The Daughter Allowed Only 10 Seconds of Voice Chapter 03

The Daughter Allowed Only 10 Seconds of Voice Chapter 03

Mira posted on Instagram about the family making a voice archive for “the girl who lost her voice.”

To everyone’s surprise, it went viral fast.

The comments were full of envy.

“Silverpine Pack is such a loving family.”

“Her family actually recorded every single time she spoke.”

“Now that’s a real Pack family.”

People envied Silverpine Pack for having such a loving, happy family.

A pack reporter reached out to my parents, hoping to do a feature interview.

Naturally, Mira was chosen as the centerpiece.

She was so nervous she didn’t sleep all night, and by morning she couldn’t string together a single sentence.

So early that morning, Mom came into my room.

There was a pleading in her voice I had never heard before.

“Tessa, please help Mira. She’s terrified of facing the cameras tomorrow.”

“I know you’re good with words. Teach her.”

Growing up, Mom had never once come to me about speaking.

When I was little, I’d rush to tell her I’d gotten first place in my class, and she’d only say, “Not now. Let’s hear what Mira has to say first.”

When I wanted to show her my speech trophy, she waved me off and said she wanted to hear Mira talk.

It took twenty-four years, but Mom had finally come to listen to me.

Except she only wanted to hear one thing:

How I could teach Mira to speak.

I agreed anyway.

I spent the whole morning drafting her interview answers and most of the afternoon coaching her through possible questions and response lines.

I even practiced breathing exercises with her until she could steady herself.

On the day of the interview, Mira sat in front of the camera.

Everything went smoothly until the reporter asked a question we hadn’t prepared for.

“Mira, have you had speech anxiety since you were little? Do you think your upbringing caused it?”

Mira paused, but the nerves we’d expected never showed.

“My sister was always talkative. She… had something… to say about everything, and she said it first.”

“Every time… I wanted to speak, Tessa had already… said it all for me.”

“Later I just… stopped wanting to talk. Whatever I said… was never as good as hers.”

She looked into the camera, sincere.

“But… Tessa, I don’t blame you. You wrote my scripts… you practiced with me… you helped me win. You’ve been making it up to me all along.”

Mira kept her eyes on the camera the whole time. She never once looked at me.

But everyone else was staring at me.

I bore their stares, my whole body going cold.

So that was what she really believed?

She genuinely thought I was the reason she got sick?

And she’d always believed I was trying to atone?

My wolf lowered herself and closed her eyes.

Beside me, Mom and Dad were already misty-eyed.

Mom went over and wrapped her arms around Mira.

“Mira, this is Mom’s fault. I never kept Tessa’s mouth in check when you were small.”

“If we’d sent Tessa to another pack for a while back then, maybe you wouldn’t have turned out this way.”

The camera swung back, capturing the tender scene.

And I sat at the edge of the frame.

Once again, I was the one destined for the cutting-room floor.

Long after the room emptied and Mom and Dad had taken Mira away, I finally stood.

“Ms. Hadley.”

The reporter, Hadley, turned around.

She was the only person all day who had actually turned the camera toward me.

I took a USB drive out of my bag and handed it to her.

“This is a recording I made. It’s the full version of the audio on the website.”

“If you want, you could turn it into a bonus segment for the interview.”

Hadley gave me a look, then took the drive.

I turned and left the studio.

I picked up my phone and checked my flight one last time.

Time: tomorrow.

Destination: Whitehorse, Yukon.

One last day.