CHAPTER 13

THE SILENT SPEAK

When I made my way over to Kitty, she gave me a look that told me she wasn't in the mood to talk. I sat down next to her, but she still didn't say anything. There had to be a way to make this girl talk. She didn't say anything while we all had the chance to talk so I know she is just full of stories. I wanted to know some things. Where did she come from? Where did she grow up at? Did she have friends? A family of some sort? Was she an orphan? Just the usual questions that you would ask anyone in need. I just wanted to get her talking. She tried to get up, but something held her back. She just sat there, looking at me for some reason. At first I didn't understand why, but now I knew that she was taking a look at me. Once she had her view of me, she leaned back on the wall and sighed a long heavy sigh.

"I know who you are," Kitty said.

"You do?" I asked.

"Your brother and I were friends. Well, I still consider him as my friend. Your brother's name is Kai, right?"

"Yeah. His name is Kai."

"Well, I guess I'm talking to the right sister then. It's been a while since I saw you and your family. Moving from sweet little Ignacia Village to Ninjago City was horrible. I would've rather stayed in Ignacia. So, how have your parents been?"

"Their not around anymore. My mother passed a few months after you and your family left. She had some sort of fatal disease. My father passed away a couple of years later with the same thing. It's been me and my brother for a while until his Sensei found us."

"Your really working with the ninja?"

"I am. You'd be surprised that my brother actually became the master of fire. He inherited his powers from our father. Not exactly mind blowing to me, but it was to him. I'd figured it would have to be passed down to somebody."

"I'm sorry to hear that your parents aren't around anymore. I actually loved them a lot. I loved a lot of people in Ignacia, but as time grows by, they just seem to fade away."

I sighed. Kitty hasn't changed a bit since I last saw her. "What about you? How has your family been?"

"Well, I'm not sure how they are now, but before all this, they were doing pretty well. My brother was studying to become a doctor. He's actually pretty experienced with it by now so having him around won't be much of a problem. He graduated medical school three months ago. He was suppose to have an interview three days ago, but it never happened. At least he's a professional."

"We're talking about your brother Nick here, right?"

"The one and only. That's kind of one of the reasons why we moved to Ninjago City. We wanted to be closer to him while he succeeded. He did, though. He did succeed."

"How has your mother been?"

"My mother has been well. I hope she still is, though. She was able to get my grandmother out of the city, but I haven't seen them since. She's been well, though. When we first got to the city, she got a job as the head librarian for the Ninjago City Public Library. I was able to get a job at city hall. I was Mr. Borg`s secretary. We were both able to make enough to live in our three bedroom apartment, so that was good."

"That's good. Has your grandmother been well?"

"She's been good. She turned eighty four months ago. We were doing our best to see if we could help her move back into Ignacia Village, but she told us that she would rather stay close to the family than go back home. Unless we were going back home, she wouldn't go back. That's just how my grandmother is."

"I know this is more of a personal question, but has your father ever come back?"

"No. I haven't seen him since that night. He told my brother and I that he was going on a trip and he wouldn't be back for a while. Now I'm eighteen years old and he still hasn't come home. Everyone at school only asked just one question. Where was my father? I just told them that he had to go on a long archeologist trip to find some rare artifacts and he wouldn't be back for some time. I didn't know what else to tell them. I had to lie. I didn't want anyone to know that my father just vanished. I promise myself that one day I'll go out and find him. I hope that day is soon."

"I'm sure he's out there somewhere."

"I'm sure he is, too. At least I hope he is."

"How did you get split up from your family? Shouldn't you guys be together in a situation like this?"

"I wasn't able to get back to them in time. I was searching for my own place in the city when all this happened. I called my brother and he told me to get out of the city. I called my mother afterwards. She told me to hit the road. Hurry out while I still could. That was the last I heard from any of them. I stopped in Jamanicai Village for the night and slept in my car. When I woke up the next morning, I didn't see any of those things moving. They were all lying on the ground as though they were dead. I spent that whole day gathering food. I've never been in a place like that before in my entire life. My car had stopped and I forgot to find gas tanks. I had to walk on foot to the city of Oraborous. That's how I found everyone here."

"Why didn't you say that when everyone else was telling their stories? Yours would've been a lot similar."

"Everyone around here are strangers. Including the Serpentine. They don't need to know who I am and why I'm around."

