Nahla touched Silence forehead again and wrapped a blanket around him. She frowned and made him lay down on the bed.
"And Leo forced you to eat funnel cake when your like this?" She mumbled to herself.
"He didn't force me." Silence said and tried to sit up.
Nahla forced him back down and began to search for something in the dressers. Earlier as soon as Silence stepped into the house, Nahla began to pamper him and lectured Leo. She told him that he was under a cold, and it was probably because he was outside traveling the morning before.
But, you see, Silence didn't understand how he could be sick from just being outside. He had been outside plenty of times and wasn't sick. Now that he was laying down, he didn't even feel ill anymore, but according to Nahla he was.
Nahla poured a clear liquid on a spoon and moved it up to his lips. She forced the liquid into his mouth and Silence made a face of disgust. This was a drink that he didn't enjoy drinking, it left an ugly taste in his mouth and slid around on his tongue. If this is what village kids had to drink to become bright, he wasn't so sure he was willing to do it.
Leo walked into the room but Nahla didn't even bother to look up. She grabbed a warm rag and placed it on top of Silence's head. Was this some kind of cold ritual? Because it was starting to feel like it.
"Mama,"
"No Leo." Nahla didn't even let him get a word in.
"I didn't know he was sick." Leo protested.
"He's a traveler, of course he was sick, especially after traveling all the way here from the mountains. You should know this Leo."
"But I-"
"Look Leo, I know you don't have many friends but you shouldn't be putting other people in danger for your own fun." Nahla turned to look at Leo.
Leo's enter face expression changed. It was first filled with regret and guilt, but that slowly changed to sadness and anger. Leo stormed out of the room leaving Silence more confused than ever.
Nahla sighed and shook her head. She fixed Silence's blanket and grabbed a cup of water off of the dresser. She handed it to Silence and he took it and began to drink from it.
"He's a handful." She mumbled.
"What do you mean by that?" Silence looked at Nahla.
"He hasn't told you?" Nahla raised an eyebrow.
"Told me what?"
Nahla shook her head.
"If he hasn't told you I don't believe I can."
Nahla left the room making sure to leave the door slightly opened on her way out. Silence understood if Leo didn't want to tell him, after all he did have plenty of secrets about his life of assassination that was hidden from them, but he was still curious.
It wasn't like he and Leo were that close though, it made since why Leo wouldn't tell him something. Still, again, he was curious.
The room was empty and quiet. Quiet enough for Silence to fall into his own thoughts.
Silence had only been in the village for about two days and he already met three people. Leo, Nahla and Paul. He had learned much about them over the very few hours that they spoke.
Paul had dreams of leaving the village and he knew nearly everyone who lived there. He wanted to move to the city, and he owned a juice stand. He had a light in his eyes that were filled with memories and happiness.
Nahla was a single mother who helped him because she thought it was a nice thing to do. She looked tired, and had a sweet voice that almost sounded like an accent. She was a great cook, and could tell when he was sick. She had a face full of tiredness and work, she just looked like she needed sleep.
Next was Leo, Silence learned a lot about him over the past two days. He was very hyperactive, and spoke a lot. He wanted to be a traveler, and had a light that surrounded him everywhere he went. The people of the village all knew him. He got anxious whenever someone bought up him talking a lot and he was self-conscious about coming off as obnoxious.
Leo could tell the difference between knives because of when he was younger, and apparently his dad died from being mauled by a bear. His favorite color was orange and he forgot things easily.
Although Silence knew all of these things about these people, he still wasn't any happier, and he definitely wasn't any closer to being like the girl in the picture.
His parents could've been after him and he was wasting his time in a small village, perhaps he should move on to a different part of the world. One further away from his home.
The sound of distant yelling pulled Silence away from his thoughts. It sounded like Nahla and Leo were arguing about something, but they were also trying to whisper as well. Silence could only get a small fraction of words that entered the room.
Alone, sick, hurt, Silence and dad.
"That's not fair!" Leo screamed and the sound of a slamming door echoed through the house.
After a few minutes of Silence being in the quiet room thinking more to himself, Leo opened the door and walked into the room. His face was dry, but his eyes were stained red. He sat down on Silence's bed.
"Your eyes are red." Silence sat up and moved to be near Leo.
"They are?" Leo moved his hands up to his eyes "I didn't even notice." He lied.
