Our first chore of two days of chores is to polish the silver in the dining hall.

We've been here for over two hours now, completely incapable of talking. I'm sweating like crazy in the heat of the afternoon and I feel all grimy and nasty. Even with my jeans and button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up I'm still hotter than hell.

Jones is across the room from me, working on the silver statue of Aphrodite. Now, he probably understands why I don't care if this stuff breaks a lot. It's a total waste of time to clean this junk!!

We had a lunch of a loaf of bread and cheese about a half an hour ago. It was totally awkward, neither of us saying a word in our stubborn anger. I'm still starving though.

I take a minute to wipe sweat from my brow and rest. I stare defiantly out the window, trying to concentrate on the branches of my tree. But, I can't take it any longer. I fumble with my polish cloth and 'accidentally' knock it off the chair I'm sitting on. As I bend over to pick it up, I sneak a glance at Jones for the first time this day as he continues to polish the Aphrodite statue.

He looks just as dirty and sweaty as I do. I notice his glasses aren't on today. I marvel at the change in his face. Without the glasses, he almost looks like a totally different guy. I continue to watch him from my seat until he turns around and looks at me. The minute our eyes meet I become flustered and turn away.

I go back to polishing. I can barely stand the silence. Its deafening. It fills my head like an unpleasant memory or thought. I close my eyes and try to calm my frantic thoughts. I've got this feeling that the silence is out to kill me or something. I think I have a mental disorder, maybe paranoia or claustrophobia. I promise to myself to find what it is later.

I turn and find Jones staring at me. I glare at him, and this time he's the one who turns away flustered.

It irks me when he looks at me.

I feel too...exposed. For some odd reason.

I finish the dish I'm working on and place it back into the cabinet it's displayed in. I take a deep breath and grab another dish, really not happy that there are twelve more artifacts to polish after this one.

I just wish Abner could have at least separated us, so I didn't have to deal with these uncomfortable silences.

I look back at Jones just one more time and find that one side of his face is swollen and completely black and blue from where my fist made contact with it yesterday.

I smile to myself. I start to believe that these silences were worth it.

Another short useless short that just adds some clues here and there. Pay attention people, you may miss important details. By the way, these chapters are supposed to be short. That's why they are called SHORTS. And just to please you all, this story is going to consist of 100 shorts. So, unlike the average story of twenty chapters, this one has many many short chapters. I love you all who review!!