I left then, hurrying to the stables to get by borrowed horse ready for the rush to Riverside.

The two we had were pretty much only used for pulling carriages, and while they could run, their worth was in the weight they could pull.

Meanwhile the horse I borrowed for a silver coin a day – Dewdrop – was much faster. She was one of the Redtree’s horses, which meant she was specifically breed for racing, but she just...didn’t have the personality. She liked to run free and socialize with the other horses, so as long as she got to go and see the other horses at Redtree’s ranch at night, then she was a happy horse. After I started renting her, one of my nightly chores was to make sure she had wandered back home, Dewdrop knowing to go down our street, through town, and over to where the Redtree Ranch was to check on her family before she made her way on home, usually at the insistence of the towns folk.

Technically we were renting to buy her, which meant that my silver went toward her ultimate price of forty gold- or four hundred silver, forty thousand copper – so it wasn’t a bad deal at all. Technically a horse like her really should go for twice that price, but the Redtree’s knew were weren’t going to breed her, and if the right stallion came along then they would rent her back from us at a silver a week, keeping her at their ranch during the last four months of her pregnancy and then they’d get the resulting foul. If that foul had their mother’s personality, then we would get it for free, but if it was like it’s grandparents, who placed third and second in the Riverside Fall Long Distance Races, then they would give us a one time payment of ten gold.

We were all really excited to have Dewdrop, though. She was our first none carriage horse, which was a pretty big deal to my sisters, but even more so, Dewdrop had a long history of making her way to our fields anyway because...I guess she liked my Mom’s garden, since she would go and roll around in it before we built the greenhouse. We kept a patch of her favorite flowers out for her, but….

Yeah.

On a more private note, Dewdrop and I got along really well, with Dad saying it was in our blood, since he used her father, Snowdrop, whenever he entered in a rodeo, which he usually placed well in.

I was actually slowly training her to run when we went to Riverside, and so far we were making great progress – I was even thinking about showing off to Redtree to see if it was good enough to have Mimi enter the junior races in the fall, since I wouldn’t be there, but I wasn’t so sure she’d be ready before I left for the city in a little over a week.

But who knows.

I snapped her reins and she took off, following our usually path in the right, tearing through the neighborhoods, each ranch with their own stretch of land. When the fork in the road came up, I smirked

There was a metal pot at the fork in the road, one my mother had placed. It was decorated with paintings of sunflowers and doves and filled with fresh flowers or ‘the prettiest of rocks’, as my sisters would say when they put things in there. According to my mom, it was an offering to the spirits to watch over travelers, brightly arranged flowers sticking out of the pot signaling that my mom had come home.

I wondered if Mom and Dad were going to let the girls see that on their way to school and their part-time jobs, or if they were going to go surprise them?

I guess if Mom was cooking, then they’d let them be surprised.

Went right, going toward town, but as buildings started to come into view a little while later, I directed Dewdrop to the fast path behind he main buildings, where horses and carriages could tear down the road without worrying about any toddlers popping out or people stepping out.

There were a couple other horses running by, and I delighted in seeing that none were as fast as Dewdrop.

When I saw a familiar horse, grew with a white freckled face, I grinned, snapping my reigns to go faster.

I swear I saw Mr. Redtree’s head snap in my direction when I went by him.

I gave him a wave, biting my lip to keep from laughing out loud – that would be to loud.

And in our year of silence, ending in just a few hours, you couldn’t make any sound at all.

We rode with the wind, crossing Severance Bridge, which was usually saved for horses, but as the stream had swelled into a fast river, others were using it, but the attendant on duty today waved a green flag when he heard be coming, signaling the bridge was clear on both ways so I didn’t have to slow down. I waved to him as we whizzed by, thinking about my work and what I had to do.

Today would be my last day at work, and it was so bittersweet. I would miss it, miss my coworkers, but I would be taking my favorite with me to the city.

I grinned wide as I thought my of good friend, Todd.

Todd was...a touchy subject, not so much anymore, but when he first started working there…

Yeah. There had been drama.

Todd and I had some….weird, flirtatious friendship. He was a Vermilion, though so there was always this unsaid tension, and I think that’s what sparked everything.

He came to work with us right after the JN crisis first started about a year and a half ago (when I first saw the JN error code and Marybeth had to retire due to stress). There where a lot more tests to take, and the first day he showed up with the ten other recruits we just stared at each other for the longest time...and then he offered his hand, and we shook hands...and then for like a week, we were stealing glances before he asked me to join him on break and bought me a bubbly, and yeah.

It was a thing.

I often wondered what I would have done if Todd wasn’t a Vermilion.

I liked him a lot – he was really attractive, and smart, and kind, and we got on about most things. Pretty much everything, actually.

But he was a Vermilion, and if I was going to sin with a man, it wasn’t going to be with someone from his clan. I was already going to piss of God, I didn’t want to isolate myself from my family.

Hell was going to be a really lonely fucking place if no one wanted to hang out with the Vermilion kisser.

But he was a great friend, even if our relationship waaaaas….questionable.

When Big Blue heard that I had had lunch with Todd outside of work for the first time a little over a week after Todd started working there, I cane to work the next day and there Big Blue was, sitting on my cubicle. I swear to god I had sweat through my entire work shirt.

Word spread through the clan like fucking crazy, but after we got a phone call from a concerned cousin, my Dad went down and got into it with Hester and Big Blue without me, but came home and said I could hang out with Todd, but not outside of Riverside, which was cool with me because Todd never left Riverside, since he worked two jobs on top of helping out at the Vermilion church.

Big Blue did pinch me really hard though whenever he saw me, usually on the face, but I took it because I knew I had pissed him off and I kinda deserved it.

Joshua thought it was funny. He was probably one of my few supporters in the extended family, most of which always started out with ‘How’s that friend of yours, Lawrence Bluewell?’ whenever they’d meet me. I swear to God I could be in a room of ten of my extended kin, and every single one would ask that with the same dry tone and dead ass look in their eye.

But whatever. Todd was nice, and we worked together, so fuck’em.

I wasn’t going to fuck with Todd though, not even a little, even though….I was pretty sure he was looking for it.

I wasn’t THAT fucking stupid.

When I got to Riverside, I brought Dewdrop to the stable in town I had a booth rented just for Dewdrop, the stable master knowing that if any funny business went on, he’d have the entire Red Clan to answer to, so he made sure that she was kept only with the other girls. I mean, I didn’t even know if she could get pregnant outside of heat or whatever, but Redtreee made sure I had the stable master call him to verify some things before I signed anything, and so I did.

I went to jump on one of the cable cars that lazily dragged through town, but they were all full, which wasn’t unsurprising, so I instead just ran to work.

It was very quiet in Riverside.

Riverside was part of the silence pact, and boy did they enforce it. If you were older than four years old and made any sound at all – I mean I heard they’d drag you to the church to be talked to, but I wasn’t sure what else happened.

But they took it as seriously as we did in Citrus Grove, which was nice.

I realized then that by the time I was done with work, the city would be filled with noise again.

Which was weird, since it had been deathly silent for the past year exactly.

I came into the building and hurried up the stairs, waving to the receptionist before I hurried over to my cubicle. I quickly took off my backpack, hanging it on the wall with one hand while I stretched over and turned on my computer with the other. I walked briskly down to my manager’s office to poke my head in. I snapped my finger – one of few allowed sounds – and she looked up and smiled at me, nodding in acknowledge that I was here.

I went back to my desk and sat down, panting as I caught my breath. A pencil bounced off my head and I looked up to see Todd peeking over the top of the short wall that divided our desks and I grinned, rubbing my face before I lifted a fist to bump against his, then falling back to my chair. It made more noise then I intended and I cringed, sitting there in silence as I waited to see if someone was going to come over to give me the stink eye, Todd sating fully to look around with a curious look.

When no one came I let out a long, silent exhale.

I then got to work.

Today was my last day and I really wanted to leave on a good note, trying to do as many tests as I could.

I worked for five hours straight, and at break I went and sat with Todd in the break room. I stared at the spot where the radio was on it’s lowest setting, all that was allowed until the silence was lifted, passing my bubbly to Todd to drink.

It was something I would normally do with my family, but with Todd it was a lot more intimate, I guess.

But this was as intimate as I would ever be with Todd, I was sure.

He would be joining me in the city a few days after me to start a permanent position there at a family business. I’d have my own apartment, he’d have his own apartment – we were kinda planning on sleepovers and wild nights out together, but...I knew I had to keep him at arms length, because I suspected that he wanted more, and he might try more, and-

And that just couldn’t happen.

Not with Todd.

Maybe someone else, if I was really careful, but…

Not with Todd.

I returned to work, keeping focused on my task as I tried to do as many tests as I could. When Todd came over and suddenly pulled me out of my chair, dragging me to the stairs, pulling along as we climbed. It took me way to long to realize what we were doing, and then once it clicked, I shoved past him, Todd covering his mouth as he laughed, recovering fast to chase up after me. I got to the roof access a full five second before he did, rushing out into it to run to the edge of the building to gasp, laughing quietly as Todd caught up, slamming into me before we both sat down, breathing heavily.

I rubbed my face as I looked out over Riverside, the buildings all two storied – save for a hand full of three storied ones, including Pastor Vermillion’s massive home at the heart of the city.

There was a scream.

High pitched, loud, ear piercing.

Another -

More.

Hundreds of screaming, people stopping whatever they were doing to start screaming at the top of their lungs.

I grinned, looking to Todd, holding his gaze as we both sucked in a big breath. I turned toward the street and screamed as loud as I could, as long as I could, Todd doing the same next to me.

When I was done I screamed again and again until my throat was sore.

Everyone else in the city, and many other towns, screamed around us, signaling the end of the year long silence.