SDA

Thanks to:  Calli for beta-ing my fic, again.  Remember, she's the best in the business, so while you worship her go read her fics and leave glowing reviews!

A/N:  Ok, I'm not sure where this is going, so I'll just write…

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And That Kid

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Chapter Two:  Eerie Silences

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            Van opened his eyes groggily and squinted at his window.  Golden sunlight was pouring in.  He rubbed his eyes and stretched.  Van looked down at his wrinkled clothes and tried to remember why he had been sleeping in them.  He looked across the room and saw an empty makeshift bed.  What?

            Then it all came back to him.  That makeshift bed was Raven's.  Yesterday Van had sat alone in his room for hours and hours until the sun had started setting and he must have fallen asleep.  But he also remembered something else.  No one had come to see what was wrong.  But that was ok, Van had only been upset for yesterday, he felt better now.

            Van needed a drink of water, so he unlocked his door and went down into the kitchen to see if there was any.  As he walked down the hall he saw Maria.  The second she saw him she grabbed his arm and dragged him to the kitchen.

            "Van!  What is wrong with you?  You sat in your room all day yesterday.  There were chores that needed to be done and Father still needs to be nursed back to health.  All you did was sulk all day.  And you locked your room so that Raven had to sleep on the couch."

            What was going on?  Van had a bad day and he gets yelled at?  And he always worked, what was one day of missing a little bit?  It wasn't fair!

            "If there's so much work to be done why couldn't Raven help you?  He's so PERFECT."

            "Van, Raven's not been here for very long, he doesn't know all that needs to be done.  You've lived here long enough to know what needs to be done every day."

            "So?  What are you going to do about it?  I always help with the chores.  Make someone ELSE do it!" Van yelled.  This wasn't fair at all!

            "Van, be quiet.  Raven and Father are still sleeping.  And I do more work than you do around the house, do you see me complaining about it?"

            "You LIKE to work!"

            "Van, I don't like work any more than you do.  But if we don't do it nobody will and we won't have any food to harvest before the winter starts.  Think about that next time you slack.  When Raven and Father are better, it will all be easier to do.  It's been really hard on us since Father left, but it'll get easier soon.  The doctor told me that the army's giving him leave for a few months.  The better you are, the easier it will be for Father to concentrate on healing.  I'm just asking for you not to repeat yesterday."

            "What?  I have a bad day and you scream at me?  It's not fair!"

            "Van, I'm not screaming at you yet.  I just want you to do your share of work around the house.  Now go and get some water from the pump."

            Van glared at Maria and stormed out of the house steaming mad.  He grabbed the water buckets from beside the door and ran to the pump crying.

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Raven snuck away from the door of the kitchen right before Van ran out of it.  He was upset and he couldn't understand why Van hated him so much.  Raven hadn't done anything to make him so mad.  At least he didn't think that he had. 

            Raven remembered Major telling him that Van was a great kid, but was this the kid that he had been talking about?  That boy was so mean, and he struck out in anger at people for no reason.  Was it Raven's fault?  Was it because Major had brought him home?

            "Maria?  Why does Van hate me?" Raven asked, slipping into the kitchen.

            "Oh!  Raven, I didn't know that you were awake.  Do you want any breakfast?"  Raven's eyes narrowed as Maria turned to the oven.  "I have bread."

            "Why?"

            "Why?  Because breakfast is the most important meal of the day—"
            "Why does Van hate me?" Raven demanded.  He may be just a kid, but he could tell when someone was avoiding a question he had asked.

            "Oh, Raven, he doesn't hate you, he's just not having a very good week."  Maria's smile was fake, and Raven could tell she wasn't used to lying.  "Why don't you follow Van out to the pump and help him get some water, I'm sure he'll explain everything to you."

            Raven wasn't sure if Van would, but he quietly listened as Maria gave him instructions to the pump and where to get a bucket.  He then ran to the pump to try and catch up with Van.

            When he reached the pump he saw that Van had been coaxing the pump with some water from a bottle and had just gotten it to work.  Water flowed into the two buckets and Van turned the water off just in time so that it didn't overflow.  His eyes were red and he looked mad.

            "Hi, Van," Raven called to the frowning boy, but Van turned to Raven with a glare and a muttered hello.  Raven, however, continued in his attempt to get Van to talk to him.  Raven said, "Maria asked me to help you get some water, you know, to help some with the chores and get used to life here."

            "Oh."  Van replied shortly.  "Just push up and down on the handle until water comes out."  He then took his two buckets of water and started back towards the house.

            Raven glanced down at his one bucket and placed it under the nozzle.  He ended up overflowing the water a lot, and left a wet spot on the sand that quickly evaporated.  He tried to pick up the bucket with one hand like Van had, but he couldn't do it.  He ended up lugging it back to the house, spilling a lot of it over the edges.

            On his way back, Van ran past Raven again with his two buckets without saying anything.  Maria complimented him on getting water and sent him back for more when he got back, passing Van once more.

            On his second trek back to the house when Van passed him, Raven called out 'Hi!' to him, but Van didn't reply.  However, when he passed Van the next time, Van called out 'Hi' back to Raven.  They continued doing that until they had enough water for the whole day.

            While his attempts of talking to Van were successful, afterwards they didn't talk to each other until the next morning when they again retrieved water. 

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Three days later, Maria noticed that there was always a strange silence around Van and Raven.  They never spoke to each other unless it was strictly necessary, and then only in very polite terms.  It wasn't like they hated each other, more that they just didn't have anything to say to each other.    Maria had never seen something like that happen before.  They spent most of the days working on chores together and they slept in the same room, but they never spoke.  She didn't understand how two people could spend so much time together without speaking a word.

            Maria had always felt that she should take over the mother's role of a family when her father was gone, or in this case bed-ridden.  It had been easy enough with Van because most of his troubles didn't involve people.  But she just didn't know how to solve problems with two people.

A/N: Ok, so it was kind of lame, but I needed to get a point across, and this was the way it ended up.  ^_^  Hope you like it, anyway!  Oh, and if there are any more 'little' notes from my beta-er…just ignore them…R & R, please!