1st, 2nd, 3rd, Don't Say a Word

My name is Trey. I just turned twenty. I’ve been in and out of Juvie more times than I can count. The last time was for underage drinking, but that was back when I was sixteen. I’ve wised up since then. Sort of. I guess I just got tired of seeing my Aunt Maria so disappointed in me. Since then I’ve done everything on the downlow, but I wouldn’t do anything like that anymore if it weren’t for my friends. They weren’t the nicest people, definitely not the brightest, but they were the only friends I had. Now they’re gone, and I don’t know if they’re even alive anymore. Guess I’ll just have to be hopeful on that one.

Let me tell you a bit about myself. I’m white, five-ten, a little wiry with some muscle, I guess, with brown eyes and short black hair, but that hair’s usually a little mussed. I just don’t care enough most of the time to keep it looking good. When my story starts, I had on my grey-T, my black jeans with a black belt, and my black socks and black boots, the hiking kind. I like that look, I guess. Kind of suits me. It’s the same clothes I’ve had on for two days now, and they’re a little dirty, but that’s because I couldn’t get back to my aunt’s apartment building on account of the streets are basically a river now. I know, because I was in that river, but that will have to wait.

This is my story. It’s kind of weird, though. I’m in this situation because my aunt left town on account of an interview in another state. That’s a good thing, though, because she wasn’t here when the hurricane hit. Storms had flooded us after the hurricane, and I was trapped there with some other people at a school, some Christian school run by some preacher I didn’t know. There were about twenty of us, but right now I’m soaking wet and wrapped in a blanket while on a Coast Guard rescue chopper.

When my story starts, however, I was on the second floor of the school during the morning hours, right after eight. You see, the first floor was already flooded, so I and the other people there were looking for goods and shit for the preacher to divide between us. I don’t think he was really prepared for this kind of emergency, but he’d said he was, so we’d believed him.

I was there because I decided not to go with my friends. They had the bright idea to head to the bay to steal a boat, and I tried to talk them out of it, but whether they made it or not, I don’t know. This story isn’t about them, though. It’s about the mysterious deaf girl I met. I met her there by pure chance, because I almost went with my friends to the bay. I was at the school because my aunt told me to go there in case of an emergency. She’s real religious, you see, but she was never pushy about it. She says she always prays for me, so I guess she really cares, and she’s the only family I’ve got, so I’ve tried to straighten up for her over the last few years. That’s why I finally took her advice and went there, to that school, right before the hurricane hit. No, I didn’t think my friends would make it to a boat, and my Aunt Maria didn’t raise no fool.

The school had storm shutters for the windows, so it got battered by the hurricane but not wrecked like everywhere else. Still, I don’t think the preacher took into account the storms and the flooding, but that’s okay. He did good enough, I think. It could have been a lot worse.

Even so, the front doors got pushed inward, because I don’t think they were designed for a flood, so they got pushed in and the whole first floor flooded. Those doors lock in place once they’re open, so you have to hit the pedals to unlock them, and that little fact saved my life later on, but you’ll understand about that later. I guess the school would have flooded anyway over time, but it flooded right away because of that, so all of us were trapped on the second and third floor.

You see, when I’d come to the school, a couple of older guys in their thirties let me in when I said I was Maria’s nephew. They started talking about how that made about twenty of them, but I’m kind of a loner, so I stayed on the second floor by myself. Almost everyone else was on the third floor, and I didn’t really want to meet anyone new. People don’t really like me, and they tend to judge me, or they just tend to forget about me. Even so, these two guys were nice, and they gave me some snack packs and a couple of bottles of water. They weren’t really judgmental, but they did ask me to look around the second floor for anything useful, so I did. I figured I owed these people that much.

When my story starts, I was on the second floor out on the sun balcony that led out from one of the classrooms. It was a little after eight in the morning, and I had spent the last night huddled up in this classroom in the corner. It’s tough to sleep that way, but I did it.

