I AM YOUNG NOW, BUT WHEN I WAS YOUNGER THERE WAS A SCREAM STUCK IN MY THROAT. THE DOCTORS TRIED EVERYTHING TO HELP ME: MEDICATION, COUNSELLING, SURGERY, YET IT REMAINED FIRMLY LODGED IN MY LARYNX, SLIGHTLY OFF KILTER AND PETULANT AS A CHILD. WHEN I LOOKED AT MY PARENTS, MY CLASSMATES AND FRIENDS, IT BULGED IN MY NECK; IT THREATENED TO BURST PAST ME AND BEGGED TO BE FREE. I COULD SCARCELY LOOK MYSELF IN THE MIRROR MOST DAYS, THE WHISPER OF IT SLIDING PAST MY LIPS AND COILING THROUGH MY HAIR. IT WHINED THROUGH THE HOUSE AND GRATED ON THE HINGES, BUT I COULDN’T HELP IT. IT MADE ME BITE AT THE AIR FOR SOMETHING WORTH BREATHING, MY TEETH CLOSING IN ON NOTHING EVERY TIME THEY MET. I GROUND MY TEETH TO STUBS.
ONE DAY, IT RAPPED AGAINST MY GULLET, PULSING AGAINST MY COLLARBONE, AND I COULDN’T TAKE IT ANY LONGER. I DECIDED TO LET IT OUT.
IT LEFT EASIER THAN IT CAME, GUSHING FORTH LIKE RIVULETS OVER MY BATHROOM FLOOR. STRENGTH LEFT ME IN A BREATH AND PRONE ON THE GROUND. I DIDN’T NOTICE IT THEN, BUT THE SCREAM HAD TAKEN MY VOICE WITH IT.
THE DAYS PASSED AND MY SILENCE CRESCENDOED. THE DOCTORS DIDN’T EVEN BOTHER THIS TIME. I WAS ANGUISHED, DESPERATE NOT TO BECOME ANOTHER CREATURE ON THE MANTELPIECE, BUT MY STARE GREW BLANKER AND MY TONGUE GREW HEAVIER—
desperation left me, and it was all i could do not to keel over from the loss.
Points: 325
Reviews: 0
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