Chapter 1 - Manchee's End
We have three children now, Harper Justice, Augustus Cillian and Toby Ben Hewitt. Harper and Gus are twins, the age of 7, and Toby is the oldest, age 9. You'd better just know that - for what you'll hear or see in the rest of this. But that's not important for today.
Manchee's heart is failing him. He's sat in his bed now. He's old for a dog, way older than he should have lived for. His pups come and lick him, and I can hear them whimpering, crying out in their Noise.
"You good ruddy dog," Todd says, stroking him between the ears. Tears spring in his eyes, and he wipes them away quickly, obviously hoping that nobody would notice. But I tend to notice more things than he thinks. Gus has my eyes, as well, so he noticed as well. I could see it in him when I looked over. All the children were crowded around Manchee and his pups, petting them carefully, and crying. Seeing them cry made me even sadder than I already was, and I could feel tears streaming down my face. Unlike Todd, I didn't try to hide them. I was happy to have emotion. Just because I don't have Noise, it doesn't mean I can't feel.
I could hear the boy's Noise, crying out, screaming, weeping. It hurt me. They were so sad, and they could express their feelings without having to actually scream or cry or do anything, really. Harper and I, on the other hand, couldn't express our feelings through Noise, so as I knew exactly what she was going through, I went and hugged her tight. She weeped so much that she made my shirt soggy.
We went to our beds a few hours after that, seeing as it was already half eleven. Toby came in to sleep in our bed because he was having a nightmare, but we didn't see Harper or Gus until morning. By then, Manchee was gone.