The Silence of a Dreamer:
Chapter One: Birdy
"How rare and wonderful is that flash of a moment when we realize we have discovered a friend." - William E. Rothschild
Katelyn "Birdy" Davis was absolutely, without a doubt, 100 percent insane. No, not the kind of insane where she would go out with friends and tell the Starbucks cashier her name was "Lord Voldemort" but the kind of insane where she spent more time at a psychiatrist than at school. Well, at least everyone thought she was.
Birdy didn't think she was insane, but no one who was ever thrown in the crazy house ever thought they deserved to be there. They say "You don't need therapy unless you don't think you need therapy". Birdy hated her Psychatrist, that is, she hated them all. None of them would listen to her. They would all try to convince her she was wrong. That's not how you listen to people, that's how you start arguments. Even her mum stopped listening. She said that it was "nonsense" or "ramblings" and that it scared her to here Birdy's thoughts. So Birdy just stopped talking.
Birdy didn't talk to anyone. Her mum kept on paying to send her to psychiatrists, but they couldn't get her to say anything.
As you'd expect, Birdy was a loner. It's hard to be friends with someone who doesn't talk.
The teachers learned not to call on her in class. She would just stare at them blankly as to say "Do you honestly think, out of all the people I could talk to, that I would ever talk to you?" They would send her to the principal for whatever they thought she was doing wrong, and she would sit there silently while the principal called her mum to come take her home again. It didn't affect her grades however. Birdy was at the top of her class. Did Birdy worry about college? Birdy didn't even have a concept of worry anymore, she just let what was going to happen, happen, and did so in silence.
One day, someone bought the empty house across the street. They came over to introduce themselves. Birdy opened the door and said nothing. She simply left it open, found her mum, and pointed toward the door.
They had a daughter Birdy's age. Her name was Mireya, and something led Birdy to trust her.
No one is quite sure how, but Birdy and Mireya became friends. Birdy never spoke a word to her, yet she slowly began to trust her, and that is how Mireya became the only person to hear Birdy speak in almost six years.
"Why don't you talk Birdy?" Mireya asked her when they were walking home from school. They took a long route so the streets were always empty, which made Birdy more comfortable.
"Scared." She whispered.
"Why would you be scared?"
"Mum scared." She replied.
"What is she scared of?"
"Me. I see things." Birdy choked. After not talking for so long, she still had trouble piecing together full sentences and getting her thoughts out properly.
"What do you see?" Mireya asked. Birdy liked how Mireya listened. She didn't interrupt, or try to tell her she was wrong. She just listened. She didn't treat Birdy like she was crazy, even though she knew she was, she treated her like she was perfectly normal.
Mireya worked on talking with Birdy. Sometimes she couldn't get her to shut up. But by the time anyone else came into hearing range, she froze up again, and never said anything.
Eventually, Mireya understood what she meant when she said her own mum didn't want to listen to her anymore. After so many stories of men made of metal, talking rhinos, cactus people, and the strange man in the box that fell from the sky, she started to stop listening, but only because she was worried for Birdy.
"I dreamt of the box again." Birdy told her on the way to school.
Mireya sighed. "Birdy, you're really starting to worry me."
"Why? I thought you believed me?" Birdy trembled.
"Of course I do Birdy, but don't you think it's just the slightest bit, well, weird?"
"You don't believe." Birdy mumbled.
"Birdy, It's not real, it's a dream."
"You are the same." Birdy whispered, shutting her mouth, and refusing to speak again.
Mireya felt terrible. She didn't mean to upset her, but truly, something was wrong with Birdy, and it worried her.
I mean, there's no way all that crazy stuff she talks about is actually real. Right?
"Mireya! It's real, Mireya! He's here!"