Just a really quick note on the speech for this fic:
"This is when people speak aloud"
"When somebody signs to speak"
'And when something is written down'
Disclaimer(which I totally didn't forget to put in last time): I don't own Danny Phantom. Only this story and Anna-belle.
Alright, onto the story!
Twisting on my hair, I nervously waited for Claire to answer my video request. It feels like ages since I had spoken to anyone from home. It'll be good to hear from her again.
If she answers!
The annoying drone stopped as a video screen popped up. After taking a minute to load, I see my best friend on the screen, brown eyes and all. I have to take a breath as not to get homesick just at the sight.
"Hey girl!" she says perkily as humanly possible. I waved back giving her the biggest grin I could muster. Pretty big apparently. "How is the new place?"
"You're going to love this," I sign to her.
"Oh, tell, tell!" she says back excitedly. Claire has been my best friend since kindergarten and we literally told each other everything. Her loud nature makes up for my lack of talking. She had learnt AUSLAN when we met so that she could understand me better. Mostly we just made up our own way of talking though.
"So, my uncle is loaded," I say to her.
"Ha! Who guessed it? This girl!" she exclaimed happily. I just rolled my eyes. "Wait, how loaded?" she asks after laughing.
"Would you like a virtual tour?" I ask already picking up the laptop before she can answer. Carrying around the laptop I gave her a quick tour of my new room. Each time I would stop and sign to her her mouth dropped open in shock. She couldn't believe that I never once left my room through the whole tour.
"Do you live in a castle or something?" she asks me sarcastically when I sit down on the window seat again. I can see her waving around her hands, painting her nails red and now needing to dry them. Which is most likely why she hasn't been signing this whole time.
"How did you guess?" I ask her completely serious.
"Your serious," she says. Apparently satisfied with her nails, she holds out her fist and places her three fingers on top, lifting them up then back in the sign for 'wow'.
Glancing away from my work to look at my watch, I see that it's about time for dinner. Standing up from my expensive desk set in my study, I make my way to the other side of the castle to my niece's room.
I had just been looking through her medical files that I could bring up. So far only one has stated of her being mute. However, there is nothing saying about any special treatment that she needs. I cannot find anything about what language she uses either.
As I stand outside her door, I hear a single voice coming through. A young girls voice sounding like a one-sided conversation. Confused, I knocked my hand on the wooden door, I could hear footsteps walking towards the door before my niece opened it.
She wears the same baggy clothing from earlier this morning. I'm going to need to talk to her about that. If she will talk back to me that is. I do know some ASL but not enough to have a proper conversation. I think I'm fairly lucky with Anna-belle though. She's fairly well mannered even when she can't talk. And so far she has stayed out of the way of things.
"Who are you talking to?" I ask her.
She looks like she is considering telling me before motioning me to follow her. She picks up a palm sized notebook and pen from her bedside table and I briefly note the laptop sitting on her made bed. She finishes her note and passes me the notepad sitting on her bed in front of the laptop. 'My friend Claire,' is written on the note and she is now signing away to a girl on the screen. The girl is Anna-belle's age with short blond hair. Anna-belle gets my attention and motions to the notepad. I hand it back to her and she scrawls something else down.
'She wants to say hi. If you want to that is' she shows me.
I nod and she turns the laptop so that I'm in the frame. "Hello, Claire," I say clearly.
The young girl waves back and says, "Hi Mr Masters, it's nice to meet you! It's awesome of you to take in Anna-belle too!"
Hmm, another well mannered teen. Interesting. "Nice to meet you too." Bringing my attention to Anna-belle, I ask her, "I will be having dinner if you would like to join me."
She grabs the laptop and signs to her friend. "It's cool. I'll talk to you later!" Claire said in response. Anna-belle nods up at me, closing the laptop. I walk out of the room and my niece follows slightly behind like this morning. I notice that she shoved the notepad and pen in her back pocket. Maybe I can get some answers out of her this time.
"What would you like to do about school?" Vlad asks suddenly. I raise an eyebrow at him to hopefully convey the message. "You should be in school at this time of the year, it is only April after all."
Honestly, school has been the last thing on my mind. Sure, I did get uprooted right at the beginning of my school term, so I should probably get a tutor to catch up on the past few weeks that I had missed. But how would it work? Would they be able to speak? Even better, would I be able to communicate with them at all? Aren't they on a completely different year too? So wouldn't most kids be finishing their year?
A cough brought me out of my musings and my uncle looked to me for a response. Shrugging, I brought out the note pad and wrote, 'What options do I have?'
"The school year here is almost finished. You could finish in the grade that you were in last year and just continue when school starts again in the fall. Otherwise, I could look at getting you a tutor until you are ready to start school in the fall," he said before continuing with his meal.
A tutor would be nice. Something small to start with. Again that brought up the same problems: mostly communication. Vlad should be able to figure that one out though, he seems to be a pretty intelligent person if this place has anything to indicate his success.
