Gravity
"Please…" a choked-back moan of pain. "Just kill me now…death is nothing compared to this!" Blood pools under a person lashed to a steel table. There are four inhales of breath, interrupting the pleading of a dying man.
"Just a taste…just one!" a crack of flesh on stone.
"That would ruin all our fun, Peter. Surely you have learned restraint? Soon, though. He will give in soon. It's only a matter of time."
"And when he does? What use is a corpse to us?" A scream of agony, and they laugh. There's a revolting crack, and a yell.
"Who said we were going to kill him? Why not leave him somewhere? So his dear family can find him…?" Muddy brown eyes widen in anticipation and glee. "Yes…let his family see what has become of the once proud Silence." The figure on the table spits a mouthful blood, hitting the speaker on the cheek.
"My bones can…break or crumble…" Silence chokes out, quoting a song, "I will never…slip or stumble." The man sneers, wiping the blood off his face.
"How…touching." Drawing back his hand, he backhands Silence sharply, slicing his cheek open. A loud banging interrupts Silence's moan of pain.
"Police! Open up!" the four figures flee, leaving the teen pinned to the table by way of chains and ropes. The door bursts open four seconds later, and six armed policemen flood in.
"S-someone get an EMT in here!" the leader shouts, his voice cracking. Silence feels tears trickling down his face in relief. He's finally safe…
-----------------Two Weeks Later-----------------
Silence wept, tangling his hands in his jaw-length hair. Everyone in the Knox line was dead. They had been killed in a bombing during a family reunion. It was a Knox tradition that everyone was at the reunion, since they happened so rarely. Now Silence was the last one left.
He shook off the nurses' hands, limping painfully into the lightly drizzling rain in Portland, Oregon. Pine and birch trees rose high above him. Silence loosed a scream of anger and sorrow, slamming his hands against the wooden railing. His cuts contorted horribly, twisting his face into a parody of his former self. The rain started coming down harder and harder, until lightning crashed above him. Silence lost himself in the storm.
"Silence." A man dressed in black jeans and a blue shirt stood in the doorway, a flannel blanket in his hands. Silence realized he was shivering badly. He allowed the man to approach and drape him in the blanket. "Michael Keys."
"I'm 18." Silence stated dully as Michael sat down next to him. "I don't need a guardian."
"I'm not here to be your guardian, kid. I'm here to inform you of your family's wills. After you got captured, they all changed. You are the sole inheritor of everything your family owned. Business shares have been sold and the houses are all up for sale. This sound okay?" Silence nodded mutely.
"Did you recover anything from the bomb site?" his voice cracked audibly. He swallowed. Michael set a bag in front of the teen.
"We tried to find one thing from every person, and we did, for the most part. Your entire neighbourhood turned out to help." Silence reached into the bag and pulled out the first item: a green journal bound with blue ribbon- his sister's. It was set to the side. The next few items were similar- his uncle's watch, grandfather's pipe, cousin's earring. The list went on and on. Finally, Silence pulled out and stared at his parents' weddings rings. They had been strung on an elegant silver chain. Everything was blackened and a little charred.
"Mr. Keys, would you be able to purchase a house for me? Something close to here, not too sunny…" the man smiled. Silence continued, "…small population, preferably."
"I know just the place. It's about a half an hour flight, with a population of just over three thousand. Forks, Washington. I will start looking for houses immediately. Size, location?"
"I don't care how big. Choose something on the edge of town, if you can." Michael nodded.
-----------------2 Months Later-----------------
Michael burst into Silence's room, waving a handful of papers in the air. Silence whipped around, shirt in hand. His chest and back were littered with healing cuts and bruises. He yanked on his shirt before taking the papers from his friends. Michael, at 28, was 10 years older than Silence, but still very good friends with him.
"We got the perfect house for you. The old owner left it furnished and everything. They're asking fifteen thousand for it, which won't make a dent in your savings. You can move in whenever. I checked you out from the hospital, and scheduled a flight for two-thirty. You'll be in Forks by three-thirty." Silence gaped.
"E-excellent." He squeaked out, glancing at the clock. It was noon now, and the airport was ten minutes away. "What about clothes, transportation…?"
"One of my friends found your sizes, and…uh…went a little crazy with the whole clothes situation. You got a hefty discount, though! Somewhere around forty percent, methinks, because of your popularity. For transportation, I took the liberty of getting you a Harley motorcycle and a compact Lexus. You're set, and you still have enough money to retire now. You could live comfortably without working for around two hundred years, if I got the numbers right." Silence picked his jaw up from the floor.
"What about school?" he asked reluctantly, knowing it was necessary. Michael grinned.
"You're set to start attending Forks High School the day after tomorrow. I have a map, schedule, and books for you." Silence sighed and started pitching things into a backpack.
-----------------Four Hours Later-----------------
"Wow…" Silence breathed, staring at the house in awe. It was a beautiful two-story house painted in green and white.
"Five bedrooms, four bathrooms, a fully equipped kitchen, and three other rooms to do with as you will. No useable basement, I'm afraid." Silence nodded, striding into the house. He examined each room thoroughly before settling in the master bedroom. There was a balcony looking over the forest, and large windows. Each bedroom had a walk-in closet, where Silence found all of his clothes neatly folded and hung.
"I'll leave you to get settled. School starts at eight, okay? Do what you can. By the way, there's a surprise in the backyard, waiting for you…" Silence flew down the stairs and out onto the lawn. There, in a paddock, was a beautiful Egyptian Arabian mare. Her black coat shone in the rare sunlight, dark eyes regarding him intelligently.
