The Silence

The clouds had settled, the ground was damp and moist. The fog had
been lingering for some time now. I could hear the sound of boots
pulling mud from the earth as I tried to settle my breathing. I
quickly jerked my rifle to the left as I heard a dog bark, my nerves
were at their peak. I jumped as a hand landed on my shoulder. It
squeezed but I had calmed realizing it was not a enemies, but my
brothers. Joey, "Sh little brother. It is alright, deep breaths. Yes
they use the fog as armor but this is our home." He said to calm me. I
had started breathing deep breaths through my nose. I could smell the
faint dew of the rain, it seemed to calm me as I closed my eyes
remembering the time of civilized society. School everyday, the bus
rides, the homework, worrying about the future, worrying if your
friend will pay you back from that time you borrowed him money.
Friends, being a teenager. I never thought I'd miss school like I do,
What I would do to have those days back, no one has that privilege
anymore. To see my friends again, I never see them, I don't even know
if any of them are alive. I felt a smile growing on my face as I dived
into deep thought of memories. Then a crack, bang, a bullet.
I dropped my rifles butt to the ground, I felt all over my body,
nothing. I looked behind me, in the wood of the house. A gash, a hole,
the bullet. I dropped to the ground in fright. The chill of the air
crawling up my spine, echo's of the wind whispering past my ears. Joey
ran over to me shouting deft screams at me. I was pulled to my feet,
Joey threw me to the opposite wall, I fell on my side as I saw him
pick up my rifle and stick the barrel out the window as I did. He
pulled the trigger. I cringed in the sound of the fire, time and time
again a bang of gunfire, not only from Joey. From outside. I saw as
the women, my mom and my two older sisters, and the children, my two
little nephews were rushed down stairs by the head of our house, my
first brother in law and my second brother in law, Rick and George.
Joey pulled me to my feet as we ran downstairs. My hearing started to
come back to me as Rick handed me a pistol and two clips. "We defend
this basement with our lives." He said to all of us.
"When will our group be back from town?" Asked Joey. Rick gave a grim look.
"I don't know, it could be an hour from now." He said as he went ahead of us. "They haven't gotten inside yet, the staircase is a narrow death trap, we gun them down as they run in."
"Got yeah" I said. As we positioned ourselves at the stairs we seemed
to over see the possibility of them coming through the garage door to the basement. We heard banging as the door was broken open, Joey and I were closest as we ran down the hall to run into two men,
Joey was knocked in the head by one of them. I tackled a smaller one
to the ground as I started to punch him in the face. Joey grabbed the
other's legs and made him trip over himself to fall on the floor, Rick
turned the corner and saw Joey on the bigger ones back, Joey jumped
off of him as Rick fired a shot into the mans head. Joey pulled me off
the smaller one and picked him up, he pinned him to the wall and
knocked him out.
"What do we do with him?" Asked Joey breathing heavily.
"We have other problems right now, Darren, you can handle him right?"
He asked me, I wiped the blood from my knuckles. "Sure, I'll watch
him." Joey and the others then ran back to the staircase but went
upstairs this time. A few minutes past before I heard the door to the
garage open again, I tried to look quickly but was struck in the head
hard, I fell to my knees dazed, the man looked down at me for a second
before running past me towards the room with the women and children,
the room looked fuzzy and it was hard to stand up but I managed to as
I saw one of my little nephews James run down the hallway as fast as he
could screaming and the man who hit me running after him, I could hear
echoing screams as my sister Alicia tried running after them, I
stopped her and ran after the man myself, I was to dazed to aim my
pistol so I put it in my holster. I ran upstairs after them as quick
as I could in my dazed status, catching myself from falling down the
steps. I caught up to the man before he could grab James. I managed to
grab him and slow him down, he swung his arm around holding a knife,
it pierced into my shoulder. I fell to the ground trying to pry the
knife out of my shoulder, I bit my tongue as It grind against my bone,
I could not get it free. A small blood trail was leading from my mouth
to my chin. I felt as if I was gonna faint, I coughed blood on the
floor as I tried lifting my self up. James was cornered, he grabbed
him as I barley stood to my feet only to collapse again to my knees.
I could hear James shouting my name. "Uncle Darren! Help!" I cringed in
hearing his voice is so much fear. James then bit his arm, I could hear
the man scream in pain as blood ran down his forearm, he dropped him
and pulled out a pistol. He kicked him to the wall and held a pistol
to his head."Ahhhhh!!" I shouted in anger as I jumped to my feet running at him, I tackled
him with all my strength into the patio glass door, his gun
fired into the ceiling. The glass door shattered as we crashed through
it, pieces of glass were in my arms and face, I looked at the knife, it had gone
even deeper to the hilt. I looked around to see the man crawling
towards his pistol, I pulled his legs back with all the strength I
could muster feeling the pain in my shoulder as if the muscle was
tearing the harder I pulled, I heard his screams as glass shards dug
into his legs ripping past the pant legs into his skin. I managed to
climb onto his back pulling my pistol from my holster with my good
arm, he was struggling and so was I. I managed to pull it and put the
barrel to the back of his head. The sound of grunts were repetitive
until I pulled the trigger. The gunshot echoed through the trees, you
could hear birds all flying away, branches being rustled as they flew.
