Chapter 2

The snappy sound of the lively salsa drums and the humming guitar, ringing with its monotone beat, carried throughout Megan’s room, waking her. Daybreak pierced through the open curtains by the desk where paperwork and books lay stacked up neatly, falling on the pink flip phone making the racket.

Megan got up, heaving an audible sigh as she made her way to turn the aggravating melody off. She was always going to change the alarm in her phone but never bothered to, seeing as it only annoyed her about a minute a day or so. After a quick change of clothes and about ten minutes freshening up she made her way to the kitchen. Giles was reading the paper, already dressed up and ready to go, sitting by the island facing away from the window. Next to him was an empty plate with only crumbles of what used to be toast. The gentle buzzing of the refrigerator along with the occasional clinks of her dad’s spoon meeting the mug as he stirred were the only sounds that could be heard. Not the usual welcoming sound of birds chirping or dogs howling in the distance. It was an eerie sort of silence, one that only Megan noticed in the household.

“Good morning.” Giles signed, putting away mug as he did. Giles always spoke to Megan in sign language with the intention of her being bilingual so she could learn more languages with ease and communicate with his friends as well as deaf people in general.

“Hey there, when did you come home last night?” Megan signed back, taking out a gallon of milk from the fridge and a pop tart from a shelf before taking a seat on the counter. She took a bite of the wrapper and ripped it off, carefully placing the palm of her hand under her so that she wouldn’t make too much of a mess.

“I’m sorry that I came home late. I was already having a pretty long night at work when I met my college, Professor Stein. You know him. He has been over a couple of times, the linguistics teacher. He once came to your birthday, quite a nice fellow. He can’t sign too well though. I taught him some simple signs this one ti-” Giles noticed that Megan was getting impatient so he hurried to the point. “Oh, yes. Well I met him outside by my car where he was holding his arm it looked like he was in great pain, he was bleeding as well. Not too much fortunately. He was also sweating a lot I can tell you.” Giles shook his head with his mouth open, looking at the wall, remembering the night before. Megan stared at her father, with a pop tart hanging from her mouth, waiting for him to start again. When he didn’t she made a circling motion with her hand as to remind him that he was telling her something.

“Right! Well I drove him to the hospital. He didn’t really say much, it was something about teenagers on drugs. I’m no good at reading lips as you know. I do hope he’s alright.” He added, stroking his unshaven face and checking his watch, remembering that he running a tight schedule.

“Well you have the final test today, do good on this one and you’re well on your way to New York.” He winked. Clapping his hands together he made his way to the door, tilting his head, implying that they were leaving. Megan hurriedly finished the pouring the milk and gulping it down before dashing out the front door.

She only brought a standard number two pencil and that was all she would need. Most of the people in her neighborhood went to the local high school but Megan went to a ‘Princeton’s Private school for the Prestige’ or as Megan liked to call it ‘Perfect Place for Provocative Pompous People Playing with ones Patience’, spitting out every p in her mind. Her mother would never have sent her to a private school. This day was already looking rather dark despite it being so early in the morning, regardless Megan had high hopes for the exam, only one more to go and then she was completely free. Not a single worry to be had. Giles slammed his hands into the steering wheel, making a disgruntled sound. Megan glanced upward from the pencil she was so thoroughly examining, snapping back into reality as her dad slowed the car. There was a roadblock up ahead and they were in a hurry. There usually was never a problem out by the woods, at least not a problem that one couldn’t solve without the use of a roadblock. A police officer came walking towards them. He had a typical smug expression on his face, one that people with authority have when they are about to enforce it. His spit shined boots were spotless and his mirroring sunglasses reflecting the car lights, making him look more and more like the typical asshole.

“Excuse me sir, but y’all gonna have ter turn back. This way’s closed.” He grinned, revealing a row of perfectly white teeth and some chewing gum dangling from clutched teeth. Giles narrowed his eyes, leaning in, before turning his head to Megan looking puzzled.

“What did he say?” He asked her. Megan got took by surprise. She was completely lost in her own thoughts, thinking about what was behind that roadblock. She simply shrugged and lifted a finger, signaling Giles to wait. She poked her head out the window and addressed the man standing a couple of meters in front of the car.

“He’s deaf. He can’t hear you.”

The police man furrowed his brow and walked closer to the car and said even louder and slower, as if Giles would hear him if he would speak to him like a child “This way ‘ere.” he pointed behind him “Is closed.” He now crossed his hands into an X. He stood there with his mouth open slightly waiting for a reaction. Giles gave a sigh and looked at Megan who glanced back at him looking like she was about to explode. When she was about to retort to the police officer Giles pulled her in and pointed at the seatbelt calmly. Megan got the point and buckled angrily cursing under her breath. Giles opened his window and popped his head out smiling; looking to the left and then the right as if he had lost something, taking note that there was a gap between the forest and the main road. Spontaneously he slammed the horn of the car with the palm of his hand, holding it down. The man jumped out of the way in surprise and looked bewildered at the man. Giles stopped the beeping and shouted at the man with mock incompetence.

“SORY DEFF! DON’T UNDERSTAND.” He backed up and put his foot down, revving the engine and taking off, swerving off the road and driving on the muddy ground, while the policeman lay there on the ground, watching in disbelief as they sped off. Once they got past the roadblock Megan was in tears, clutching her gut she was laughing hysterically.

“Dad, that was beautiful. Why don’t you do that more often?” Megan said while muffling the last of her giggles. Giles grinned and gave Megan the ‘I’m a bad role model’ look which Megan had learned to love. Even though he was fully competent person he loved to use real life people as ‘test subjects’.

“I have a PhD and he treats me like an infant. I don’t suppose that he’s much of a people’s person.” He signed to Megan with one hand, turning his head to the road once in a while. A chuckle escaped his mouth and he shook his head. They drove on for a while and car went silent. Megan thought back to how his face might have looked, probably still staring into the distance in awe. She smiled to herself stretching backwards, yawning and half closing her eyes.

Without warning they hit a bump and the car swerved once more, this time out of control. Giles frantically tried to regain control of the car. Megan shrieked as they came to a stop. Since there was a roadblock on one end they were most likely safe from oncoming traffic as there had to be another roadblock on the other end. They were facing the direction in which they came from. Giles was breathing heavily clutching the steering wheel with a firm grip, reluctant towards letting go.

“Are you okay?” Giles asked worried after a while, finally letting his hands off the wheel.

“Y-Yeah, I think I am, but what did we hit? I can’t see a pothole anywhere.” Megan was right. There was nothing on the street, just some scattered debris on the right side of the road.

“Was it… Was it a person?” Megan asked hesitantly. Her hands shaking slightly as she asked.

“You just stay in the car. I’ll go see what it was. It was most likely just some animal or something. Things like this happen all of the time.” He smiled reassuringly. “There was a roadblock after all. There wouldn’t be people around here anyway. We are pretty much in the middle of the forest.” Megan nodded still breathing deeply. But before Giles could get out of the car Megan’s expression froze with her mouth wide open, she tapped her dads’ shoulders almost pounding it. Giles turned to her looking annoyed and confused, noticing that she was staring in pure horror in front of her. He turned is head to find a woman wearing what looked like a bloody nightgown standing in the middle of the road, staring into the woods with listless eyes.