CHAPTER 17:
Pond time.
Quinn

"Are you sure this is the best place for this, dad?"

"Trust me Sam, all of you need this."

We all sat back to back in the pond on the circle thing, in position for meditation.

"Close your eyes, and imagine your life up until this moment. Block out all the noise, and concentrate."

I took in a deep breath before exhaling through my mouth and shutting my eyes, remembering everything up until this moment.

Mom always said I was a quiet baby. She could leave me alone in a room for hours and I would just play with my toys, entertain myself with my imagination. I learned how to walk pretty quickly and I hated tomatoes as a kid, and would rather go to bed than eat one. Still would.

After I turned ten, I started to become more quiet. I wasn't a loud and bubbling little girl anymore, and Jesse always preferred if I stayed quiet. That's when mom walked in. That's when she found out.

That's when she almost killed him.

It took a year before the case went to the Supreme Court, and he got life in prison. He was killed only a few months later, and I remember them asking her over the phone if she wanted to press charges against the two men who killed him. And she said no.

Therapy started at twelve, as well as sign language lessons, and I made two new friends. Eli and Demetri. They didn't want to ask why I didn't speak, and instead treated me like any other kid. I asked Eli if he would become a caretaker at thirteen, and he went to therapy with me to find out why. Although my therapist highly advised against a boy being another caretaker, I didn't want to burden Sam or Aisha and Eli always wanted to know about my progress.

And so he agreed.

He was so sweet about it all. He caught up to my level of ASL and we even had our own little words and phrases for eachother, and we stuck by one another through the tough times of middle school and freshman year. That's when I developed a crush on him but kept it to myself.

Then Miguel arrived, and he was such a sweet guy. It's so clear, even now, how much he likes Sam and cares about her. He didn't really care about my disability, just that he made a new friend. Then the fight happened and Cobra Kai became the next best thing to do, and it morphed him.

It changed my best friend.

As I saw darkness seep out of him and his personality do a complete flip, a shining star came into my view and reassured me that I was indeed enough. That his actions were not my fault because he is his own person, and taking responsibility for him will only damage me in the long run. Robby Keene held a hand for me and helped me up, out of the shame and pity state I dragged myself into.

"Quinn, careful!" Sam shouted as I slipped, trying to get back up, but my foot and the wet wood were not a good combination.

Luckily, Robby had a better stance on this thing than I did, and grabbed hold of my forearms and kept a tight grip on them.

"You okay?" He asked, his grip not letting up and I nodded.

"Yes, Robby, thank. . .you. . ."

He immediately loosened his grip on me as my hands came flying up to my mouth.

Was that me?

Did I just-?!

"Quinn, you just spoke!"

"Holy shit, you did it! I'm so proud of you!" His arms wrapped around me in a secure hug as I kept trying to process that I just spoke for the first time in six years.

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Quinn just spoke! Since she wasn't stressing about her voice or overthinking about when she might talk again, it flowed out naturally and scared her a bit.