The Mute Songstress

Deep within the mountains, there lives a gorgeous young woman with long, dark brown curly hair that reaches her ankles. She has matching brown eyes that seem to swallow up everything like dark pools of pure soul. Her skin is a light, pale porcelain that practically glows compared to her rather dark appearance.

Her name is Elizabeth. She is a songstress that ran away from her home, the village Kazue. As the name states, it is a village of harmony. She was the village's happiness, as her voice was the most medolic, and beautiful sound that anyone could ever make. She would often be summoned to sing songs for the sick, the elderly, the newborns to lull them to sleep, the overworked to relax them, even people her own age to comfort them. She would sing to them all. Her music was medicine.

But one day, the chief of the village arranged a marriage to unite two villages together. He had offered the most beautiful and important woman to the village, Hikari, the village of light. Since Elizabeth didn't have any parents and only a little brother to take care of, there weren't any objections. However, she refused to marry, for she thought that 14 was too young to marry. Especially since the man she was going to be married to was 17 years old.

She was forced to marry him, regardless, and was actually very kind to him. He wasn't a bad person either. She just didn't like the fact that she was only 14 and already settled down. But she had to for the sake of her village's happiness. He was tall and handsome. He had black shaggy hair, and bright blue eyes. Pale skin like her, but also very muscular. They lived happily together, until the day he told her he wanted kids. She had had it.

She ran away the very next day. She knew that her brother could make it on his own. She ran and ran until she reached a mountain. So she climbed. And climbed and climbed and climbed. She luckily found a cave deep inside of the mountain, and that is where she stayed.

Of course, there really wasn't much to do in an empty cave. She spent her days singing. Sometimes she would dance. Sometimes she would recite poems that her father would tell her when she was little. He would often write poetry about his depression after his wife died from giving birth to their son. He was extremely devistated, but still cared deeply for the children. When Elizabeth turned 4, she taught herself how to sing. She would make up happy songs to cheer up her father. And it worked. He was happy until the day he died from cancer.

But she memorized his poetry and spoke it in the cave to pass the time. But the thing she spent the most time on was her voice. Despite the fact that her voice was known as, "medicine", she still never found it good enough. She was always looking for ways to perfect it, and that was what she practiced for on the mountain.

One day, as her eyes fluttered open from the sunlight creeping into her new home, she grabbed a stone and marked another day on the wall. She didn't like the thought of not even being able to know the date, so she kept track of it. This was what her life was. She loved being able to sing freely, but there was a downside.

She lived in fear. She was afraid that the people of her village would come to find her, and kill her for betraying her village. She was afraid that if she sang too loud, that they would follow her voice, and bring her back to slay her. But she couldn't stop. So, she thought,'If they come after me, then so be it. I won't die without having not perfected my voice yet. I do not care anymore. I will sing as long as I want, as loud as I want, and whatever else I may feel according to that day.' She told herself. And that she did.

After two months of living on the mountain, Elizabeth finally let her true voice free. The voice that no one had ever heard before. She sang beautifully for the last time. She didn't understand that singing like that, for the first time in a long time, would put such a strain on her throat and vocal chords. Not until the next day, that she woke up, and had lost her voice...

Elizabeth's POV

I had just woken up from my slumber, not thinking of anything but singing like yesterday, today. I couldn't wait! I immediately stood up and marked a day on the wall with a stone. I placed the stone down and ate a couple berries for breakfast. Afterwards, I began to warm up.

I opened my mouth with the intended note in my mind. I closed my eyes and pushed the needed amount of air for my starting note. But...no sound came out. I was so confused and lost. It was only then that I felt a sharp, throbbing pain in my swollen throat. Tears stung my eyes as I fell to my knees. I opened my mouth again, begging for a sound to be released from it. Nothing. I didn't even try to sing anymore. I tried to scream. I couldn't even do that. No sound. I sat there, silently crying.

I couldn't sing anymore. Those words burned themselves in my skull and I believed them. How could I not? I couldn't make a sound. Talking, singing, screaming, nothing. I now spent my days crying. I was terrified. Back in the village, my voice was me. The reason my father died in peace. The reason the sick healed. The reason the two villages were united. But without it, I am nothing.