"Auset!" Silence vaulted the fence to meet his horse. Silence had learned to ride when he was five, and his mother had bought Auset two years ago. She was five now. Grabbing Auset's halter, he led his horse inside the tiny stable that had apparently been built in a month. Ignoring the saddle, Silence traded the halter for a bridle, clipped his helmet on, and clambered astride his horse. Auset was trained in everything from trail-blazing to dressage.
They cantered through heavy underbrush, over fallen logs, and through streams. Everything was going quite smoothly until a loud rustle caused Auset to spook, throwing Silence off balance. When the mare tripped over a root, the teen toppled off.
"Easy, Auset. Easy." He soothed, voice thin and wavering. She stood quivering, eyes rolling. A loud crash sent Auset bolting toward the house, leaving him stranded. Silence pulled himself upright, thankful for his helmet. Instead of a cracked skull, he only had a raging headache and a stomach-ache. From the warmth trickling down his face, Silence knew one of his cuts had cracked open.
"Excuse me…" a girl popped into his line of sight, making Silence jump. A brawny, muscular teen was behind her, looking rather apologetic. "I'm Alice Cullen, and this is my brother, Emmett. We saw you fall. Are you okay?" his brain took a minute to process her words, and Alice nodded. "Our father's a doctor. We live close- maybe you should stop in, just to make sure." Before he could nod, Emmett had him on his back. Silence's head spun sickeningly. He rested it on the brawny teen's shoulder, only to be jostled alarmingly.
"Don't fall asleep, cowboy. You probably have a concussion." Before Silence knew it, Emmett was letting him down on a white leather couch. He squirmed uncomfortably at the dirt working itself into the clean hide.
"You're new here, right?" Alice queried. Silence realised he had been drifting off. His tongue felt thick in his mouth as he replied.
"Yah." He muttered, fumbling with the buckle on his riding helmet. "Just got in this afternoon."
"Where are your parents?" Silence wiped a trickle of blood off the side of his neck, smearing it on his jeans without looking at it. He didn't notice Alice watching his movements attentively.
"Dead." He growled, resting his head on the back of the sofa. "My entire bloodline was killed in a bombing about two weeks ago." He held up the silver chain with the rings on it from around his neck. The front door chose that moment to unlatch itself, revealing a thirty or so year old man with white-blonde hair and hazel eyes. He still wore his white lab coat.
"Hello. I didn't expect you back so soon…" the man said warmly, setting his kit by the sofa. He looked at his children questioningly.
"It wasn't as bad of a walk as we thought, Carlisle." Alice explained, smiling. Silence finally unclipped his helmet, setting it on his lap. Carlisle, moving slowly and deliberately, tilted Silence's head this way and that, looking at his pupils and checking their dilation. When Carlisle touched the knot on the back of Silence's head, the teen flinched out of his grasp. All he could think of was his captors, purposely inflicting pain.
"Easy there!" Carlisle soothed, brushing the lump. "That'll be tender for a while, yet. You do, however, have a nasty concussion. Do you have a guardian or parent I could contact?" Silence shook his head slowly.
"They were killed two weeks ago." The teen repeated, trying to stop the pounding in his head. He rested his head in his hands, missing the look Alice traded with Carlisle. When Silence looked up, he noticed the awkward silence. "I-I should get home and make sure Auset's alright."
"Someone should go with you…" Carlisle said, helping him to his feet. Silence glared, but the effect was ruined as he nearly fell over. Carlisle steadied him. At the doctor's look, Silence reluctantly agreed. "Fine."
Fifteen minutes later, Silence was settled in the backseat of a massive Jeep. Emmett was taking directions from Alice, who had looked up the way to Silence's house. Alice chattered happily the whole way there, talking about her family, school, and everything in between. Silence drifted in and out of the conversation, answering only direct questions. They pulled up to the house, Silence leaning heavily on Emmett. He led them to the backyard, following the prints set deeply in the mud.
"Auset!" Silence called, staggering toward the paddock. The mare stood in the middle of the area, watching his escorts warily. He reached out, running a hand along her neck. She was covered in mud. "We should clean you up, I think." Silence stated, half to himself. Shifting his weight from Emmett to his mare, the group moved toward the stable slowly.
Silence's head pounded. He knew he should lie down, but couldn't bring himself to leave Auset full of mud like this. He traded bridle for halter, grabbing a handful of towels. Tossing one to each of his escorts, he bit out, "Wipe the mud off her, please. I need to check for injuries." Silence gently scrubbed the caked mud off Auset's legs, checking each for swellings, cuts, or abrasions. It was a slow process. As he worked, Silence noticed that Alice and Emmett both seemed rather tense.
"If the smell bothers you, you can leave." He snapped, surprising the pair with his anger. They shook their heads and stayed, continuing their work. Silence moved onto Auset's hooves, picking twigs, mud, and gravel out of each. When he touched her right hoof, he moved to examine it closer. A large stone was wedged in her hoof.
Biting his lip in sympathy, Silence picked at the stone. Auset winced every time he touched it. After several minutes of fighting with the mare, the stone fell to the floor with a chink. He picked it up and tossed it out the door. Silence combed out her mane and tail, gave her grain, and pulled off her halter. Emmett supported him up to the house while Alice closed the stable doors. The teen struggled up the stairs and into his bathroom. He gulped two painkillers, then staggered drunkenly to his bed. He never noticed his shoes and muddy clothes being removed, nor being tucked into his queen-sized bed.