The struggle had stopped. It was silent.
After a minute of rest I climbed off of the man's back only to crawl my
way to the side wall of the house. I leaned up to it in tremendous
pain, I felt dizzy as the trees seemed to sway in the distance. My
eyes started to close as I heard small footsteps and a faint weeping
nearing the shattered door way. They were shut before I could see who it was.
As I woke I felt a faint feeling of eyes on me, I turned my head
slowly over my shoulder as I rested on my side, I was in my bed. Rick
stood in the corner of the room looking out the window. He had his
head in his palm as if he was disappointed or troubled by something.
Was it me? Had I failed in all my efforts to protect James? I turned
over onto my back making the bed squeak. He noticed.
"Hey, your awake. How do you feel?" He asked, I didn't expect such a
common question from him, especially him. I would have expected a more
when can you get back on your feet attitude. Something must really had
him thinking.
"I'm alive." I said as I attempted to raise my self up with my right
arm, I felt a very sharp and tense pain in my shoulder and chest
before collapsing back into the bed.
"Take it easy. That knife did a number on you." I looked at my
shoulder seeing it wrapped in white bandages with some faint red spots
deep in the fabric.
"Is James alright?" I asked.
"He's fine, was a little shook up over it for about two days but came
around eventually."
"Two days? How long was I asleep?"
"Four." He said looking towards the door as it opened. It was my mom,
she rushed to my bed side and sneezed me being careful to not squeeze
my shoulder. She always had a way of being gentle with me. As she let
me go Rick was trying to leave. I stopped him with a question.
"Why does my chest hurt if I was stabbed in my shoulder?" He looked at me.
"When he stabbed you he must had moved it around also because where
the knife initially entered shouldn't have torn some of the muscle
tissue it did tare."
"Well he stabbed me from the side but after I tackled him and landed
on the porch it dug deeper."
"You landed straight on it?" He questioned.
"Yes straight on it."
"Well that explains it then. I'll see you in a bit, I want you out
here in a half hour."
I slowly got my legs out of bed as I lifted my upper body using my
muscles in my stomach, it hurt but not as much as using my shoulder.
When I was up I saw my clothes folded neatly on a chair and my pistol
in it's holster with the two clips next to it, safety on. I got
dressed slowly, it was even hard to dress my self no less put my
holster around my waist. As I walked out of the room to look down the
hallway to the living room leading to the kitchen. I saw two people
were sitting on the couch, it was Joey and Dan. Dan was the best shot
out of any of us, a ex-veteran from when the U.S were over in Iraq and
Afghanistan. He's killed men before all of this, if it wasn't for him
I wouldn't of learned how to shoot as good as I do now, same goes for
all of us in this house. Also my second brother in law. As I walked
down the hallway Tucker ran from the kitchen at me all with his tail
wagging and smiling, he had to be my best friend in this house. Yeah
he was a dog but I don't know what I'd do without him. The sun was
bright today as I was welcomed with hugs by my sisters and Joe and
Dan.
"Where is James?" I asked to everybody. My sister pointed at him
sitting at the table, he got up and rushed to me with a tear in his
eye squeezing my lower body as hard as he could, witch wasn't very
hard but I could feel his pain.
"I thought you went to heaven uncle Darren." He said to me with a frog
in his throat. I could see tears going down his cheeks as he looked up
at me, I could feel my throat getting dry as I tried to come up with words
of compassion, I realized some times words can't express everything, I
simply pushed him away slightly, knelt down and hugged him tightly. I
could feel my tears draining down my cheeks as we hugged. After a long
hug with James I let go and stood back up, he smiled at me and went to
his room. "Rick wants you outside Darren." Said Joey putting a hand on my back
and smiling at me. I nodded and walked out the now shattered patio
door, I looked to see the blood from the man and the glass shards all
gone, I walked to the edge of the patio to meet Rick. Before I got to
him I turned to see where I leaned against the wall, I froze as I saw
a big blood stain on the side of the house, my blood, imprinted on the
tile. I couldn't move as I felt the pain all over again grabbing my
shoulder as if it was all happening again. Rick saw the fear in my
eyes.
"Joey! Get that blood off the side of my house! I asked you to do it
yesterday!" Joey ran outside to see my eyes fixed on the blood.
"Yeah I'm sorry no problem." He said rushing inside to grab a bucket
of water and a rag.
