Chapter 1

A Silence in Three Parts

  It was silent in Savannah’s house. A young woman sat in a small living room. Another stood in the hallway peering into a large elegant mirror. All was silent except for the constant sound of exhaling and inhaling. This silence however is most unusual for it is divided in three parts.

  The most obvious part is the lack of common sound. Both girls were silent; there was no music, nor barking dogs, nor people driving or honking in the early evening hours. But, nevertheless, the silence was a comfortable one. Kate, sitting comfortably in her gown and hair pinned up, thought idly about the evening to come. Savannah was stubbornly trying to fix a strand of her strawberry blond hair into place.

  The second piece of the silence is less obvious and only noticeable by the most discriminating people. If one were to listen for an hour or so, one may begin to feel the coldness in the air, certain heaviness, an over exaggerated pause. Kate sat waiting, having asked a rather awkward question of Savannah, which she ignored through her silent anger. She knew better than to speak aloud, so she contented herself with the silence expressed in three parts.

  The third part is nearly impossible to notice. Only Savannah knew of its presence. The cold chill in her bones, the dull thump of her beating heart, the soft breaths she took into her waiting lungs. Her hands fumbled with her hair, idly avoiding the girl sitting on the couch. She felt cold, inside and out. There was no meaning to life, only the slightest of hopes that something would come along. The third silence is Savannah’s and it is the sound of someone waiting for death to come.

  Kate, being ignorant of the silence of three parts, fidgets in her seat and opens her mouth to speak again. But she pauses, afraid to break the silence and closes her mouth. Seeming to overcome her brief moment of anxiety, she opens it again, “Savannah?” Her tone was nervous.

  “Hm…?” Savannah was ungrateful that the silence had ended. She fiddled with her hair one last time, and then began to fumble with her earrings.

  “Are you going to answer my question?”

  “Kate, you are a woman of many questions. Which one could you possible mean?”