The Voice

There's the implication of suicide in the story, just a warning.

“Hey, I dare you to eat that.” I look at the discarded trash on the curb. I lean in towards it before my friend grabs me by the arm.

“I know what you’re gonna do. You can’t just do what she tells you, okay? She’s not stronger than you, you know.”

“Are you sure, because she seems pretty strong. She might have some enchanted buffs, for all I know.” He sighs and lightly hits my head.

“It’s like you’re not trying to fight her.”

“Well, what can I say? When I do, it feels like I hadn’t slept for days, and it also hurts, too. I don’t like it.”

“Then you can go sleep when you get the chance, but don’t keep listening to what she says. One day, she’s going to tell you to do something really dangerous and you won’t be able to stop it. I can’t always keep an eye on you forever, either.”

“... Whatever.”

We reach the pizza restaurant down the street from our apartment and open the door to see a new girl at the counter.

“Hey, welcome!” Her eyes size up the both of us. Her expression changes and she leans in towards the counter. “What are your names?”

“I’m Marcus, this is Evan,” I say.

“Well, nice to meet you, I’m Angela.” Her eyes are constantly focused on Evan. “You two regulars?”

“Whatever, we’re just here to eat,” Evan says, and I could see his left eyebrow furrow a little in annoyance.

“Ooh, spiky. Well then, mister, what would you like?”

We make our orders and sit at an empty table. About five minutes later, Angela heads over to our table with our food. She heads back behind the counter, and we spot some writing on Evan’s pizza box.

‘Call me’ was written along with a phone number. Evan sighs.

“How annoying.” The thought of what he said before came to my mind.

“Hey, why not try a date with her?”

“Huh?” Evan glares at me. “What’s with that idea?”

“Well, like you said before, at the curb. You can’t always keep an eye on me, so why not go mingle then? You never know, you might like her.”

“Ugh, annoying.” He stands up and heads back to the counter. I start eating my pizza and steal a slice of pepperoni from Evan’s. A minute or so later, he sits back down. He flicks my forehead for stealing and starts eating as well. He doesn’t say a word. We throw away our boxes after eating and go back home.

“So, I have to pick her up tonight,” Evan says.

“Well, that was soon.”

“Ugh, I want to get this over with.” He scratches his head and his left eyebrow furrows. I laugh.

“Like I said, you might turn out to like her.”

“I don’t want to date a person who immediately starts hitting on me.” We get back to our apartment and play games for a while before Evan got up.

“Time to head out?” I ask. He nods.

“Let me tell you, when I come back, I’m gonna smack you in the head for having a bad time.” He grabs the keys from the table.

“Why not now?”

“Well, I should at least do it when I have the right to do so.” He opens the door. “I’ll see you later, then.” He locks the door after closing it and I could hear his footsteps walk away. I switch the game and continue playing for a bit before I hear her.

“Hey. Hey, Marcus.” My head leans back. I stare at the ceiling beams. “You know, what if he actually does end up liking her? He won’t be around as much anymore. You’re gonna be lonely, aren’t you?” Get to the point already. “What are you gonna do if he leaves you for her?” It wouldn’t happen. “People change, you know. He’s gonna want to move out, he’s gonna stop talking to you over time, you’re gonna be lonely. You know what? I can solve this problem.” What do you mean? “You’re looking at the solution. All you need now is some rope…”

I feel a chill go down my spine. I couldn’t not obey her. I go down to the front desk and ask if they had any rope.

“What you need it for?”

“I saw an interesting DIY project and wanted to try it out.”

“Hold on, let me ask Robert.” The man comes back with a long cord of rope. “He gave me some gardening rope. It’s kinda old, though, so it might not look all that nice.”

“Don’t worry, I’m just trying it out. No need for anything fancy,” I laugh. He smiles at me and gives me the rope. I head back upstairs and drag a chair from the kitchen to my room. I stand onto the chair and sling the rope over one of the beams. Then I hear the front door open. My body freezes as I hear the keys land onto the table and Evan opens my door. His eyes widen.

“What the f**k are you doing?!” He runs and pulls me off the chair. We fall onto the covers. He hits me over and over. “You idiot! You f*****g idiot!” He stops hitting me. “What did she tell you?! What’d she say this time?!”

“She… she said one day you wouldn’t be in my life anymore because of a girl. She… said this was the only solution…” His tears hit my face.

“You idiot, no matter what I say, you know that I won’t leave you…” We lie there, holding onto each other, and eventually we fall asleep.

“Boy, was I surprised that you came home so soon,” I say the next morning as Evan hands me a cup of coffee.

“Well, I kind of realised something and came back home,” he replies. I lean towards him.

“What did you realise?”

“... Nothing, really…” He turns away quickly, but not before I could see his red cheeks. I hear her voice talk and I smile.

“... She just told me something again,” I said.

“What?! What is it this time?!”

“She said… We should go on a date.” Evan’s head hits the cupboard with a thud.

“...That’s not a bad idea…” I chuckle and take a sip of my coffee.