That was the day I learned that silence is really loud. Deafening. I think maybe my dad spent his whole life trying to avoid silence. When you have silence, it's hard to keep stuff out. It's all there, and you can't get rid of it. I used to be able to get rid of things, banish them. But I knew, after that day, it wouldn't be so easy anymore... I was never Alyssa's protector. She was mine.