Anyway, I saw a girl out there on the sun balcony about my own age, a pretty white girl with brown eyes and soft brown hair that fell to her shoulders. She had on a white dress with red-roses in print all over it, that dress going down to her knees. She had on white crew socks and white sneakers, though her sneakers were a little dirty. She was tall, about the same height as me, and thin with small boobs, breasts, I guess. Her dress was sleeveless and only covered her shoulders, the kind of dress you would see someone wear to a Sunday service at a church. She was just out there leaning over the railing and looking down into the river that was the street, and the sun was out for once, but I knew that wasn’t going to last long. There was another storm coming soon.

I walked out there and looked over the railing, but I didn’t say anything to her. She gave me a brief glance but didn’t say anything either. I guess neither one of us were big talkers, something I’m not used to in a girl. Of course, I didn’t know the reason she didn’t talk much yet.

I stared over the railing to look down into what used to be Caballero Street. It was all a river of murky water, flotsam and debris, nothing of much interest. Dead animals would float by sometimes, cats and dogs mostly, but it wasn’t until we saw the body that things got weird for me. A body went floating by, a guy, an older fat guy in muck-dirty clothes, balding, black hair, floating face down in the current heading out toward the bay.

The girl next to me started crying, and I got a good look at her for the first time. She had a pretty face, a little rounded, with lighter brown eyes than mine and a button nose, and she gave me a quick glance, but she wouldn’t have kept looking at me if I hadn’t done what I did. I pulled out my phone and took a picture of the body, but I had my own reasons for that. My phone was on its last legs because I couldn’t recharge it, the charger back at the apartment, anyway, but I thought it was important to take a picture of this dead guy, so I did. I don’t think she liked that, though.

She gave me a look, one I can’t really describe. I could tell that she was sad and/or horrified, I don’t know exactly what, but she looked like she was disappointed in me, so I had to say something.

“It’s not what you think,” I said.

She raised her left eyebrow and gave me a quizzical look, then she reached up and wiped some tears from her brown eyes. She gave me a deep stare as she studied me, but she didn’t reply to me.

“I think somebody needs to remember that guy,” I said flatly. “He shouldn’t just be forgotten. That’s why I took a picture of him. I know what it’s like to be forgotten.”

This girl stared down at the balcony deck for a second before she looked back up at me again. She had small, pouty lips, and these turned down into a sad frown as she sniffed once and started crying again.

“I know,” I told her. “I may not act like it, but I don’t like to see stuff like that. It’s not right.”

She brought up both hands and started doing sign language. That’s when I figured it out. I guess she was deaf, and she’d been reading my lips, so I figured I’d have to talk at her for her to get what I was saying, but that really wasn’t the problem. The problem was that I didn’t know sign language.

“I can’t understand you,” I said in complete honesty. “I don’t speak sign language...Do sign language? It doesn’t matter, because I don’t know it.”

She nodded at me twice and then shrugged. She was still crying though.

“Come on,” I said as I nodded toward the classroom. “I know it feels good to be out in the sun after all these storms, but...I don’t think it’s good to see this stuff out here. I don’t know if there will be anymore floaters, but...it’s not good to see this stuff.”

Of course, I didn’t know just how close the next storm was. That sunny moment was just a fluke, so it’s a good thing we went back inside, but I’ll explain that in a moment.

She nodded at me, turned, and walked back into the classroom, so I just followed her back in.

This particular classroom had kid shit all over the walls, drawings and stuff, and there were a few desks, like maybe twelve. It was a small classroom. There was a chalkboard but no chalk, so I wasn’t going to be able to talk to her that way. I don’t think it mattered, though, because I think she liked it that I did all the talking. I think it calmed her nerves.

She walked over to the wall next to the balcony and just sat down on the floor. There were desks in here, but they were small, for little kids, so she just sat on the floor. I thought it was okay to lounge around in here for now, so I sat down next to her, though she scooted a little away from me. I can understand that, though, because I’m not exactly the friendliest looking person. She looked over at me, studied me, and I found that a little weird, but it was understandable, considering our situation.

“You from here?” I asked.

She nodded her head and then wiped some tears from her eyes.

“That really got to you, didn’t it?” I asked.

She nodded again, closed her eyes, and then sucked in a choked breath. She opened her eyes and stared at me, wiping a couple of more tears away.

