Voices

Round and Round and Round They Go

A/N: I will try to descibe Two and One as little as possible, and will try to keep them both as gender-neutral as possible. It is up to you to decide what they look like and what genders they are. I am merely giving their personalities to you, and you are filling everything else in with what you invision in your mind's eye. Tell me, then, what do you see?
_____________________________________________

"Taylor, could you hand me that, please?" Says their parent, and Taylor frowns, snapping out of their daydream before handing over the groceries they are carrying.

Taylor is 15-years-old, and still growing steadily. They have several friends, and find that they can not be placed into any sort of social group at their high school. They are just... well, there.

After completing the duties assigned by their parent, Taylor goes to their room and sits down, taking out their homework mechanically and splaying the papers all over the bed as they try to remember what the homework had been. Taylor doesn't usually take notes, no, they prefer to remember the homework in their head.

Taylor always does their homework, but whether they do it well or not... Well, that's up for question. They place their earphones over their ears but don't turn on the music. After several seconds, they feel themself drifting off in thought once again.

It was on the bus that morning that they heard a certain phrase uttered by one of their peers. A senior, they believe. That senior was quite frightening.

"An... acquaintance of mine told me that soul mates are simply the same atoms coming together over and over again." Said the voice in front of Taylor, as they tried to finish their poptart on the bus.

"... Are you high?"

"... Possibly. What's it to you?" The senior asked, and the person sitting next to them let out a loud gasp as the air was knocked from their stomach. The movement was so fast, and so silent that Taylor realized no one else on the bus had known what had just happened.

Those words are so familiar, and Taylor wonders why the senior had such a strange vocabulary for a student in their school.

The senior did not belong in the school that Taylor was in, but then again, Taylor didn't belong there either.

That senior has a lovely voice. It is calm, monotone, and you never have to worry about it startling you, because it manages to blend in with the background and be seperate all at the same time. The voice does not match the personality.

Practically everyone knows that the senior would, if paid enough, jump you after school.

The senior is intelligent and sly, and the administration hadn't caught them in the act, yet. It is a known fact that no one has ever been expelled from that school.

Taylor desperately hopes they aren't on the senior's hit list.

Taylor wonders if the senior has ever told anyone their name. They asked around before, but they had been stopped when one of their friends mentioned that the senior doesn't like it when others pry.

But what if Taylor wants to really know? Taylor vows that by the end of the year, they were going know the senior's name.

That would be a feat in itself, seeing as Taylor doesn't even know the senior's gender.

See, the senior can wear a dress one day, have long, dyed blue-green hair in a ponytail, and red lipstick with black boots that look as if they can crush someone's skull.

A girl, then...?

Then, another day, the senior can shave their hair into a buzzcut and wear a t-shirt with cargo pants.

A boy, then...?

The senior is on the boy's basketball team, and the girl's volleyball team. An enigma, no doubt.

Do the teachers have no idea of what gender the senior is? Hasn't the senior been there for four years?

Wait, yearbooks, that was right!

Taylor can check the yearbooks to see what gender the senior really is! They need to remember to do that later on.

On the bus today, the senior is wearing a pink frilly dress and white boots, and look beautiful. They look even more amazing walking down the hallway of the crowded school to their next class, looking as regal as a queen.

After school, Taylor spots the senior beating up someone in an alleyway, managing to lift them up high enough to bash their head against the brick walls repeatedly. Not a speck of dirt is on their dress, and the bottom of the boots have small red splatters and look a tad more scuffed than previously. Their gloved hands curl into fists, and a dangerous looking leer forms on their face as they seem to gain some sort of sick satisfaction in gifting their victim with a concussion.

Taylor got out of there as quickly as they could.

Taylor finds the senior to be their role model, but they still don't know the person's name.

Taylor quickly shakes their head. They have homework to do, and could do more research on that senior later on.
_______________________________

One was having so much fun.

Playing around with people's ideals was so much fun, oh goodness.

A dress and wig on Monday, bringing back the hoodies and penciling on some scruff on Tuesday, on Wednesday, more hoodies with some short hair to look completely confusing. Today, a frilly pink dress, complete with white boots and matching gloves.

Oh, yes, yes, it was so much fun, One had thought to themselves as they placed their backpack on the floor next to the bed. They walked over to the mirror, crossing their arms and widing their stance.

Ironically, One themselves didn't even know what gender they were supposed to be. Perhaps they shouldn't question it.

At least One now had two hundred dollars. Speaking of Two, One thought as they changed into their pajamas, how were they?

Maybe, they got to be a dog? Maybe Two was One's dog?

One wasn't sure how to feel about that.

As if on cue, Two ran into the room, yipping happily. No, not Voice 2; Two happened to be a dog that One named due to it's excitability and strange affection that it bestowed upon them.

"You see me as the most important person in your life, and you don't even know what I do in order to get money, do you, Two?" One mused, looking down at the dog as if it knew something that One themselves did not know.

Two licked One's pajama clad leg.

One scratched Two's ear. "I wonder if you are Two. I suppose I won't ever know, as Two doesn't appear to remember their past lives."

One took out their homework and yawned as they took a quick glance over the English essay they were supposed to write.

"What a surprise! It seems that I have the option of doing myself in here. I was once a serial killer, Two, did you know that?"

Two barked again and went off to another part of the house.

"Excuse me if I am boring you, then." One said simply, before turning back to the essay.

An interesting thought occured to One.

What if Two had heard what I said on the bus, and then had told it to me once I died and became a voice? History does repeat itself...

_______________________________

It was probably around three in the morning, and Taylor didn't even know anymore.

That senior had a name, and it was Ryan.

... So... a boy, then.

Extensive searching brought forth more results.

"Ryan's a gender neutral name? What--"

Okay, perhaps Ryan, or the senior, still had them stumped. Great, so Taylor was right back to where they started in the first place.

"Soul mates are the same atoms coming together over and over again". What was that even supposed to mean? It was such a strange saying.