Words Unspoken

My heart was pounding in my chest and my breathing increased heavily as I ran up the steps of my house. I fished for my keys in my bag and quickly pulled them out, fumbling with them a minute before unlocking the door and stepping inside, closing the door behind me and locking it. My head rested against the door as I tried to slow my breathing down. After about a minute I opened my eyes and looked around before making my way towards the kitchen. My mother was standing over the stove, the hot pan sizzling filling the room with the aroma of garlic and olive oil. My brother was sitting at the table, his pencil tapping against his book as he continued reading something for school.

Taking my satchel off I placed it on the hook and strolled over to the fridge and opened it. I scanned the fridge looking for something to drink before deciding on a bottle of water.

"How was work Sam?" My mother asked as she peered over her shoulder while I took a sip of my water and sat in a chair across from Kyle.

"Pretty good day today." I nodded my head slowly. My mom turned back around and resumed her cooking as I took another sip of my water. My thoughts wandered back to what I spotted earlier. TIS...We will not be Silenced. Could the rumors be true? Could there really be a rebellion group out there? If there was a group, it would have been found by now. About sixty years ago, people banned together and took on the capital head on, but of course things went downhill. Law enforcement fought back civilians, many people were locked up, some were even killed during these riots.

Since then, maximum police were put out in the streets, patrolling a lot more than they used to. Even if there were misdemeanor crimes, people were still arrested. For a few minutes I debated whether I should tell my mother what I saw, but I decided against it since I knew she was gonna freak out and worry about it for god knows how long.

I snapped back from my thoughts and glanced over to see Kyle looking my way. If I told my brother, he would definitely keep it a secret between the two of us. I knew he felt the same way I did about everything, but unlike me, he hasn't been vocal about it before. Ever since I brought my thoughts on why we live the way we do and why we can't change, my parents shut it down quickly, I was only thirteen, but they avoided speaking to me about it and continued on with our lives like I hadn't said anything.

My gaze flickered over to my brother as he furrowed his eyebrows. I shook my head and mouthed to him, 'I'll tell you later'. He just nodded his head and carried on with what he was reading for school. Kyle is a Senior in high school, but he's super smart for his age, like genius smart. But I know for a fact that our parents aren't gonna let him pursue what he wants and instead do something else. Just like they did with me.

After graduating high school, my dream was to become a journalist, work for the paper, but my parents thought it was too "dangerous" due to what happened with the riots and everything. They didn't want me getting involved in that field. So they found the little pharmacy in the neighborhood and Jill took me in as soon as her coworker left. My brother on the other hand, wants to work with cars, fixing them and what not, even though he's a super genius, it's something he's been into since he was a kid. But of course I know my parents are going to create some excuse and find him a simple like minded job like myself.

I shifted my gaze over to my mother who had just finished up cooking dinner for the night, when a loud aggressive knock came from the front door. We all stopped what we were doing and looked over at each other wondering who that could be. The knock came again, louder and heavier this time. My mom stopped what she was doing, wiping her hands with a towel.

"Stay here." She said as she made her way to the door. Kyle and I stood up and made our way over to the kitchen window to look outside and see who it was. Two tall men, clearly buffed and wearing riot gear. One was holding an Assault Rifle while the other spoke to my mother.

"Good evening Madam." The one without the rifle spoke as the other looked around the area. Kyle and I ducked down quickly making sure he didn't see uf as my mother and the man spoke.

"I apologize for coming here so late, but we've been going around the neighborhood asking around if you have seen anything out of the ordinary or suspicious behavior." He said as me and Kyle gave each other confused looks as we listened in on the conversation.

"Not that I've seen or heard of, if there were anything out of the ordinary I would have reported it right away." My mother said to the man. "Do you have any children? May we speak with them as well?" He asked. My eyes widened and my heart started to pound against my chest.

"Samantha! Kyle! Please come here for a moment." My mother called out to us. We looked at each other before standing up and making our way to the front door. My mother stepped to the side as I gazed up at the two men. The one with the rifle tightened his grip around the weapon, and my heart continued to beat faster and faster. Oh boy here we go. I thought to myself as the guard spoke up

"Good evening kids." He said, his stare piercing down at me. Thankfully he couldn't read my mind.

"Good evening officer." Kyle and I said at the same time.

"I just wanted to ask you two a few questions." He replied as we nodded our heads. I shifted slightly from one leg to the other.

"Have you guys seen or heard anything suspicious around? If you did, it would be wise to tell us right here and now. You won't be charged or anything, I keep my word." He said as me and Kyle glimpsed at each other. Kyle spoke first as I crept back into my thoughts at the sight I saw earlier.

"No sir, I haven't seen anything." He replied to the large men in our doorway. Still lost in my thoughts, I debated whether I should say anything or not.

"Samantha? Sam!" My mom called out, snapping me back into reality.

"No." I lied convincingly, "No sir, I haven't seen or heard anything."

The two men looked at each other for a second before gazing at the three of us. "Thank you for your time." He said with a nod. "If you see or hear anything, please call it in as soon as possible." He told us as the two of them left. My mom closed the door quickly and locked it before striding back to the kitchen without saying anything.

"Your father will be home soon for dinner." My mom said without looking at either of us as we emerged into the kitchen. Kyle put his books back into his backpack as we both helped set the table for dinner.

As soon as eight o'clock hit, the front door opened and closed, keys jingling as our father walked into the kitchen.

"Hello!" He said with a beaming smile as he set his briefcase on an empty chair against the wall walking over and giving my mother a kiss on the cheek. She smiled up at him as they sat down at the table.

It was silent, the only sounds were the clinking of silverware on plates and chewing. My parents were speaking about their day and dad had great news, a promotion. My dad works in a law firm for businesses and contracts. He's been working there for almost ten years now and it's about time they see how hard he works.

"That's great dad!" I said, smiling at him. I stood up and put my empty plate in the sink before giving him a hug.

"Thank you, Thank you." He said with a soft chuckle. I watched as my mom reached over and took his hand in hers. "That is great sweetheart." She said smiling at him, but I could see the pain behind her eyes. My mom recently lost her job at the little tailor alteration store in Downtown L.A. due to lack of business, yes in Los Angeles. So here we are, my dad being the breadwinner of the house at the moment and my mom being a stay at home mom. "I'm proud of you sweetheart." She said, smiling at him as my dad leaned over to kiss her.

As we cleaned up our dishes, we gathered at the table. Mom made some tea as we all sat in silence before Kyle spoke up.

"Two guards in riot gear came by before dinner." Kyle said as my dad looked up at him mid sip of his tea.

His gaze shifted to our mother as they looked at each other for what felt like years.

"They just asked if we saw or heard anything suspicious." I spoke up. "We didn't."

My father just nodded his head without saying anything for a moment before speaking. "Well...good, as long as no one does, we're all safe." He said, taking another sip of his tea. After that short tense and awkward conversation, we all sat there in silence, sipping our tea and enjoying the rest of the night before going to bed.