The Silent Girl (Chapter 13)

 

*Disclaimer*: This is a work of fiction. Some events may be based on real life, but some events are made up. 

“Earth to Isabella!” Clara said an hour later.

I startled. “Who said that?” I wrote. 

“Me, Clara, your cousin, you remember!? I said that about a thousand times! What has gotten into you!?”

I shrugged and wrote, “I was just thinking.”

“About what?” 

“I was thinking about lots of things like going to Japan, YeYe always apologizing, my dad and your dad passing away, and well, I’ve been thinking… if I should talk again. Ever.” I wrote the last part quickly, because it was kind of sad to think about.

Clara was silent for a while. I would probably be, if I were her. It was hard to imagine not saying a single word in my life (after my dad died) except a few to my mom. But what if I told somebody something and they died, just like when I told my dad to get paint for me? I sighed and told myself to think about something happier. I turned to Clara and drew a picture of a toilet. She nodded, and I started walking to the bathroom. I went down the hall, past Ava’s room, past Malachi and Austin's room, past Hayden and my moms room, past my aunt's room, past my grandparents room, and finally past Harry and Ling Ling’s room. Finally I stopped at the bathroom and entered.

The bathroom was different compared to all the other rooms. For one, It was really, really big, even though all the rooms were really big. But the bathroom was two times bigger than any other room in the house. It was probably because my Grand-uncle, Harry, thought having a bathroom was really important. He emphasized his thoughts by getting ten toilets, TEN toilets, for just him and his wife. For each toilet, he actually labeled the stalls, so that we knew which toilet to go to. He said it was because he didn’t want our germs mixing. I didn’t really know, and didn’t really care.

I settled down onto my toilet in my toilet stall. After I did my “business”, I got up, and went to wash my hands. Then I went into the Women's Waiting Room, (Yes, my great uncle Harry added a waiting room for the bathroom, because he thought that the bathroom was super-important. Even though There were enough bathrooms for us all to go to at the same time!) which was basically like a living room. It was where we “waited” for the others to finish going to the bathroom. You had to go through the Women’s Waiting Room to get back to the real house, but I didn’t really want to go back. Sometimes I just wanted some privacy, to just think or draw. 

I set out my sketch pad on which I wrote and drew all the things I wanted to say. Well, actually, I didn’t want to say those things, in fear that my words might one day cause the death of one of my family or friends. So I was actually happy to write and draw. 

I scanned the room, searching for inspiration. There was a sofa with a few throw pillows on it, a little wooden desk with a vase on it, a lamp in the corner, a fireplace… finally I found what I was looking for. It was a big glass cabinet lined with all sorts of antique items. There was an old-fashioned Japanese kimono that took up half of the cabinet! The kimono had these really big, long, draped sleeves, and was super long, probably for a tall grownup. It had all these really pretty lily flowers on it, it was such fine embroidery! I thought it would be fun to draw the complicated kimono, but I wanted to draw something more simple first. 

“That's the perfect thing!” I said to myself. It was okay to talk to myself, since I knew what I was going to do next. Well, I didn’t always know, but I was actually doing quarantine, so I wouldn’t die of Covid-19! And besides, I was just telling myself what to draw, not asking myself to go to a paint store! 

I scanned the cabinet again, and found the object that I had wanted to draw. It was a china doll that also wore a kimono, but the kimono had a less complex pattern than the real kimono. The kimono on the china doll just had all these random flowers all over the place. Well, they were the same type of flowers, but they weren’t very intricate, so they would be easier to draw. 

I started by drawing the china dolls face shape. It was an oval, more wider at the top than at the bottom. I liked to draw the eyes after that, because the eyes are the things that really pop out. The china doll had super dark brown eyes, almost black, and they looked really realistic. I like to draw both cartoon eyes and realistic eyes, eyes were fun to draw, but I honestly liked to draw cartoon eyes more, because you could make them look however you like. So I drew the eyes, and the mouth, and the nose, and the hair and ears, and drew the neck to. 

After I drew the neck, (the china doll had a very skinny neck) I studied the dress. The dress on the china doll also had the long draped sleeves, and kind of just flowed down to the shoulders. So, I drew from the neck to the arms, just drawing the outline of the arms very lightly, because I would add the sleeves later, and erase the arms. I also drew the outline of the dress and the feet sticking out.

I leaned back and looked at my work. It seemed okay, but I was looking forward to adding more detail. If only I could get a closer look at the doll! I tried to scoot the sofa in, but it was too heavy, so I put all the pillows on the other couch, hoping to make the couch more light-weight. Then I realized I probably shouldn't be moving the couch around, since this was great-uncle Harry’s house, and his furniture, and he probably wanted everything to be about just right, since this was supposedly part of the bathroom. So I put the pillows back on the couch, and left to get a spare chair to put near the cabniet. 

I was kind of disappointed that I had to put a stop to me drawing, because drawing always carried me off into a whole new world of imagination. It was as if nothing else mattered, nothing else existed, no worries threatened to swallow me into fear. Drawing made me feel… free. So I was pretty disappointed that I couldn’t be carried into that feeling again, but if I just got a chair, it would make drawing easier, and more fun.

I was about to enter the storage room when I heard a familiar voice. “Argh!” Clara shouted, which startled me. I quickly ran over to me and Clara’s room, and was met with a horrible surprise.

                                                                                                                                                                                     

To be continued... 

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