Rick grabbed my shoulders and turned my eye sight away from the blood.
It was as if I was in a trance, I got a hold of my thoughts and walked
with Rick down to the garden. He was silent the whole time down there,
he finally spoke when we got there. "Darren, I wanted to thank you. I
know James isn't my son by blood, but I see him as my own, the same
goes for you. I don't know what I would do if I lost him, but when I
saw you." He stopped, silent. "When I saw you...I realized that I
don't know what I would without you either. I know your not my son by
blood either, but I see you as my own too, I love you as my son." He stopped
again looking at the garden. I was speechless. Rick had never said
something like this to me, to anyone besides my sister, his wife. I
was utterly shocked. I wasn't sure what to think, he was scared I
could feel it. "Your a strong young man Darren, I see you leading this
family one day after what you did for James.." He stopped again. "I
know you will lead them one day." He then walked back to the house
without another word. I stayed at the garden alone with my thoughts.
After some solitary minutes of thinking I walked back to the house,
after walking back Rick walked up to me handing me the
keys to the car, one of the two vehicles we had. "Take a ride." He
said closing my hand with the keys in it. I nodded my head and walked
to the garage door, before I could open it I was stopped by my mom.
"Can I come with?" She asked me smiling. It was hard to tell my mom no
after everything she had done for me in my past, even before all of
this. I nodded as I opened the door and walked down the steps to the
car, I got in the drivers seat and waited for my mom to buckle her
self in. I started the car and backed it out of the garage as I saw
Rick outside waving us off with a smile with Joey next to him.
The sun was shining brightly as we hit the roads, "dry fine roads with
no cars in sight. I guess that's one good thing that came it of all of
this huh?"
My mom gave no answer as she was admiring the sunlight. She let out
two hard coughs. I looked at her quickly then turned my attention back
to the road. "Are you ok mom?"
"I'm fine hun, keep driving. Find us a good spot for the sun." After
about 15 minutes of silent driving I found a nice spot by a quiet
pond. My mom slowly got out of the car smelling the fresh air, I
guided her to a spot near the pond to relax.
"Darren." My mom said quietly. "You know I love you right?"
"Of course I do mom." I said immediately. She smiled.
"Your my only son, the one I wanted desperately, now the world has
seemed to end, and I still have my son." I looked at her, she had a
tear running down her cheek. "I'm realizing how lucky I am to have a
son like you Darren." She said grabbing me and hugging me, I could
feel her fear and pain as he hugged me, I wrapped my arms around her
and hugged her back. As she let go I did too. "Let's go home." She
said standing up.
After getting back on the road my mom seemed to be happy smiling and
admiring the farm land. I smiled also knowing she was happy. a moment later i looked back at the road, my smile
quickly disappeared as I saw a big van driving quickly down the road
behind us. I started to speed up as the van caught up to us. I looked
over to see the face of the man who was in the field shooting at the
house. I suddenly sped up hoping to out speed them, it did not work.
Soon the man looked back at me and said something to the people behind
him, the van door then suddenly slid open as two other men with
assault rifles aimed at our tires. In a flash of a second they were
firing, I felt the tires blow out from underneath us, I lost control
of the car as we hit the ditch and rolled over. It felt like only
second but very painful seconds as I was launched into the field from my seat. My mom still in the car.
I opened my eyes dazed and blurred as I saw the car upside down not far
from me, I tried standing up but couldn't, a sharp pain from my leg
struck me like lighting as I cringed, I looked down to see the bone of
my right leg popping out of my skin, blood ran down my leg as I
crawled to the car slowly, my vision seemed to steady out as I saw my
mom half way of of the car and the rest of her pinned in her seat. I
heard her coughing in pain as I got closer.
"Darren?" She wondered, glass had blinded her as her eyes were bleeding.
"Mom can you get loose?" I asked in my effort to get closer.
"No, I feel pinned, I can't move my legs."
"Your gonna be ok mom I'll get you out."
"But your shoulder." She said as I looked at it in pain, I then looked
at my leg, I knew I was in no shape to pull someone from a car wreck.
"I'm gonna get you out." I crawled my way to the inside of the car, I
saw that the dashboard had pinned her in her seat. I tried lifting it
with my arms but I could not due to my shoulder, I still tried with no
success.
"Darren you're leg." She said, I looked down to see her hand on it
feeling my bone, she could not see but she could feel that it was
broken.
"I'll be fine mom, I'm getting you out." I said as I tried lifting
again with no success. I could feel my breath getting heavier and my
muscles getting weaker. I had to stop for longer periods of time
between pushes due to my exhaustion. I looked at my mom with her eyes
closed.
"Open your eyes!" I shouted at her. Her eyes opened slowly. I could
feel a frog growing in my throat as my eyes started to fill with
tears.
