, hearing her say those words. He didn’t want to think about how difficult life had been, how alone she must have felt. “Why don’t you want help, Vivian? Why do you feel the need to shoulder everything yourself?”

“Because…” she paused, hesitating before what she said next. “Because I can only count on myself.”

Again those words hurt to hear. Samuel knew it wasn’t his fault but the guilt came anyway. “I’m not letting you go. Ever.” He was a possessive man and Vivian was his biological daughter; a daughter he hadn’t even known about. There were years he had to make up for, moments to experience and memories yet to be made, and nothing was going to stop him from any of it.

“Maybe one day I’ll believe that, but right now I don’t.” A bit surprised at her honesty, Samuel watched his daughter carefully. To tell someone they weren’t trusted when that’s all they wanted was painful, but Vivian wasn’t one to turn away from neither truth nor pain — instead she seemed to bury it deep in her heart..

“I understand,” he managed to say after a moment, nodding slowly as he spoke. He’d already known the level of trust between them wasn’t great, that it would take time to build and develop. “Alright. How about we do this: moving forward, when you tell me about anything, unless you specifically ask for my help I will refrain from jumping in.”

“Sounds good,” she nodded, then hesitated again. “Unless it’s… something that needs a bodyguard. I… just mean with things at school or with friends. So long as I’m not in danger?”

A smile crossed his face at her words. So she *did* trust him to keep her safe — it was a start. “I can work with that. I’ll make sure you stay safe while you figure out your own problems.”

“Thanks.”

“Alright then,” Samuel let out with a breath. “Guess I need to tell you what I know.” He turned and made his way to her bed, where he sat. Patting the spot beside him, he waited for Vivian to sit before speaking again. “Let’s see... I know all your things were basically ruined Wednesday, probably at the same time as your phone.”

“Water logged isn’t ruined,” Vivian insisted with a frown. Under normal circumstances he might have agreed, but he’d seen her notebooks and the smeared ink stains.

“Ink stained is ruined,” he countered, giving her a gently bump with his shoulder. “At first I figured you’d dropped your phone in the toilet and were embarrassed about it, but you wouldn’t have reached out if that was the case. You called just after first period started, which means something happened during practice. Gilbert noted your wet bag and you were wearing your gym uniform; you also spent half an hour at home which means you did more than just grab your spare.”

There was a flicker of surprise in Vivian’s eyes, as if she hadn’t expected him to figure this much out. Even without Gilbert tattling on her, Samuel needed only a few context clues to put together a likely scenario.

She probably thought she’d covered her tracks better.

“Something happened during or just after practice that involved all of your things getting wet,” he finished in a thoughtful tone, though inside his anger towards whoever dared mess with Vivian burned hot. “The most likely scenario is someone did this to you with malicious intent, while the least likely is someone did it accidentally.”

Vivian hummed a little after he finished speaking but said nothing.

“Your turn,” he reminded her with another shoulder bump.

Huffing a little, she said, “You swear you won’t do anything unless I ask you to?”

“Cross my heart,” he assured her as he crossed his heart with a finger. And he intended to do his best to abide by this promise.

“Fine… You basically know what happened, anyway. Someone threw my things in the shower, either during practice or right before it ended. No one said anything so they’re either all in on it or didn’t notice, though I doubt that part.”

“Vivian…” he trailed off, not liking any of what she said.

She shook her head. “No. You swore you wouldn’t do anything, so let me finish.”

“Alright. Keep going.”

Vivian glanced at him, a frown creasing her brow. The neutral expression he currently wore was a mask to hide his true feelings on the matter. If she knew how much anger he felt at that moment it was likely she’d put even more distance between them, fearful of that anger being directed towards her.

“Anyway… There was no way to know who did it, so I figured whatever, it’s just water. It’s not like they threw everything in a toilet.”

Samuel leaned forward a little as he ran a hand over his face, but he didn’t say anything, fighting to maintain an outward appearance of calm.

“Everyone wants me to do something about it and I keep telling them I won’t.”

“Why won’t you?” He managed to ask.

“Because what they’re doing is annoying, sure, but it’s not like it’s hurting me.” Vivian ignored the look he shot her way, choosing to keep talking instead. “Besides, I didn’t know who did it so how would I even get back at them?”

“Vivian…”

“I’d already made up my mind I was going to at least find the person responsible so I could keep my eye on them; but then I realized it could backfire. … But that could also work in my favour.” She pursed her lips shut to stop herself from rambling. For a few seconds she said nothing until, finally, she took a deep breath.

Vivian then explained how she’d stained some girl named Adriana’s fingers blue and how by simply marking whoever was responsible for doing anything behind closed doors to her things, she would force the bullies to, eventually, retaliate in the open. It was when that happened she would be able to bring them down without ever admitting to playing any part but the victim who just wanted to be left alone.

By the time she finished, Samuel was fighting back the smile that threatened to show.

“You look like you’re amused by this more than anything,” Vivian accused him.

“Honestly? I am.” And he was very amused at how she’d come up with this plan. “Like you said, I’ve read your file, and yet I still have it in my head that as my little girl you need me to fight your battles for you.”

Vivian pursed her lips at this, causing Samuel to laugh a bit more as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder into a side hug. She didn’t like being touched, so a real hug had never been something they’d shared, but this sort of thing was something she’d once said was fine.

“I’m sorry, Vivian. I know you can deal with your problems yourself, but it doesn’t stop me from wanting to do everything I can to fix them for you.”

“I… appreciate the thought,” she told him after a moment. “I do. But I need to deal with this in my own way.”

“I can see that. You’ve thought it through; what your end goal is and how to get there, along with possible issues along the way. In that regard, you and I are alike. But… do me a favour? Don’t wait until you get in over your head before asking for help.”