Tangled Voice Novels & Stories

His presence filled the room like someone had turned the volume up on the world. “Tania.” His voice was low, even, but it cut through the chaos like a blade. I blinked at him, confused, scared, angry. “Tania, look at me.” I tried to speak, but the words were gone. My throat closed. My hands were shaking, and I felt like I might explode.

A man's cologne. They walk around me, stopping behind the chair. Goosebumps rise on my skin when I felt their fingers wrap around my hair and tugged my head back harshly, causing me to choke on a cry. "Finally awake baby?" That voice. I know that voice.

I hear that particularly annoying strange voice hitting me hard against my ears, and it makes me raise an eyebrow. The voice is actually very, very annoying, but at the same time, it sounds so deep and so rough and so brutal, as though it has undergone some strange technological editing so that no one will be able to figure out who is speaking. "Who is this?" I ask, and the voice chuckles at the other side.

The voice is however overshadowed by the loud music playing in the background. " If a woman says no, she means no." Lance growls menacingly. " Scram before I break every bone in your useless body." The guy nods his head, fear written all over his face as he tries to back away. Lance releases his wrist and he bolts, staggering out of the club like his life depends on it. Lance turns his attention back to me, his eyes softening. I watch him approach me and sit on the empty stool beside me. " Are you okay, Kara?" He asks but my mind remains fixated on something else... that voice... so hoarse and sexy, it sends a delicious shiver running down my spine.

“No need. I like a woman bold enough to ruin a perfectly good shirt.” He introduced himself properly then — Andrew. Andrew. The name had a comfortable ring, like linen sheets. He had the kind of face people wrote about in magazines: high cheekbones, eyes that seemed to shift colors in indoor light. But it was his voice that held me. Warm. Uncomplicated. He listened like each sentence I offered was the most interesting thing he’d heard all day.

Everything i‌n m‍y​ body screamed Don’​t do this. But my finger accep‌t⁠ed the call before my br‌ain coul‍d stop it​. The camer⁠a o​p​ene‍d. ‌ I s‍wallowed hard. “Why‍ are you calling me? H​e tilted his head. “You lied to me you do‍n’​t miss me.” “Stefan, stop.” My voi‍ce cracked slightly.‍ “‍I’m married.”

“Listen to this. It’s messy, but it’s all here.” I held my breath as the audio began to play. The sound was grainy, filled with the background roar of a crowded bar and the clinking of glasses, but Portia’s voice was unmistakable. It was thick and slurred, heavy with the lack of control that comes with one too many cocktails.

It was feminine and rang a bell in my heart, as a matter of fact I felt my heart being clefted to the voice in two ways – Both good and bad. "Hello." I replied. Immediately I heard nothing but the buzzing sound of the phone repeatedly, as it appeared as though the call was being left unattended to. I kept on saying the word "hello" repeatedly hoping that somehow the caller would come back to the call and perhaps have a more meaningful conversation than just saying hello. Who was she? I thought to myself wondering how it took just one voice to get me unraveled. Why was she not speaking? A lot of questions flashed across my mind as I tried so hard to get the answer behind the greatest mystery

she said, her voice a little too quick to be convincing. Marcus wasn’t buying it. He reached for a damaged book that had been set aside for repair, one with water-damaged pages that had warped and rippled. “Sure, sure. Just a quiet evening, huh?” he said, clearly amused. “Come on, give me a hand with this while you count down the minutes.”

If what I did worked, I’ll have to untangle over 1500 voices in my head before I’ll be able to get out of this mess. The first couple of times I try, it’s too overwhelming and I shut it down again. Then, one day, I see one strand light up. I can see the thread of the voice as it weaves in and around others. I pull on it and untangle it from all the others. Eli. It’s his voice that is now separated. I keep it close so I can listen when he talks to me. Cara, Angel, Sirona and Benny are next. I’m not sure if I have a stronger connection to them, or if they are actually somewhere close to me talking so I can hear them, or in this case, see their voices more clearly.