Stunned Silence

Chapter 1

She Never wrote back

I stabbed the blank piece of paper with my pen. Then I glared at the piece of paper as if it was its fault that no words were coming to my mind. A simple letter would be fine. She wouldn't mind…

Dear Lily,

I hate it over here. I miss all of you so much, especially you. It has only been a day here and I already hate it. I can't live here. I need to go back.

I could already imagine what Lily would write back:

Dear Erik,

Yes, it has only been a day there so you haven't had any time to figure out if you like it or not. I miss you too but you have to give the place a chance.

And then I knew what my reply to that would be:

Lily,

This place is horrible! I don't want to give it a chance!

And we would probably bicker like this in out letters. I never thought I would miss arguing with Lily so much but I knew that even Lily enjoyed it at times. Lily, I missed her too much. She was my best friend in the whole entire world and now here I was in Australia with my best friend back in America. I sighed.

'Erik!' my mom called. I ignored her. I needed to talk to Lily.

'Lily's called!' this time I sprung up from my chair and thundered down the stairs before snatching the phone away from my mothers grasp.

'Hello.' I gasped.

'Hey!' I heard Lily's cheery voice. 'Why are you so breathless?'

'I-I…just…ran to…to get…the phone.' I could sense Lily rolling her eyes at me.

'Well, that wasn't much use was it? You can't even talk to me properly,' She stated matter-of-factly. 'So, how is it?'

'Horrible.' I replied immediately.

'Somehow I knew that was going to be your answer.' I grinned at her answer. We knew each other too well.

'Riley! Put that down!' Lily shouted. 'Hold on.' She said to me. I heard her doing a fair bit of angry shouting before she came back to the phone.

'Sorry, I'm supposed to be babysitting Riley, and she nearly broke the vase.' Lily explained.

'So your parents forced you to baby-sit again?'

'No, this time I offered.' I frowned at her answer. It didn't sound as if she was being sarcastic.

'Really?'

'Yes…'

'Why?' I asked.

'Um…well…'

'They didn't just-'

'They did,' Lily sighed. 'I always told you the only reason they even talked to me was because I was your best friend.'

'But I thought that they had started to like you for real.' Lily giggled at that.

'You're so naïve, that it's actually funny,' She said mischievously. 'So, when are you starting school?'

'Tomorrow,' I sighed. 'It's going to be horrible.'

'You don't know that, it could be so great that you forget all about America!'

'Yeah, like that's ever going to happen.' I scoffed.

'Ok, well I have to feed Riley now,' Lily said. 'But I will call you back tomorrow to find out that you didn't hate school.'

'Yeah, ok,' I said. 'But I will hate school.'

'That's what you think,' she said and then I heard Riley's faint cries. 'Riley crying. Bye!'

Next day

I kept staring at the phone, waiting for it to ring. Lily had said she would call. She wasn't one to forget. Hours went by and Lily still hadn't called. I frowned and decided to just call her myself.

The phone kept ringing but no one picked up. My frown deepened and I decided to try once more. Again, the phone kept ringing and no one picked up.

'One last time.' I said to myself as I dialled Lily's phone number. Even this time the phone kept ringing and no one picked up. This seemed very unlike Lily. Lily had never been one to forget her word and she had always been very punctual. Something just didn't seem right. I decided that I would try again the next day.


Next day

The next day, I waited patiently by the phone just in case Lily called.

'Erik, are you ok?' my mom asked.

'Why wouldn't I be?' I asked.

'Why don't you write Lily a letter, she's probably really busy with school and doesn't have time to call.' Mom said.

'I guess I could write her a letter.' I sighed. I went to my room and scribbled a quick letter.

Hey Lily,

How come you didn't call? You know you were half right and half wrong about the whole school thing. Everybody was nice and friendly but I still hated it because I didn't have my friends there. Please call when you get a chance. I tried calling but no one picked up. Write back (or call) soon.

Erik.

A few days passed by and Lily never sent me back a reply for my letter. Nor did she care. I was afraid something had gone terribly wrong. One day, I decided I would call her. I returned from school and dialled Lily's number.

'Hello?' I heard Lily's mother's voice.

'Mrs. McAdams,' I said. 'Is Lily there?'

'Erik...?' she asked in a shaky voice.

'Yes, it's me Erik, is Lily there?' I asked impatiently but I never got a reply because Lily's mother's voice cracked and I could hear sounds of her sobs and then the dial tone.

Dear Lily,

Are you ok? What's going on? Is you mother ok? She started crying when I called? Please write back? Have I done something to upset you?

Erik.

Lily,

Are you mad at me? What's wrong? I need to talk to you!

Erik.

Lily,

Tell me what I have done wrong. Why don't you reply to my letters? Why do you not pick up the phone? Why do you not call me?

Erik.

I wrote so many letters over the next year in hopes that maybe, just maybe, Lily would write back but she never did.


One year later

Lily,

It's been a year since we last talked. Please tell me what's wrong. Lily, I love you. You don't know how horrible it has been through this year. Please, please write-

'Erik?' My mother interrupted me from the letter I was writing.

'Yes?' I asked, rereading over my letter.

'Are you upset?' I looked at her as if she was crazy.

'Of course I'm upset!' I said. My mother nodded her head understandingly.

'Erik, I think it'll be best if you go back,' she said. 'Your father and I can stay here but you seem so upset about…Lily.'

'But-'

'Don't you want to see her again?'

'Of course I do.'

'So you'll go back?' my mother asked. I gave her a slow, hesitant nod and she gave me a teary-eyed smile.


New story! I only started this story for a competetion I'm having with my friend on bebo. I thought I'd put it up here as well. If you have bebo, I'd greatly appreciate it if you went to this url: getting-her-back. and became a fan. Then maybe I'll win the competetion. Hehe. leave me reviews! Thank you!