“I’m Trey,” I said calmly. “What’s your name?...Never mind. Forget I asked that. I live with my Aunt Maria. Maria Walters. You know her?”

This girl nodded her head and took in a deep breath. She released that breath and looked at me with an expression of interest on her face. I guess she just wanted me to talk, so I did.

I decided to address the reason she was crying.

“It’s hard to see stuff like that outside,” I said.

She nodded yes to me and took a small gulp.

“The reason I took that picture...” I said, “The reason I took it is because of my aunt. She likes to read these teen romances, you see, and she read a quote out of one of them and really took it to heart. She drilled it into my head, so I think I took it to heart, too. It was...uhh...’People will tell you that life is not fair, but that’s an excuse. When someone says life is not fair, it’s up to you and me and everyone else to stand up and make it fair’. That’s what I was doing out there. I was taking a picture so I wouldn’t forget that guy. It’s not right that he just died like that and nobody will remember him, so that’s what I was doing. I was remembering him...You and I will both remember him now, so it wasn’t like he just died and that was it, you know?”

She nodded her head a couple of times and then did some sign language, but she stopped that and shook her head in frustration. She was trying to tell me something, but what that was, I still don’t know.

“That’s okay,” I said. “You don’t have to say anything. I’ll just talk for the both of us.”

She thought about this, at least she looked thoughtful, and then she nodded her head once.

“You’re worried about all this, aren’t you?” I asked. “I wouldn’t worry, though. I’m not really religious like my aunt, but something must be working for us, because we’re still alive, and at least we didn’t get stuck somewhere worse, right?”

She nodded her head and then wiped one more tear from her eye.

“Don’t be worried, okay?” I said. “If worse comes to worst, I’ll give up my seat for you.”

Her brown eyes widened as she looked at me in visible surprise. I tried to explain myself, but normally I swear a lot on account of the crowd I run with, but I figured her to be religious, you know, so I held back on that.

“All this sh...uhh...this stuff is scary, but...” I explained, “I’m not afraid. Not really. I’ve been through a lot worse. I think if I’m going to do anything good in my life, it might as well be now. If there is a rescue coming, I figure I should give up my spot if there aren’t enough seats or something. I’d give up my seat for you. You deserve it more than I do.”

She put her hands to her chest as if to say ‘me?’, right above her small breasts, and she shook her head no.

“That’s okay,” I shrugged. “I don’t mind. I’m just glad I’ve got somebody to talk to before the next storm hits. It’s better than doing nothing by myself. We’re supposed to be looking for food and blankets, but I think the preacher’s got that under control already. I guess there’s nothing to do but pass the time. I’d play games on my phone, but we’ve got no power, so I can’t recharge it, even if I had my charger.”

She bit her lower lip and nodded twice to me.

There was a loud crack of thunder outside as the sky darkened. It was loud, like really fucking loud, and it made me jump a little. Apparently, the next storm was a lot closer than either one of us had thought. I was going to get up and check outside, but this girl scooted over and huddled close to me, so I put my arm around her out of reflex. I wasn’t even thinking about how that might look. She could obviously hear a little, because she heard the thunder, and it spooked her pretty badly.

The rain started coming down a moment later, so I turned to say something to her, but her face was right in mine, our noses almost touching. She was really pretty up close, but I didn’t want to spook her or anything, so I was going to turn away. Unfortunately, another loud crack of thunder hit as lightning streaked across the sky outside, and she hugged me tightly out of fear. She was shaking in my arms at that point, so I just held her. I was a little scared, too, if only because of the thunder.

“It’s okay,” I said. “It’s just thunder...”

Of course, I realized she couldn’t understand me because I wasn’t looking at her. It’s really difficult to communicate with a deaf person when you don’t know sign language and you’re not used to being around one. I don’t know what it’s like to be deaf, but at least she could read lips, so I turned to repeat what I’d just said, but I didn’t know her face was in mine at that moment. Our lips met on accident, and then thunder struck.

