Chapter 2

I can hear the rain hitting my window, it helps lull me to sleep. I have had a few nightmares this week already and I was dreading more, which made going to sleep hard for me. I keep waking up crying. It's a constant reminder of that old woman, Mrs. D was her name. Well it was what we were told to call her. The last dream I had was of her beating me with the attitude adjuster. Yup she had this four-foot-long wooden spoon, and she would use it to hit me and Jacob. I could just be sitting there being quiet and playing with toys and she would accuse me of giving her a dirty look. The attitude adjuster was so long she would hit whatever she could reach without chasing us, our only option was fleeing. She couldn't chase us. But she always kept it close to her and we did have to be in range of her at times. Like when she did remember to feed us. The toys we played with weren't even toys, they tended to be empty boxes, scraps of paper and random items.

She would claim I was evil because I never talked. She would say God must have been angry with me and taken my voice. She was deeply religious. In the most recent dream, she was beating me with the attitude adjuster Jacob was trying to get her to stop. He tried to put his body between us, but she kept shoving him aside. He would tell her whatever I did to make her mad I was sorry for it. The problem is we were not always sure what we did wrong. Because he did intervene, she would use dish soap to wash his mouth out. It was his torture. This time it was lemon Joy. Did you know that lemon Joy tastes just like lemons? To this day Jacob and I can't stand lemon flavored things. This was the dream that had just woken me up. As I opened my eyes and adjusted to the dark room, which was being lit up by lightning strikes shining through my window, I had notice Jacob. He had come in and was sitting on my bed, he had heard me crying.

'I could hear you crying, was it another bad dream Penny' Jacob said with sadness in his voice. He was talking aloud not in my mind.

'Yea, this one was the time Mrs. D used lemon Joy to wash out your mouth when you tried to protect me, oh it was awful It was like I was floating above everyone watching her hurt the both of us, I was watching us but felt it all.' I said into his mind.

I was still crying but to an outsider you wouldn't hear anything, you would just see a young girl with tears flowing down her face. Silent tears.

'Yea because of that lady I still can't stand lemons.' Jacob was trying to make me smile, to help me think of something else.

'Yea me to it, the taste of any lemon flavoring brings up bad memories' I said while starting to feel better.

I love the fact we can talk to each other; it really helps, especially on nights like this. His proximity to me was always a comfort.

'Jacob, can you stay with me tonight, just like when we were little, remember how you would hold me so I can sleep, please just till I fall asleep then you can leave'. I was begging him.

'Yea I remember holding you, it did always help, I will stay but we need to make sure that the Carters don't find out, I mean we are seventeen now and they might freak out if they found you sleeping with your brother, they think we are weird as it is.' Jacob replied with sarcasm.

'Don't worry, I won't tell on you, it will be our secret.' I said as he laid down next to me, he stayed on top of the blankets just in case Mrs. Carter came in and seen us. We aren't freaky or anything, he was just comforting me. It's a Twin thing, I guess. I hated it when we had to have separate rooms.

We have been living with the Carters since we were thirteen. When Mrs. D. died, we were 8 and moved from one home to the next, so many in fact I have lost count. At one point when we were ten the state had decided to send me to a doctor to find out why I never talked. I can't believe it took ten years for someone to notice it was not because I didn't want to, or because I preferred Jacob to do all the talking for me. When they did find out that I was born without vocal cords, they just decided it was just some kind of freak birth defect. I guess, I really don't care because the only person who I cared to talk to Jacob. After all the abuse it was easier to never talk anyway, so after a while it never bothered me that I could not talk.

The Carters were looking for kids to adopt when they found us at the group home we were in at the time, the state of Ohio made us live with them and in a year if we adjusted well and if the Carters still wanted us, then they could adopt us. The Carters wanted to adopt us right away but had to do that the state wanted. With our track history I was so sure it wouldn't last anyway so we never got out hopes up that this family could be our forever home. So, we have been with the Carters for several years now years now, almost three. The adoption was never finalized yet, they told us the paperwork was lengthy and they still planned to do it, but the court system was slow. But by now we were fairly sure we were not going to be moving homes again. The Carters were a good couple. They were nothing like any of the places we were at in the past. These two seemed to care, it was hard to get used to, I'm still not used to it and keep my wall up because of it.

With Jacob next to me I could feel the warmth he was giving off and since he always made me feel good, I was asleep in no time at all. It helped that it was still raining, the dripping sound on the eaves of the window helped lull me to sleep. I didn't dream for the rest of the night.