"My eyes are usually only red after I got done crying." Silence looked at Leo's face.
"Oh…" Leo began to play with his hands. "Can I vent?"
Vent? He never listened to anyone else vent. Back at home, when all he had to talk to was Lauren and his butler he'd vent to other people, but he never listened to anyone else vent.
"Umm… sure."
Leo began to go on about his mom and how she had called him out. He fell on and off different topics but always seemed to come back to his mother, and how she had bought up him having little friends. He was lightly shaking the deeper into detail that he got.
"It's not that I don't want friends, but no one wants to hang out with me. Not with someone thats loud and can't stop moving. It's just hard for me to focus and pay attention. And," Leo began to stutter and tremble "and I can't stop talking. And I know it's annoying but-"
"It's not annoying to me." Silence spoke confused and tried to keep up with everything he was saying. He was falling onto a new topic nearly every second.
Silence hoped he was doing it right. Listening. He hoped he was doing it right. He hoped he was listening as good as his butler and responding as well as Lauren.
Leo stopped talking and looked down at his legs. He swallowed hard clearly in his thoughts and glanced at Silence.
"Your gonna keep traveling right? Like your gonna leave the village and stuff?"
Silence stared at him baffled. How did him traveling have anything to do with Leo finding himself annoying?
"Yeah… that's my plan, kinda." Silence responded.
Leo frowned.
"I wish I could travel with you." He admitted.
"I don't really have a destination or know when I'm going."
"Yeah, but I still wanna travel with you… but mama would never let me." Leo began to search for something in his pockets. He pulled out a piece of paper "Can you write to me?" He extended the paper out.
Silence took the paper and looked down at it.
"Yeah. Of course I'll write to you." A smile grew on his face.
Leo began to play with his hands again.
"Thanks." He mumbled and lightly bounced his leg. Leo opened his mouth, but then closed it. He did that a few more times as if thinking of whether or not he should say something.
"You can talk." Silence said.
"I have bullies." Leo looked down.
Bullies? Was that some kind of sickness? Silence had never heard of that word before, never in his entire life.
"What's that?"
Leo looked up at Silence and raised his eyes brows.
"You don't know what a bully is?"
"Umm… no? We don't have that in the mountains. Is it common for village kids?"
Leo began to laugh. He tilted his head back and closed his eyes. Somehow he had fallen back and was laying down sideways on Silence's bed and his stomach went up and down. His laughter made Silence start to chuckle too, but he didn't understand what was funny.
Leo held onto his stomach and panted loudly as he tried to catch his breath. He sat up again and looked at Silence.
"Wow, the mountain kids must be really in the dark about everything." He said and let more laughter leave his mouth.
"I don't get it…"
Leo laughed again and tilted his head back. He looked up at the roof and held onto his stomach again. After a while his laughing turned into a giggle. Then he stopped laughing all together and sat up again.
"Bullies are people that make fun of you for something repeatedly." He explained.
Silence frowned and began to think about what he said.
"Oh… that doesn't sound good." He said.
"Its not… sometimes they hit you and depending on what they bully you for you could get seriously mentally damaged." Leo began to fidget with his hands.
"Well why do they bully you?"
Leo stood up and began to impatiently pace around the room. He swallowed hard and bit his bottom lip.
"They say I uh, talk a lot, and that I can't ever sit still and stuff." Leo continued to walk around.
Silence watched Leo anxiously pace and play with his hands. He glanced at Silence every so often and then forced himself to sit down. Leo began to bounce his leg and play with his hands.
"Sorry." He mumbled.
"It's okay." Silence assured him "but, why don't you just ignore them?" In truth Silence was still a little confused about the concept of bullying.
"I do. I try to. But if I went traveling with you then I wouldn't have to worry about that…"
"Yeah, but Nahla would be worried."
"I know. She said I couldn't go with you."
Silence looked at Leo's sad face expression. He liked it better when Leo was happy and laughing, not when he was sad.
"You never finished that story about your big, large, orange birthday cake." Silence said and looked down at Leo's fidgeting hands.
A smile grew on Leo's face.
"Oh yeah. Well, the cake had fluffy, white icing and…" Leo began to talk about the cake. Gradually he got louder and his expression changed. He became happier and gradually got louder as he spoke.
Silence learned a little more that day, but it was still not enough to make him as happy and joyful as the little girl.