A pluck of your guitar string

Finding comfort in your voice

The house was too quiet. Preeya should be used to it as her older brother, Porsche, often worked nights, but tonight was different. Porsche was gone, leaving only a note saying that he had found a new job that paid well but he would be off the grid for a while. Preeya wasn't naive enough to believe that was the whole truth, but she believed in her brother and trusted that he had a plan. That didn't mean that she didn't worry about him.

Porsche tried to hide it from her, but Preeya knew at least some of the things her brother got up to in the name of money. She knew he did it to look after her, to keep her from having to worry too much about the cruel reality they live in, but as much as he tried to protect her from it, he couldn't keep her completely in the dark. He wasn't there when the debt collectors came looking for payment and she had to hide in her closet until they left. Preeya wanted to help, she wanted to contribute, but her brother refused and told her to focus on school. As much as she loved her brother, sometimes she felt stifled by him.

Knowing that her brother wouldn't be coming home at some point during the night made it hard for Preeya to fall asleep. As she curled up under the covers, she opened her eyes with a sigh. She looked up at the picture on her bedroom wall, it was of her favourite singer, WIK. He was an upcoming singer who was studying music at University and Preeya hoped to follow in his footsteps.

Music had always been an escape for Preeya. It was a release. She always put on a happy, carefree act in front of her brother not wanting to burden him any more than she already did. So when she listened to music, she could find a song that expressed what she was truly feeling and let it all out. It was like instead of performing the song, the rest of her life was a performance and when she was singing she got to just be herself. She felt understood.

Reaching for her phone and headphones, Preeya put them on and played one of WIK's songs. The singer's voice instantly soothed her, as his music always did. The first time she heard his music she felt as though he was speaking directly to her soul. From the first strum of his guitar, she was drawn to him like a moth to a flame. She knew others would think it silly, but to her, it felt real. That night Preeya fell asleep with a smile on her lips and WIK's voice whispering in her ears.