She clutched me tightly around the chest with her eyes squeezed shut, and then she was kissing me. I tried to pull away but she grabbed the back of my head, and we kissed like that for I don’t know how long, at least a whole minute if I had to guess, our mouths open, her tongue in my mouth. I wasn’t a virgin, but it had been a while since I’d been intimate with a girl, and this girl was a stranger. I didn’t know her at all.

I pulled away from her as the rain came down outside. Do you know what it’s like when it’s hot and humid outside and then it rains? There’s a sizzling sound when the rain hits, and you can actually smell the rain, a musky smell that’s hard to describe. There’s nothing really like it.

I looked at her, stared her right in her brown eyes and furrowed my eyebrows. I didn’t want to seem rude, so I asked her a question kind of related to that weird fit of kissing, but I didn’t ask about it outright.

“Are you all right?” I asked.

She slowly nodded twice. She reached over and held my left hand in her right, and I guess she was just scared, so I held her hand for her anyway.

“There’s nothing to be afraid of,” I said. “Even if the water managed to get this high, we’d just go to the third floor. You don’t have to be scared.”

Her brown eyes flitted down and side to side as if she were thinking. Brown eyes are the most common eye color in the world, but I’ve always thought they were pretty on a girl. They remind me of that time of day just before the sun goes down, sunset, of course, but not just that. They remind me of that moment when the sun is about to disappear on the horizon, right when the last rays of light hit the sky. Other eye colors are pretty, of course, but brown eyes always give me that feeling, that feeling you get when you look at a painting you really like. That’s what I felt when I stared into her eyes. It’s kind of sappy and romantic, I know, but when you live with someone like my aunt, that stuff rubs off on you.

This girl took in a slight breath and then puffed it out, and I felt that breath on my neck. I wanted to kiss her again, but I’m not the kind of guy that forces that sort of thing. I kind of let that happen naturally.

“I wish I knew your name,” I said.

She gave me a sad smile and shook her head no. I guess she didn’t want to tell me. A normal person would have been upset about this, but I wasn’t exactly normal. I’ve always been kind of private with my own information on account of the trouble I’ve been in, so I understood.

She reached up with her right hand and placed it flat on her chest, right between her breasts, then she slowly moved her hand to my chest and laid it flat against mine.

“I don’t...know what that means,” I said slowly.

She closed her brown eyes and breathed out through her nose for a moment, took in a breath through her nose again, her nostrils flaring out, and then breathed out one more time.

She leaned in and kissed me on my left cheek, then she leaned back and gave me a no-nonsense stare. She put her hands up to her chest with her fingers pointing inward, then she slid them down her dress to lay them flat over her crotch, right between her legs. She moved up her right hand and pointed at me. I think I knew what that meant, but it was a little startling. I didn’t even know this girl.

“You want me to do that?” I asked in surprise. “Why would you ask something like that?...Are we talking about the same thing here? I don’t even know you.”

My phone was on the floor next to me, and she pointed down at that with her right index finger. I looked down at my phone for a moment and got the hint. I looked back up at her as my eyebrows furrowed in concern.

“I’m not going to die,” I said confidently. “At least I don’t think I am. There’s other ways to remember people, anyway.”

She nodded her head a couple of times and then took my hands into hers. She released my right hand and laid her left hand over her belly. She pointed to herself with her left index finger and then pointed at me. I know I’m a romantic, but I didn’t know I was that good with girls. Maybe it was the situation we were in, or maybe it was just something I said, but I knew what she wanted, and that was something very personal. I’m not a prude or anything, but this was all very surprising to me. I didn’t really know what to think about it.

“But I don’t even know you,” I said in confusion. “I don’t even know your name.”

She closed those brown eyes of hers and shook her head in frustration. When she opened them, she leaned in and kissed me again, and we kissed like this as the rain came down and lightning rolled across the sky outside. I didn’t fight her this time, however. She was scared, because she was trembling a little in my arms, but I didn’t know if that was because of the situation we were in or because of the ‘situation’ we were in.

It was getting dark in the classroom, because the windows were still shuttered. The door to the sun balcony was glass, but it was safety-glass, so it had a few scuffs on it, but it was still in one piece. The only light into this room was coming from there, and the storm was blocking out the sun, so nature was giving us our own mood lighting.