All Chapters of When Silence Met Madness: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1 A Brother I Didn't Ask For

Seeing the lines of comments scrolling by, I stayed calm, expression unreadable.Since I was little, I'd known the truth: everything in this world was a lie.All of us were just characters in a story, made for someone else's amusement like toys. Because of that, I'd grown up lonely and strange and ended up with selective mutism.I didn't think much of it myself.It was only my mother who suffered, always trying to make me happy."Let go of me! That old man only broke his leg. He can still move his hands. Why can't he be our goalie? And anyway, he wanted to exercise himself—"The little boy struggled against the hold but couldn't move. Hearing him, Edith Sinclair, the head of the orphanage, felt the veins in her forehead throb with anger as she shouted, "Quiet!"Then, letting out a tired sigh, she rubbed her forehead and said helplessly, "Then, why yesterday did you hand Ms. Linton's bedpan to Leo and make him drink from it?"The boy just went "oh" casually, sticking out his ton

Chapter 2 Chaos in the Next Room

"Sis, I'm your brother from different parents!"I was speechless.Edith pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.The live chat was blowing up faster than ever.'I don't understand. In his past life, Elias was cold and distant. How did he turn into this in the next life?''And our female lead was a ray of sunshine before, but now she's this deadpan, gloomy type. I'm so sick of that lifeless expression on her face. And now Elias comes along and actually shakes her up!''Her emotions are about to go haywire. With Elias' chaotic energy, not even her posh houses will survive the storm he's about to unleash.'Reading those comments, I pressed my lips together.I wanted to stop my mother from bringing him home, but after years of selective mutism, I'd completely forgotten how to speak.In the end, I ended up sitting in the backseat of the car with Elias.Before we left, Edith patted the door anxiously, as if a thousand words were trapped in her chest. "Ms. Lane, this is my per

Chapter 3 When Luck Turns Against Us

I yanked the blanket over my head as hard as I could.Maybe this would make him go away.Instead, he started tickling my feet.Then, he climbed onto my bed, wriggled under the blanket from the foot of the bed, and stared up at me with wide eyes. After a pause, he gave a shy little smile. "Please, Sis, just tell me?"I shut my eyes in despair.Comments flew faster than I could read.'I can't… Elias is such a troublemaker. He's not even ten yet, right? That's exactly the age everyone finds impossible, the one nobody likes.''The poor female lead… I can't even imagine how her peaceful, quiet life is being destroyed by a boy who's like an energetic Husky.''Let's clear Elias' name. He's not a goofball who needs walks like a dog; he can handle himself.''Please, I'm begging for the male lead to go back to being his calm, cool self.'The comments scrolled faster and faster, and with each one, my heart sank a little more. The more I watched, the more I realized I couldn't keep him

Chapter 4 Forgiveness in Pieces

In the end, the butler took Elias and me to the hospital.It took a full two months for our injuries to heal before we were finally discharged.My mother, worried about a repeat incident, had the whole family move into a newly built house.It had only one story, but it covered an enormous area.…That day, I was tidying up my room. I carefully placed another vase my grandfather had left me on the nightstand.The moment it settled in place, Elias came barreling in like a cannonball.The vase crashed under the impact, shattering instantly.Time seemed to freeze.I closed my eyes and whispered two desperate words, "Get out."At dinner, my mother noticed my sour mood and asked what had happened.Normally, Elias would have been the first to start chattering, but he was unusually quiet. My mother grew more suspicious, her gaze flicking between us, and she nudged my arm, lowering her voice. "What happened? Did you and Elias fight? Oh, come on, you two should get along. Whatever it

Chapter 5 The Voice That Shook Everything

As soon as my mother tried to soothe him, Elias cried even harder. Tears and snot streamed down his face, and his sobs shook his body."Mom, you're the best mom in the whole world! Sunny's the best sister ever! I feel so guilty! I'll fix the vase, I swear! Wasn't this Sunny's favorite vase? I'm the worst!"Eventually, he exhausted himself, his wails turning into quiet hiccupping sobs. His pale, chubby face was covered in tears, looking unbearably pitiful.My mother kept coaxing him, but I was pushed past my limit."Shut up."The words slipped out before I could stop them, and even I was startled.Ever since I realized I was a character in a novel at age five, I hadn't spoken a word. I didn't want to be a toy for readers' amusement.But Elias was unbearable—noisy as a duck, quacking nonstop in my ear. He'd already done something wrong, and we had forgiven him, yet he kept wailing as if the world was ending. Did he not know how annoying he was?When my mother heard my voice, pure

