Annie

The mute woman walked around the party. She had been invited by another woman who claimed to be her “friend”. She probably wanted the good way it made her look. At least, that’s what the woman thought, because who would want to be friends with a mute person. She was trying to find a place to sit down and write in her journal. As an aspiring writer, she was struggling to find material to write her first book. She finally found an empty bench and started brainstorming.

After five minutes, she had the feeling someone was watching her. She looked around and there he was. He looked barely the age to drink, not yet a man, but not a boy. However, in his eyes, he looked exactly like the most childish person she’d ever seen. At least, that‘s what the woman believed. She raised an eyebrow as the guy starting walking towards her with two drinks.

“Hi, I’m Leo. What’s your name, girly?” His voice scared the woman, especially the fact that he expected her to respond. She looked around and found the group of people he came from. They were watching her intently and it seemed like they were on the verge of laughing. This is a bet, they want to see how the silent girl in the corner reacts. Leo nudged the drink into the woman’s hand, and she took it, if only to make the awkward situation less awkward. Leo sat next to her, and the woman moved away. She could sense that Leo felt peculiarly weird because she hadn’t responded to his question, but there was a chance she could play it off as shyness. The last thing she wanted was for everyone to know she was mute.

“You’re not very talkative, are you girly?” The woman bowed her head and hugged her journal, placing the drink right next to her on the bench. Leo began to drink gulps of his drink between sentences and his words started to slur together. He kept talking and talking until he said, “Girly, I think thayou are prettyboring, iffyou asked me,” Leo started to reach out to touch the woman’s arm, but from out of blue, came another guy. From the looks of it, he seemed to be Leo’s friend.

“Leo, why are you harassing this girl,” he had an authoritative voice, or maybe that was the way he talked to drunk people.

“When diyou gehere” Leo looked disappointed to see this person. The guy began to work on getting the drink out of Leo’s hand.

“I... I got here a few minutes ago,” he was staring at the woman.

“Well, I’m... I waleaving anyway. Lessee wha Brianna’s upto.” And with that Leo got up and walked away.

“Sorry about my brother. He’s a... pain,” the man definitely looked like an older version of the boy that was the woman’s company. “You know what, I... don’t like introductions. Just call me your Saviour.” At this, the woman laughed and nodded, signaling to “Saviour” that he was doing something right. He held out his hand and the woman instinctively took it. He led her to one of the balconies in the house. “This is one of best places to look at during New Year’s Eve. Oh, why, you may ask? I... don’t know. It’s kind of magical to look at the night just before the year ends. Don’t you think?” He turned toward the woman expecting her to respond. The woman however had no intention of telling this random guy that she couldn’t speak. She immediately kissed him.

They spent the night together and soon it was 15 minutes till midnight. Saviour and the woman spent the night drinking egg nog (it was the only non-alcoholic thing in the house they could find) and looking over each other’s art. He looked at her writing pieces and she at his artworks (he had taken a picture of every piece and saved it on his phone). The party was set to end right after midnight and Saviour soon realized he and the woman would separate soon.

“So, it’s time we learned each other’s names, isn’t it?” Savior cocked his head while the woman bowed hers. “If... you don’t want go first,” he sighed, “I’ll go. My name Robert Hedenlad Jr., son of Robert Hedenlad. My father... insisted I introduce myself like that. Weird, right?” All of the woman’s internal alarms started blaring. She had kissed the son of the richest businessman in the county. But, he didn’t seem that bad. She decided she would tell him the truth. “You know, I’ve noticed you haven’t said a single word in all the time I’ve met you. I thought,... umm... since you kissed me and all, that we had a thing going. But you still haven’t said anything and, I don’t want to be rude, I just want to know why. At least tell me your name.” That’s when the woman realized that he expected this to go on forever, but it couldn’t. She wouldn’t have kissed him if it were for this. She had to stop this. She tore out a piece of paper and quickly wrote, We can never be together and it’s for reasons I can’t tell you now. All I can tell you is my nickname: Annie. The woman placed the paper in Saviour’s Robert’s lap and said goodbye to the people she knew. The countdown started.

10 Annie, wait! 8 Wait, at least tell me why. 4. The woman looked back at Robert and smiled. Then, she shut the door. Happy New Year! The woman forced herself to get lost in the sound of the fireworks as she walked away.

Three Months Later

Robert watches the daily news everyday, going on with his life, thinking occasionally about the girl he met at that New Year’s Eve party.

“Today, CNN would like to say congratulations to the marriage of American writer Annabella Hope and English businessman Grant Grey. The latter is a very influential billionaire and is sure to earn more. Unfortunately, because of a tragic accident when she was young, Annabella is mute but that doesn’t change that she’s got a lot to say and she will definitely say it.

Robert could only gasp and recognize the woman as,

“Annie.”