Chapter 1
My best friend, Sarah Morley, handed me a sandwich.
I took a single bite, and the raw, blistering heat hit me instantly, leaving me gasping with my tongue out.
She doubled over, clutching her stomach in laughter. "Oh, Lauren! I drowned that thing in hot sauce. If you want some water, all you have to do is ask!"
I opened my mouth, straining with everything I had, but not a single articulate sound came out.
"Alright, that's enough. Stop teasing her," my boyfriend, Andrew Marshall, chimed in.
He handed me a glass, and I grabbed it, gulping desperately, only to choke on the chili water. A violent coughing fit tore through my chest.
Panicked, I lunged toward the water pitcher on the table. Sarah beat me to it, snatching it up and holding it high out of reach.
Andrew looked at me with an encouraging smile. "Lauren, Sarah's right. If you want something, you need to use your voice."
Ever since the night an intruder broke into my house and murdered my parents, I had been trapped in functional aphonia.
Since then, the two of them had made it their personal mission to shock me back into speaking.
Once, while hiking, they abandoned me all by myself in the middle of nowhere.
Another time, during a trip, they hired someone to pose as a burglar and break into my hotel room.
They were convinced that forcing me to the absolute edge would unlock my hidden potential.
But every single time, all I could manage were helpless, broken croaks.
Just as the searing heat turned my face crimson and my throat threatened to close up completely, Sarah finally handed over the pitcher.
I grabbed a glass and chugged the water down, only to hear her whisper another idea. "This isn't intense enough, Andrew. What if we kiss? Lauren cares about you so much. If she gets jealous enough, she'll definitely yell out."
Stunned, my hands flew up, desperately signing to Andrew, "No, please don't."
Andrew closed his eyes tightly, turning his face away. "Lauren, my eyes are closed. You have to tell me with your words."
I turned to Sarah, pleading with my eyes, but she just gave me a playful smirk. She slid right onto Andrew's lap, cupped his face in her hands, and pulled him into a deep, lingering kiss.
As their lips locked in a passionate, tangled mess, I struggled to force the words out.
"Let's break up."
*****
They stayed wrapped around each other for a couple of seconds before Andrew finally registered what I had said. He pulled back, his eyes wide with pure exhilaration. "Lauren! Did you just talk?!"
"See? I told you it would work!" Sarah beamed, practically glowing with satisfaction.
She lightly pounded her fist against his chest, teasing, "Though I felt a little tongue in there, were you trying to take advantage of me?"
Andrew shot back immediately, "You're the one who shoved your tongue in first! I'm the victim here, alright?"
"No way!" Sarah blushed, tossing her head back with a play-hard-to-get scoff. "Whatever. It was all for Lauren's good anyway, so I'll let it slide."
For my own good. They had just made out right in front of my face without a second thought, and only now did they remember I was even in the room.
"Lauren, say something else," Andrew said, his eyes brimming with expectation.
Sarah wrapped her arms snugly around his neck, looking at me with a coy, teasing smile. "Go on, Lauren, speak up. Otherwise... we're going to have to start making out again."
I parted my lips, straining every muscle in my neck, but all that escaped was a trail of broken, ragged breaths.
A shadow of disappointment crossed Andrew's face. Keeping his eyes fixed on me, he tilted his head back up, leaning in to kiss Sarah again.
I pressed my lips together, my fingernails digging so deep into my palms that they nearly drew blood.
Just as their lips were about to meet, I grabbed the plate beside me and slammed it onto the table with all my strength.
With a loud crash, shattered porcelain exploded across the table. Sarah shrieked in terror.
Instinctively, Andrew pulled her trembling body into his arms, shielding her as he glared at me, his brow furrowed in anger. "Lauren, what is wrong with you?!"
I stared back at him with cold, dead eyes, my fingers flashing, "We are done."
Andrew's face darkened instantly. "Lauren, do you think we would have resorted to this if anything else worked? Sarah and I did this entirely for your own good. Stop acting so spoiled and throwing a tantrum over nothing!"
"I don't need it. I don't need this twisted kind of 'good' from either of you. We're breaking up. And tell Sarah that she and I are done, too," I gestured.
Sarah couldn't read sign language, but when she saw me point at her, she knew she was the subject. She tugged on Andrew's sleeve. "What is she saying about me?"
Andrew's expression remained grim. "She said... thank you for helping her find her voice. She wants to be your best friend forever."
He then fixed me with a stern, warning glare. "Lauren, you're lucky to have a friend as amazing as Sarah. Don't do something you're going to regret."
It was always like this.
Whenever I got angry at Sarah, he would twist my rage into a submissive apology to keep the peace. Once he smoothed things over with her, he would put on that familiar, self-righteous act, lecturing me that they were just doing that "for my own good" so I shouldn't do something I'd regret.
And Sarah was no different. She constantly reminded me how blessed I was, how God must favor me to give me such a devoted boyfriend. Every time Andrew and I had a fight, she would snatch my phone and send apology messages to him on my behalf.
They always insisted it was all out of love. I used to believe them. I used to swallow my pride and go along with everything they wanted.
But I had had enough. I didn't want a single drop of their poisonous goodwill anymore.
I pulled out my phone, furiously typed a sentence into my notes app, and tapped the text-to-speech button.
A flat, mechanical voice echoed through the room. "Sarah, I am cutting ties with you."
I turned on my heel and walked toward the door.
Sarah's face drained of color. She rushed forward, grabbing at my arm. "Lauren, please don't be mad! It's all my fault!"
I yanked my arm away with everything I had and kept moving. Suddenly, a sharp cry of pain rang out behind me.
Sarah had lost her balance. Reaching out to steady herself, her hand slammed directly onto the sharp shards of broken porcelain on the table. Blood immediately seeped from her palm.
I froze, my body acting on instinct as I reached out to help her, but my hand was viciously slapped away.
Andrew helped her up, turning toward me with terrifying, explosive rage. "Lauren! Apologize to her right now!"
As the words left his mouth, his eyes caught the red mark blossoming on the back of my hand where he had struck me, and a quick flash of guilt flickered across his face.
Just then, Sarah let out a pained hiss, tears welling up and spilling over her cheeks. "It's fine, Andrew... I crossed the line. It's only natural that Lauren's mad at me."
"How did you cross the line?!" Andrew barked back instantly. "You were trying to help her, and look at how she treats you!"
He turned back to me, his patience completely exhausted. "Lauren, apologize to Sarah this instant, or neither of us will ever speak to you again."
I stood frozen in place, my hand gripping my phone so tightly my knuckles turned white.
Andrew let out a cold, mocking laugh. "Regret now, aren't you? You really went too far this time. Come over here, give her a proper apology, and beg Sarah to forgive you."
I pressed my lips into a tight line. I opened my phone, cleared the draft that said I didn't mean to, and typed a new message.
Then, I pressed play.
"I will not apologize," the robotic voice droned, hollow and devoid of emotion. "Since you don't want me anymore, I don't want either of you either. Let's never contact each other again."
The moment the synthetic voice finished, I turned and walked away without looking back.
"Lauren, please don't go!" Sarah's voice called out desperately from behind me.
"Let her leave!" Andrew roared in fury. "She's so stubborn and self-centered, who else in the world would ever put up with her besides us?!"
My body went rigid for a fraction of a second. But I didn't stop. I kept walking, and I didn't look back once.