"Darren." She said trying to get my attention, I did not respond.
"Darren." She said again, I looked at her with tears falling down my
face. "You need to go." She said faintly. I could tell she was
starting to faint.
"Mom please you need to stay awake." I said in a sob. She didn't
respond. "Mom please!" I shouted in fear. Her head started to fall as
her eyes shut. "Mom!" I shouted.
"I..love you." She said in a faint voice. I started to cry holding her head.
"I love you too mom." I said, I knew she was gone.
It seemed like days, weeks, months past by sitting there beside that car. the heat seemed to scorch my eyes as I looked into the sky, the smell of the summer air filled my nose as I inhaled the hot air, I looked across the field only to see a faint black dot moving closer, waves of heat flowing through the field as if they were strips of paper flying in wind. After a few moments the dot had gotten bigger and bigger until it made the apperence or a women, red hair, an older women. I started to inspect the image more as it got closer to me walking slowy, she raised her hand towards me still walking in my direction. As she got closer I could see red spots on her white blouse and ripped jeans. I then realized at that moment looking at her face, it was her. I looked down into the car to see nothing, She was gone. I turned shaking in repetition raising my arm towards her as well, I could not reach her yet, I tried standing unsuccessfully falling back down in a sharp pain. Tears started to stream down my face as I tried inching my way to her holding out my hand grasping at empty air. Finally I could see her clearly, blood trailing down the corners of her mouth, walking with a heavy limp. She stopped, her knees gave in, she fell to her stomach not moving. I tried to move faster as my breathing became heavier on me. Then I saw it, she had dissapeared, swept away by the wind. my eyes widened as I screamed in angony and anguish, I grapsed my head and fell to the ground screaming and crying. As I lifted my head off the ground my vision cleared, I turned my head slowly behind me, the wind had stopped. The world seemed to slow down, she was there again.
My tears had not stopped yet as my head became fogged, my hand acted on its own as I reached to my holster and pulled my pistol from it, I slowly raised the barrel to my head and pressed it against the side. My finger inched its way around the trigger, I closed my eyes. They opened again to a sound, a sound of an engine, roaring in the heat over the hill. My finger ungraspsed the trigger as I looked to the hill to see a truck stroll over it, it had stopped on the side of the road, two men came out of it armed with rifles, one ran to the car as the other ran towards me. My nerves acted on instinct as I raised my pistol towards the man running at me trying to hold it steady, he threw his hands up still running. "Its me Darren!" I heard him scream, were my ears cheating me? No they were not, my vision was blurred and was starting to faid but I was able to make him out before I blacked out. It was Joey.
I woke up once again to darkness, only light far at the other end of the room. this time I was alone. The door opened as a familar face walked in. Rick, he saw I was awake even though my eyes were closed, he walked over to the window and gazed out of it, it seemed that several minutes went by before a word was spoke, then it was. "Im sorry." he said. My amazment shocked me, hearing those words come from his mouth, I was speechless. Yes I was a young man who just lost his mother, but everyday in this world we loose something, either something tangable or something inside. "Her funeral will be tonight." He said as he walked to the door grabbing the handle. "Get some rest." He said as he opened the door and walked out. I laid my head on the pillow looking at the ceiling. My eyes closed as I fell into a dream.
my eyes opened again in complete darkness, only a faint light from the moon coming in from the outside. I remembered Rick said her funeral was tonight. I threw off my blankets as I leaned up. I looked to the wall to see a pair of crutches leaning against it. I grabbed them walking slowly to the door, my hand gripped the handle firmly before it turned. I stopped, my mind left as I thought of all my family in this house, Rick, Joey, Alicia, Krystal, James, Tucker, everyone. I turned the handle to walk into the open.
As the funeral started the night stars shined brightly. everyone had seemed to say what they wanted to say about my mother besides me, even Joey. Rick motioned towards me, I walked slowly infront of all of them and spoke. "The stars are so bright tonight, it is as if God himself is weeping with us. I say he shouldnt weep, as he gained a strong, tough, beautiful, caring angel to add to his great Kingdom today. My mother was a great strong women, she was not afraid of death, in the end she did not deny it, she embrassed it in his soul to live peacefully. I will not weep over her peaceful rest. I know she is being cared for by the best hands possible. I love you mom, I will do you proud." The moments after that were as silent as the soft wind. I put my hand on her coffin only to feel my face becoming wet with tears, I tried concealing them before the rest could see, Rick walked up to me and held me tightly, I cried into his chest feeling his compassion, his care. as the funeral ended everyone went back inside as she was buried. I was walking back into the house to turn and see my brother on his knees at her grave.
"Everyone needs to grieve." Rick said putting his hand on my shoulder, I turned to walk back to the house looking up to see something different, a another star, a new star.