In the Silence Between Us

He's Dead.

"How is he dead?"

"Why is he dead?"

"Who killed him and why would they kill him?"

These questions kept running in my head as I sat at the corner of my room holding up my legs together. I couldn't cry anymore, tears stopped flowing. I couldn't feel anything anymore.

I heard the landline ring by 9pm on Tuesday. I just got back from school a few hours ago and I wasn't expecting anyone to call. In fact, who even calls landlines when you can call my cell phone, I thought we didn't use it anymore.

My parents were on a business trip and they won't be back till next Saturday. They traveled to South Africa, they had a business contract to seal there. It was just me and Bun, my dog. I picked up the phone and waited for the person to speak up.

"Hello. Good evening, am I speaking to Mr. Daniels?" A lady asks. She sounded older, in her sixties or so. I wondered why she was calling this late in the evening.

"Good evening ma, Mr. Daniels is my dad and he's unavailable at the moment." I answer politely.

"My name is Mrs. Alexa. I'm calling from Saints College in Australia. I am the Deputy Chancellor in the college. Hmm… I don't know if I can tell you this information, I'm supposed to tell it to his father first," she responds.

At this point I'm a bit weary. His father? What happened to my brother?!

Why would someone call from his college?

Why would the Administration call?

My brother is the best in his school work and everything so what happened?

I spoke to him three days prior and he sounded okay. He even joked about his friends and told me what had been happening.

"Excuse me ma, what happened to my brother? Is he okay? Please tell me. I'll let my dad know." The words left my mouth in a rush. I didn't even think, a lot of things were running through my mind.

She hesitated before saying "I'm sorry but Samuel Daniels is dead. He was found inside a burnt building. The laboratory building caught fire last night and he was there working on a project with his teammates. His remains will be sent.…"