Elocution

By Any Unborn Child

Sounds were what Kyle remembered the most.

To say that the bespectacled man had a disappointing childhood would have been quite an understatement.

There were times that Kyle wondered why he existed at all. He had been dealt a hard hand, and he was well aware of it. Because his father was a doctor in the village of Spirit, his parents considered high stature in the society of Jade Country. But there was no telling what he could do to make them happy. Over the years, Kyle had done his best to please his parents – he would do all of the chores, take care of his studies (making the top of the class no less), and make almost no time for personal enjoyment, all so that his parents, persnickety and meticulous as they were, would finally pay attention to him, so they would finally notice him and his accomplishments.

But in the end, there was almost nothing that could make them happy, nothing that the never-ending season of winter could provide already. His mother showed at least a little bit of affection, planting kisses on top of Kyle's head when Father was distracted with the latest infections and diseases.

The whistling winds that lingered through his ears often symbolized the passing times of joy that could have been to Kyle; he wished for more of his mother's affections - he wished for more in his life.

Someone to take comfort in.

Someone who would help him in his time of need.

Someone who would not turn him away.

Someone who did not keep their love for him a secret.

But… as it turns out…it was not meant to be.

His isolation only got worse as his mother suddenly grew fainter and fainter, her failing health a sign of the times to come – his father did what he could to take of her, and enlisted Kyle's help to tend to her, not that he had a choice in the matter.

It was the simple sentence of "Mother died today" that truly brought Kyle to his breaking point.

He could remember the sound escaping the world as he heard those words – he grew deaf as realization blared at him. As much as the words were terrible, the way that his own father, the one who had promised his mother all that he could to keep her alive, said those words were truly awful. He showed no emotion, no recognition, no wavering – all emotion, whatever shred of compassion he had, slipped away as those words rang in his ears again and again.

There would be no one to help him.

In the years that followed, Kyle had apprenticed under his father to become the doctor of the small town, enduring everything he possibly could, whether it was statements of outrage and disappointment, the wayward slap to the face or the punch to the stomach, in order to finally surpass his father.

His father's destiny was unknown, even to him. But once the shouts stopped and the madness of his voice ceased to pass through his mind, Kyle knew he was free. There was still something missing though, the hope that had kept him sane for the majority of his, the one thing that could possibly get him out of the hellhole that he had wandered away from –

That is…until a certain girl came to the village of Spirit.

Now…there would be someone to heed to him…

Now…there would be someone who could finally hear him…and listen to him.

Listen to every word that he said.