He Gave Me Hearing, Then Taught Me What Silence Really Means novel Chapter 268

Brooks was rambling like a madman, his apologies slurring into panicked incoherence. The signal kept cutting in and out, a clear sign he was still outside in the storm, desperately searching. Juniper could hear the cracks of thunder through the speaker.

Her face was entirely slick with tears. "Brooks, keep looking. I'm on my way."

She hung up the phone and slammed the gas pedal to the floor, driving blindly into the stormy night.

Her hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly her knuckles turned white, her joints screaming in pain.

It wasn't until 11:00 AM the next day that she dragged her exhausted body into the town.

Brooks called just as she arrived. His voice was trembling violently. "Juniper... we found Mom..."

Her heart dropped into her stomach. A suffocating wave of dread crashed over her as Brooks let out an agonizing, despairing wail. "We found her... she was in the river, Juniper..."

The world went black. Juniper almost passed out on the spot.

But she couldn't collapse. She crouched on the ground and dry-heaved, but nothing came up.

She forced herself to stand, leaning heavily against the car. She tried to ask where the river was, but when she opened her mouth, no sound came out.

She clutched her throat, gasping for air, forcing herself to calm down.

She had to stay calm. She had to...

Five minutes passed before she found her voice. "Where... which river?"

When she finally arrived at the scene, a crowd of locals had gathered by the banks.

Most of the townspeople didn't recognize Juniper or Brooks, but a couple of their former neighbors from the village were there. They had helped search the night before.

They had found Beatrice's shoes on the riverbank last night, but it wasn't until the sun came up that they saw her body floating in the water.

Beatrice's face was a sickly gray, having been submerged all night.

As if burned, Juniper snatched her hand back. She slumped to the ground in front of the body, completely paralyzed.

Her head pounded with a deafening buzz. Through the haze, she could hear the voices of the crowd.

"What a tragedy. I heard she got scammed out of two million. She was trying to cure her daughter's illness, but the director took the money and ran."

"Her daughter is crazy, her son is a cripple, and I heard her husband had an accident too. No wonder she couldn't take it anymore. Poor thing."

"If you ask me, it's just bad karma. Her daughter got into Capital University years ago! The government even gave them a massive cash reward. We're from the same village—everyone thought they were going to strike it rich. But then the girl got obsessed with some rich classmate and stalked him until she got locked up in a mental asylum. The guy's family even came to our village. It was a massive scandal."

"Everyone has their own fate. Having kids isn't always a blessing. Look at her—driven to drown herself in a river. Suicides suffer the worst fate; even the Grim Reaper looks down on them."

The townspeople chattered endlessly. Juniper and Brooks remained completely silent, both of them slumped helplessly on the riverbank.

The noise was deafening, rushing into Juniper's ears like a physical assault. A police officer standing nearby finally leaned down and nudged her. "Your ear is bleeding. Are you alright?"