The Voice

This was written as an Entry into Joecool123’s contest – I don’t usually do these but he’s an author of a book I like (The Bro Code, check it out if you haven't already). I’ve never written as a guy before so sorry if it seems abit feminine haha, but in all male nerdiness, one of my characters in named after a guy in Mass Effect :') This is the weirdest thing I’ve ever written so I’m sorry if it seems a tad TOO crazy, I just wanted to try something new. Hope you like, thanks for reading.

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‘Dude, where were you last night?’

Oh, shit.

Why is he asking? Does he know, has he figured it all out? I glance up through the dark hair which is falling messily into my eyes, unbrushed and uncared for. He doesn’t seem suspicious, only curious – in a way, this unnerves me even more. I’ve never been the guy to disappear on nights out, nobody looks at me like they do my friends. I’m, scrawny, far too tall to fit in anywhere, hair which is far too long and matted to be considered ‘nice’ and eyes which glimmer only as much as the kind of dirt people walk all over on the ground.

You're just Chris.

I’m not and never will be like the boy in front of me; Kaidan King. Sandy blonde hair, skin tanned enough to make it look like he’s on a permanent summer holiday and girls throwing themselves at him at every angle, desperate and relentless.

He's never been too fussed about the attention though, he has a girlfriend. Well, he did.

Shit, no, shut up. Stay cool, stay cool.

‘Chris?’ he prompts me, eyebrow raised. Even my name is nothing special; I’m a pebble and he’s a stone, I’m a ripple, he’s a tsunami. Always one step behind.

‘Oh, I just went for a walk’ I reply breezily, my voice totally mismatched with my thudding heart and sweating palms. He knows I’d rather burn than go for a long walk but he ignores this and throws me an Xbox controller which I fumble with and drop straight on his wooden floor, wincing when it makes a loud cracking noise.

‘Black Ops, zombies?’ He asks, already turning on the console.

‘Yeah, yeah sure’. My voice breaks this time and I can’t concentrate as I sit nervously on his bed, only replaying last night in my mind again and again like a stuck record which keeps echoing in my mind, in my hollow heart.

When did I end up like this? Why?

‘Dude, protect your door’ Kaidan frowns, gesturing towards the screen where I’m being attacked by creatures who only want me dead. Dead. The word leaves a bitter taste in my mouth now, knowing what I’ve done, what I can never take back. How can I just sit here, playing, when I, when I-

‘Shit!’ Kaidan suddenly curses, dropping his controller on the floor, ‘Where are you today, man?’

‘Sorry, sorry’ I mutter, standing up and wavering as I do, unable to look my best friend in the eye. He’s in a bad mood, he thinks his girlfriend is ignoring his calls. If he knew, oh god, if he knew…

‘I have to go’ I bark, already halfway out his mahogany door. It takes only a second for me to bump into his younger sister, sending everything she’s holding clattering to the floor. I know she’s about to open her mouth to yell at me but I can’t handle it, I can’t. So I do what I do best, I run.

‘Chris, slow down for god sake’ I hear Kaidan grumble, jogging down the stairs after me. I will never understand why , but I stop dead, turning round to look him right in the eye. I don’t know how I can do it, those eyes are so unassuming, the only pair of eyes I feel aren’t accusing me.