Chapter 6 The Untouchable Elias

'I want a mom like that too.''But at this point, the female lead probably wouldn't be thinking about sending Elias away, right? After all, her mother spent the past two years seeking every possible treatment for her. Her hair even turned gray from worry. If not for modern medicine that had brought her back to health, who knows how worn out she would've been.''Ever since adopting Elias, though, her mother's smile has come more often. I think the female lead wouldn't want to give him up now. For her mother's sake, she wouldn't let Elias go, would she?''Hard to say. It's been a while since the adoption, and we haven't seen any real progress in the bond between them.''Hey there, what kind of progress do you expect?'A few years passed like that. Once I could start saying some words, my mother enrolled me in school.Elias and I attended the same school, though I was in high school and he was in middle school.Word had it that Elias thrived in middle school.When he first arrived

Chapter 7 Breaking the Silence

The chaos didn't end until the people involved came forward to prove they were perfectly fine.When I heard what had happened in the middle school division, I just smiled to myself, treating it like a joke. I kept my head down and quietly stared at the textbook in my hands.Over the years, even though I had developed selective mutism and hadn't attended school in the usual way, my mother had hired the best tutors. My studies hadn't suffered at all. In fact, I had surpassed most of my peers by a wide margin.With the SAT approaching, I had to focus harder than ever. I couldn't waste the years my mother had spent helping me.Even though she had told me she didn't care whether I got into college, that she only wanted me to be safe and happy at school, that she could support me for life, I couldn't just take the easy way out.I wanted to make her proud through my own effort.If I could get into a good college, she would be proud of me, wouldn't she?I kept my eyes on my book, but th

Chapter 8 The Chaos in the Classroom

"If I were her, I'd probably pretend to be mute and stay silent for years too. That voice is enough to make anyone want to gouge their own ears out!"My desk was kicked over, sending all the books scattering across the floor.Alice yanked my hair hard, then she raised her hand and slapped me across the face. "I'm talking to you, Summer! Your mute act is over, and now you're deaf? Can't hear anyone, right?"I shoved her with all my strength. "Let go of me!"I didn't expect that to trigger Alice. She and her friends surrounded me, smirking as if I were a helpless target.I squeezed my eyes shut, but in the next instant, the pain I expected never came.A basketball crashed through the classroom window, smashing the glass and flying straight toward Alice.Shards of glass whipped through the air, cutting tiny scratches across her face.She screamed, clutching her face and trembling. "Who the hell threw a basketball into the classroom?""I did. Got a problem with that?"Elias, stil

Chapter 9 Firestorm at the Office

The homeroom teacher kept bowing and nodding awkwardly."Yes, Ms. Sutton, you're right. I don't know how these two got so lucky to catch the principal's attention and get into the school, but in the past two or three years, nothing's really happened. One's lazy as can be, the other's struggling in every subject. And she's mute, too. Honestly, we teachers don't know how to handle it."Alice's mother was growing more and more impatient."Don't give me these excuses. I don't care what you think, nor do I care what the principal says. I sent my child to this school for a proper education, and I don't want any troublemakers anywhere near her. Especially kids without parents—they'll just corrupt my child!"The homeroom teacher stiffened, her expression hardening. She turned to us and barked, "A group fight? You're expelled. Wait for the principal to deal with you!"Elias' face burned with indignation."What? That's not fair. It was that girl bullying my sister all along! I've looked in

Chapter 10 Sunflowers in the Dark

The office was now filled only with my mother's sharp, angry breaths.In the end, she dragged me into the car. The school was ordered to close for seven days, pending an investigation.On the way to the hospital, I lowered my gaze and muttered a quiet, "Thank you," to Elias.His body stiffened for a moment, then he waved it off casually. "Thank what? I'm your brother. Protecting you is just what I do.""I've ignored you all these years and never cared for you. Don't you resent me?""Resent you? Why would I? You're my sister. I'm lucky to have you, and that's all there is to it. Not talking to me? That doesn't make me hate you. I just worry about you. You've always been so alone."His eyes blinked at me as he leaned closer."Sunny, can I stay by your side from now on? We're not in the same grade, but we can walk to and from school together. Before, you never waited for me. I tried to find you, but I couldn't. I felt like you were always avoiding me."His warm hand closed over my

SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP