"When people don't express themselves, they die one piece at a time"
-Laurie Halse Anderson
Once upon a time, there was a girl who had all that she could ever desire. Her future unfurled before her like a red carpet, but it was snatched out from beneath her feet when her father was brutally murdered.
The girl lost everything the instant she saw life seep out of her saviour's eyes. Like a balloon with a tiny hole, slowly losing air and deflating. That's what the girl lost.
Everything.
Especially the one thing no one should ever lose, even under the most drastic consequences.
Their voice.
My name is Madeley Prince. And that is how I lost my voice. It still bubbles out of me sometimes but the vigour and the charm I'd had in it had long dissipated.
Once, I'd had a beautiful voice. I'd sung at parties and I'd heard whispers of admiration, predictions that I'd be a great singer one day. That I'd beat even my mother who sang at her own concerts.
But when I lost everything on that bitter night, my voice had no reason to stay.
And so it went. It became rusty and dull and feeble. And so did I.
When someone loses their voice, they lose a part of themselves too and I'd lost the most important part of myself.
And that's why I turned invisible.
No one could see me and the mess I'd become.
But he did.
YOU ARE READING
Speak Now
RomanceMy name is Madeley Prince. I am a wraith. I am a beige girl who hasn't spoken a word for five years. I am a shadow lingering at the corner of your periphery. A ghost with a traumatic past and a closed future. Nobody has seen me in years. One day som...