"In the world that we're living in now, you don't have much of a choice for people to know who you are." I looked over at Stephen. I was starting to worry about him. He hasn't said a word to anybody. All he's done is sit in a corner and hid himself in the darkness. I looked back over at Kitty. "What about Stephen over there? How come he hasn't spoken to anyone?"

"Stephen's story is more tragic than the rest of ours. He hasn't told anybody else about it but me. I'm the only person he'll talk to."

"Has anyone else here tried to talk to him?"

"They've tried, but none of them have succeeded. He won't talk to anyone else here. I'm the only one that knows his story. I suppose he trust me a lot more than he does anybody else. Which isn't a bad thing, if I do say so myself. I'm good with kids. I like them a lot."

"When was the last time you talk to him?"

"I talk to him some this morning. I woke up to hear him crying this morning so we played a little game until he felt better. He hasn't said a word after that."

"Would it be better if I tried talking to him?"

"I don't know if he'll let you, but you can try. As I said before, I'm the only person he speaks to."

"Let me give it a try. Throughout this whole entire disaster, I was able to soothe two crying children. I'm not sure how, but I guess I'm just real good with kids."

"Let's give it a shot." Kitty led me over to Stephen, who was still crouch up in a ball surrounding the little corner of the wall. Kitty kneeled next to him and once she looked at him, a smile formed across his face. "Stephen, can I talk to you about something?" He didn't speak, but he did nod his head up and down. "I know you haven't talked to anybody here lately, but we're all starting to worry about you. I think it's time you talk to somebody other than me. Do you think you can do that?" He shook his head side to side, with meant no. "I think you can. I wanna introduce you to Nya. She wants to talk to you. Let me ask you this. Why are you only talking to me?"

Stephen was hesitant for a moment and finally spoke up. "You remind me of my sister."

"What was your sister like?" Kitty asked.

"She had brown hair that was cut short and her eyes were blue. My mother was usually gone on business trips so my sister was always around to take care of me. We always played games and she would tell me stories and... we just had all sorts of fun together. Before the bad things happened."

"What bad things?"

"My mother had just gotten back from one of her business trips and my sister said she had to go somewhere and said she would be back in a couple of hours. The last we heard of her was on the news. Somebody had kidnapped her and nobody has seen her since. Three weeks after my sister went missing, my mother quit her job and went back to working as a hygienist over at a local dentist office. Summer had came around and she had to find someone else to take care of me while she was at work. The lady that she hired was a few years older than my sister, but she wasn't anything like my sister. All she did was take care of me and helped with the housework. I stayed up in my room most of the time. My sister was one of the only people that made me happy."

"So what happened your mother when all this happened?" I asked.

Stephen looked away from me when I asked him. Kitty placed a hand on his shoulder. "Stephen, don't look away. Nya asked you a question. I think it's time you tell somebody else what happened."

Stephen sighed. "She's already heard enough. I don't trust her with anything else I say."

Kitty sighed. "Alright. We'll try it again later." She looked back at me. "We'll try and make it work another day."

"Everyone, I have a plan," Bill said, "I think you all are gonna like it."

Whoa. Just a couple of hours ago, Bill said he would think of a plan. Now he has one. We all made our way to the midst of the temple. I looked to see that Stephen didn't move away from that corner. I was thinking of going back over to him, but I figured he needed some time to himself. I walked over to where everybody else was. Let's see if the plan that was made will work once it's been out in the open.

THE SILENT SPEAK. YES. I FIGURED THAT WOULD BE A GOOD TITLE.

SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED LAST NIGHT. TOO MUCH SCHOOL. AT LEAST WE HAVE TODAY OFF SINCE IT'S VETERANS DAY. WELL, I REALLY DON'T HAVE MUCH TO TALK ABOUT. EXCEPT THAT MY BIRTHDAY IS THIS SATURDAY AND I AM SO EXCITED. ALSO, TOMORROW IS MY FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF MY TIME ON FANFICTION. I WILL DEFINITELY UPDATE THIS STORY TOMORROW AND I WILL BE THINKING ABOUT A NEW STORY. I'M NOT SURE IF I WILL DO IT, BUT I'M STILL HAVING THOUGHTS ON IT.

I HOPE YOU GUYS ARE LIKING THIS STORY AS MUCH AS I LIKE WRITING ABOUT IT.

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