Silence is Suicide.

Chapter Eighteen.

Rae pulled out her cell phone to check the time. "Oh, Andrew should be done soon. Come on." she said grabbing my hand and pulling me out of the chair. Without thinking, I followed her.

While Jeremy was finishing Andrew's tattoo, he was explaining how to take care of it. "One sec, bro. I'll go get your after-care stuff." Jeremy walked past me giving me a pat on the back.

Andrew looked around the shop and did a double take when he looked past me.

"You!" he screamed. "What are you doing with MY girlfriend?!"

Andrew furiously stomped toward Rae and I. "Rae, what the Hell are you doing with this... Uncommon!" He ripped the paper from her hands and studied it. "What the Hell is this!"

I tried to escape, but he grabbed my arm and ferociously threw me against a wall. I fell to the floor.

"Who do you think you are! Giving MY girlfriend drawings! Pathetic!" he spat on me as I laid helplessly on the floor, shielding my face from any damage.

"Andrew stop! You're over reacting and acting like an ass!" Rae screamed at him grabbing his arm, trying to hold him back.

"Fuck you!" he yelled at her shoving her away while ripping the drawing to shreds. The butterfly was the only thing that remained in tact. It fluttered to the floor next to my chest.

Jeremy walked back into the main part of the shop and was shocked and unable to speak for a second. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Bro calm the fuck down!" he threw the after-care on the ground and tried to stop Andrew.

The angry teen pushed the instrument cart over. All the contents and instruments spilt on the floor.

Andrew screamed, "You all suck! Fuck you all! Silent Freak, you're gonna get it one of these days. Rae, let's go."

"No." She said with anger in her eyes.

"What!" he howled.

"You heard me. No. You hurt my FRIEND and damaged this man's work! Get out of my sight." She said taking a stand.

"Then fuck you as well." He stormed out and ran down the street.

Jeremy and Rae ran over to where I laid on the ground. My body ached, but it was nothing I haven't gotten before.

"Little bro! Are you okay?" Jeremy said, sounding worried.

I nodded and sat up slowly.

"Here, I have some water in my purse." Rae said handing me a water bottle, "Drink this."

I accepted the water and rubbed my head.

"What the fuck happened?" Jeremy cried out.

Rae explained the entire scene to him, not missing any detail. She started to cry quietly. "I'll pay. I'll pay for any damage he caused. I'm so, so sorry. I don't know why he acted out like that... It was totally uncalled for... I'm so embarrassed." Her voice had a slight quiver to it.

"It's not your fault, Rae. Or yours, Emerson. Apparently, he's a lose cannon and he has no manners." Jeremy walked over to the cart mess.

"I'll pay for his tattoo. He didn't pay for it so it's the least I could do. I'm not taking no for an answer." she said still kneeling by my side.

"I just really hate him sometimes!" she started picking up the pieces of my drawing. She looked up at me. "I'm so sorry, Emerson. It honestly was a beautiful drawing. He over reacted. I'm sure he didn't mean what he threatened you. Like I said, he just over reacted."

I closed my eyes. Oh, he meant his threat. He always means what he says to me.

The shop was finally semi-normal.

Jeremy sighed, "Hopefully Pops wont find out what happened."

Rae handed Jeremy a credit card. "To pay for everything..." she whispered

"No worries, It's okay. I'll ring you up for the tattoo but not any damage charges. There isn't much damage anyway..."

Jeremy rang her up and she walked over to me one last time.

"I'm so sorry." she whispered pulling me in for a tight hug. She wiped a final tear away and walked toward the door.

She turned around one final time, faintly smiled at me, then walked out the door.