Asher’s family asked no questions, but he provided answers. He sat down at the table, where Adrian was poking at his breakfast, and his father was reading a book.

“I heard voices. And I freaked out. ‘Cause I didn’t know them. The voices, I mean.” Asher stuttered through his words and waited for his family’s response.

“Voices?” Asher was surprised as his father’s voice came out quiet. His father was not a quiet man.

“Yeah.”

“What did they say?” Asher cringed as his father’s voice rang out loud through the house once more. He did not want to admit it, but he thought he heard fear in his father’s voice. He didn’t need one of the only people left that could love him to be afraid of him.

“They kept pointing out my mistakes, telling me that no one loved me, and saying how useless I am.”

“You’re not useless!” Adrian piped in. “If you weren’t here, then who would play the guitar?” he stated matter-of-factly.

Despite everything, Asher managed a laugh. He smiled at his brother, who smiled back at him.

“Adrian, can you give us some space please?” Asher was surprised that his father would ask Adrian to leave. After his wife’s death, he had made sure to include both his sons in everything. After all, they were the only family he had left.

“But Daadd…” Adrian complained.

“No but’s. I know it’s your birthday, but you still have to follow the rules.” Pouting, Adrian got up and made his way outside. As he watched his brother leave, Asher felt panic rising up inside him. The gravity of the situation was finally settling on him, and the tired look on his father’s face wasn’t helping.

“Asher, I’m going to be blunt. If what you’re saying is true, then we have a much bigger problem on our hands than I originally thought.” Cedric said solemnly. Asher swallowed hard. “There are legends of people who heard voices. Those who could learned to drown them out. Others went mad. Neither led peaceful lives.” Asher fell quiet as he listened to what his father was saying.

“Many of the ones who drowned them out did so by surrounding themselves with people- real people with real voices. Many also found ways to channel them.”

“Channel?” The word came out quietly from Asher’s mouth.

“Yes, like, well, painting.” Asher looked at his father. The grieved look on his face told him something he didn’t want to know. Cedric took a sip of his coffee before continuing.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“She didn’t always hide it. We knew from the beginning that you would have the voices. She hoped she could help you control them, if you worked through them together. But when we decided to have Adrian, she started hiding. She didn’t want him to see her fall apart if he didn’t end up with the voices.” Cedric paused.

“There were some days when she did fall apart, you know. She always hid away when they happened. She was afraid to let you boys see her like that. She said that she ‘wasn’t herself’ when it happened.”

“How’d you know I had the voices?” Asher interrupted. “And why have I only started hearing them now?”

“You talked of them. The voices. Your mother recognized the signs pretty quickly, although from what you said they weren’t as bad then. My best guess as to why you’ve started hearing them again now is because you’ve started playing the guitar again. It’s connected to your mother, and your mother is connected to a painful memory. The memory of when she died.

“It’s actually interesting.” Cedric laughed. “It was when you first held Adrian you stopped hearing them. You just took him in your arms and said ‘they’re quiet.’ We knew you weren’t talking about Adrian, because he was screaming.” Asher’s father chuckled. When Asher said nothing, Cedric continued.

“Some people say that those who hear the voices are blessed. I doubt you would call them a blessing.” Asher scoffed. “Blessing” was a far cry from what he had experienced earlier.

Cedric smiled.

“Yeah, that’s what your mother said too. But it’s not what the story books say. They say that the voices are the souls even hell couldn’t contain. The souls they sent back to Earth. They crave destruction in any form. Anger, pain, fear, chaos. That’s why they were sent to only the purest souls on Earth. So that they would never be satisfied.”

Asher considered this. “I don’t know whether to be flattered or terrified.” They both laughed slightly. “So there’s demons living inside my head, and I have to keep them at bay so that their souls can’t be satisfied? That’s a lot of pressure.”

“It is. That’s why your mother hid the voices from Adrian. She didn’t want him to know what both of you would be going through.” Asher’s father held a sweet tone in his voice, as he always did when talking about his youngest son.

“Why would you wait to tell me all this?”

“We thought...we hoped the voices would leave you alone.”

Asher thought. He thought about many things and normally managed to find the right answer. But he had no idea what the right answer here was.

“So why do people consider it a blessing? Because it means you have a pure soul?”

“Not completely. The voices, as you have already discovered, try to bring you down. Talk about all the things they know will get under your skin. People believe it’s easier to ignore all the things they don’t want to hear said when it’s someone else saying it, rather than hearing your own voice saying it.”

“That’s not much condolence.”

“I know. It’s pretty stupid. But there are many other ways in which these people are exceptionally gifted. It’s said that it varies between each person. Your mother was exceptionally gifted in painting. And by gods she could convince you to do anything. She was very persuasive when she wanted to be.”

Cedric smiled at the sweet memories. The only part of her he had left. No, he had Adrian. He had Asher. And he had to make sure they lived on in her memory.

No matter what.