Writing down a quick note, I showed him, 'Tutor.' Then went back to my meal.
He nodded in understanding. "Very well. I shall start looking for a tutor tomorrow." That brought a valid point. What day is it? I'm completely lost on that. Between my family, moving, and every little thing in between, I have lost track of time. Picking up the notepad from the table, I write out my message, 'What day is it?'
Vlad raised an eyebrow when I showed him the message. "It is Thursday."
That put a dampen on my mood instantly.
Thursday.
Six weeks ago it happened.
Sighing, I reeled my emotions in until I could get away from my uncle. I could only pick at my half finished meal and could see Vlad look at me confused. I can't bring myself to care. As long as I don't break down right now I don't care what he thinks. Maybe I do care.
Frustrated at my thoughts, I sign to the person next to me. "May I be excused?"
"What was that Anna-belle?" Another blow to my emotions. Nobody here could understand me without having a pen and paper.
'May I be excused?' I write with a shaking hand.
"Yes you may." Before he could even finish his sentence, I was up and out of the room. Wanting to be completely alone, I made my way to my room and into the adjoined bathroom. Turning the water to the shower on, I continued to hold everything back. Stepping into the steaming shower was the last straw.
The silent tears finally broke that dam.
After I finished my meal, I made my way to my study. I figured I could start searching for her tutor and get in contact with them tomorrow morning. Thinking over our conversation, I decided to find out how to get us to both learn ASL. It would make conversing vastly easier. Briefly I also thought of what had set Anna-belle off. She seemed fine up until the mention of the day. Odd.
Glancing down at my wristwatch, I figured I should check up on my niece before getting to bed.
Walking into the room, I found her boots sitting at the door. The girl however is not in the main area. No sounds come from the bathroom so she isn't there either. Checking in her study area, I find her curled up on the window seat with her forehead pressed against the glass. She sits in purple stripped pyjamas with her damp hair hanging down the length of her back. She must have showered just after dinner. "Anna-belle?" I say.
She continues to sit there staring over the dark landscape. Instincts told me immediately that something is wrong. Calmly making my way over to the girl, I stand above her.
"Anna-belle, what's wrong?"
Still nothing.
Sitting down next to the girl, making sure to give her some space, even with her pressed into the corner. I hook a finger under her chin and turn her head to face me. She lets me but doesn't look into my eyes but at the seat instead.
She doesn't need to look in my eyes for me to see her red puffy eyes and tear streaked face.
Changing my entire tone, I quietly as her what is wrong again.
Her face completely crumples as she starts to silently cry again. Her face makes it seem like she wants to shout out instead of being silent however. Only great gasps and sobs escape her throat as I drop my hand.
I watch in shock at the crying child as she brings up her hands to hide her face from me. I had a sudden realization: her family. That can be the only reason for her breaking down so suddenly. I hadn't given much thought to how she would be handling the loss of almost everyone she loved. The only remaining person in Australia for her would be Claire.
Not entirely knowing what I was doing, I brought my arms up and wrapped them around her tiny shaking frame. She resisted for only a second before her silent cries became more desperate. Her small hands found a place in my white shirt and clung there as if her life depended on it. I felt my shirt grow wet where her face is smashed against me her damp hair not helping.
I can only sit there and rub the broken-hearted girl's back. As the cries continued, I hummed softly to try and get her to stop. She could get herself stuck into a state that I cannot get her out of if she continues this way.
She eventually runs out of steam and just sits there still gripping onto my shirt, hiccups escaping her every now and then. I continue to rub circles on her back and hum. I can feel her drifting into an exhausted sleep in my arms. I pick the tiny girl up from underneath her knees and a hand on her back. She keeps her hands attached to my very crumpled white shirt as I carry the girl to her bed in silence.
Once there, I removed her hands from the shirt, then pulled the covers over her exhausted form. She snuggled down into the covers of the pink bed but still had a frown on her features even in sleep. I would be needing to find her a psychologist, as well as the tutors.
Figuring I could do nothing more for her now, I left the room.
You guys are amazing! I love writing about these two (don't worry our favourite hero will get here later) and I'm glad that others like it! So thank you to all who have read this! (I need to stop using exclamation marks!)
So, we have: Favourites: Generalhyna, LaughterInTheFaceOfDanger, Quaarus, and tobi989 to add to the previous KarinMaaka07 and 629kat.
Follows: BeckyStories, and Generalhyna to add to the previous DannyFenton123, Onio, 629kat, and D love.
And no reviews... But that's cool! Just seeing people favourite and follow this makes my day!
Also, I should probably note that ASL is American Sign Language, and AUSLAN is Australian Sign Language. I don't much of either, so the internet has been a big help. Let me know if there is anyone who actually knows either language and if I have gotten anything incorrect.
So let me know what you think and I will see you all next time!