p class="MsoNormal"003. Silence./p
p class="MsoNormal"A clock ticked. Forks clinked. Voices remained stilled./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanNothing had been said for so long it felt as if nothing would ever be said again./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanThe ticking of the clock seemed to get louder and louder. This silence was endless, but there seemed no appropriate way to break it. There was so much to say that there was no place to start saying it./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanWinnie opened her mouth several times wanting to try and break the silence. After a moment of failing it would always shut again. All her attempts drowned out by the ticking of the clock./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanShe'd come back, but this was never what she'd really wanted. The Tucks had showed her life. The Tucks only sought to teach her austerity. She wished that her parents had never found her and brought her back. The Tuck's house felt more like home than this building she'd been living in for her whole life./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanThe clock ticked and a shiver ran up and down Winnie's spine. Was she really condemned to a life of this? She didn't want to have to face this every single day again. The most terrifying thought was that it was likely only going to get worse. Someday her parents would likely decide it was time to marry her off. She wanted even less to be confined to some lonely quiet austere life with some man she didn't even care for. And even before that dreadful future, there had been the threats of sending her to some sort of finishing school. What a dreadful thought, to be thought of as an incomplete person without being 'finished' by her schooling./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanAt least there was Jesse to think of. Whether he came back or not, the idea of him coming back could be a hopeful beacon to guide her life by. She could lead the life she was forced into, with that solitary dream to someday guide her to something better./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanAbruptly Winnie stood up. She couldn't stand the ticking of that ridiculous clock anymore. "I'm done. I'm going to bed."/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanBefore her family could complain she marched upstairs./p
p class="MsoNormal"A clock ticked. Forks clinked. Voices remained stilled./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanNothing had been said for so long it felt as if nothing would ever be said again./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanThe ticking of the clock seemed to get louder and louder. This silence was endless, but there seemed no appropriate way to break it. There was so much to say that there was no place to start saying it./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanWinnie opened her mouth several times wanting to try and break the silence. After a moment of failing it would always shut again. All her attempts drowned out by the ticking of the clock./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanShe'd come back, but this was never what she'd really wanted. The Tucks had showed her life. The Tucks only sought to teach her austerity. She wished that her parents had never found her and brought her back. The Tuck's house felt more like home than this building she'd been living in for her whole life./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanThe clock ticked and a shiver ran up and down Winnie's spine. Was she really condemned to a life of this? She didn't want to have to face this every single day again. The most terrifying thought was that it was likely only going to get worse. Someday her parents would likely decide it was time to marry her off. She wanted even less to be confined to some lonely quiet austere life with some man she didn't even care for. And even before that dreadful future, there had been the threats of sending her to some sort of finishing school. What a dreadful thought, to be thought of as an incomplete person without being 'finished' by her schooling./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanAt least there was Jesse to think of. Whether he came back or not, the idea of him coming back could be a hopeful beacon to guide her life by. She could lead the life she was forced into, with that solitary dream to someday guide her to something better./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanAbruptly Winnie stood up. She couldn't stand the ticking of that ridiculous clock anymore. "I'm done. I'm going to bed."/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanBefore her family could complain she marched upstairs./p