Only Realized After Losing You

1. Stupid Ellie

It all happened very naturally.

I tried to let out a sound, but there weren't any words coming through my mouth.

How...... Do you speak again?

At first, I was in despair.

Losing a language meant that I gave up on expressing myself.

However, my father spoke to me.

"It might be for the best that you became mute."

My father encouraged me, who became a mute, as he spilled out words of favorableness.

It was as if this happening was something to be blessed.

The despair later became ignorance.

From the beginning, I didn't speak that often.

It wasn't as uncomfortable as I thought I would be when I couldn't talk anymore.

I just couldn't feel the need to let out words.

I could read a small number of words that would replace my speaking.

Yet I never received a proper education.

Thus, I couldn't write complicated sentences.

I would only write simple words to express myself.

My family didn't teach me how to write perfectly.

If I did, there was a chance I could leak the secrets they've told me.

I must stay as a figure who accepts emotions yet keep them as a secret,

That was what they'd expected from me at least.

Voiceless Ellie.

That was the name I was given.

No, I should be more clear-

I was "poor Ellie that became voiceless unintentionally".

My father didn't let me- who became mute, only stay at home.

In the summer when I turned 17, my dad opened his mouth with a greedy expression.

"Ellie. Let's show the world your talent and start using it for its purpose."

I nodded my head.

I didn't ask how voiceless Ellie (who could keep secrets) would be used.

I knew that nothing would change even if I knew.

My father never once changed his decisions.

This house meant the whole world to me. It was also a place where my father's words were absolute.

I never once thought of going against his words.

It was something that I grew up with and became so used to it.

If I were to refuse my father, his devil-like face might once again appear and reproach me.

He might even sell me somewhere far away.

My father was the type of person who could commit such acts.

10 years ago, I learned that my father sold away my unexpected younger sibling.

"Ellie, your mother knows that your sibling died of food poisoning, but the truth is...... I sold the child away in the slave market. Have you ever heard that child cry? The noise it made was truly unpleasant......"

My father continued to speak with a frustrated expression.

"Anyways, we couldn't afford to keep a third child in this house. I'm sure that kid would also prefer to meet a good master and live a better life than this home that's a complete gutter."