Have you heard of the voice of Pain? That quiet ringing at the back of your head. Or that strange heavy vibration from the bottom of your heart. Sometimes, you hear it sob. An anguished sound. Painfully numb. You really can’t ignore it.

But you can keep quiet about it.

The voice doesn’t really belong to you. It calls from somewhere unseen; untouched. It cries every minute, every second, every time, and every day. Sometimes, it cries so loud, clear, and distinct that it shakes you up to remind you that it exists; so much that you are sometimes amazed by everyone else’s ignorance of it.

But you’re not sick of it. You embrace it. It feels so good sometimes; so human. Nothing distracts better than Pain. A single provocation can cause millions of electromagnetic impulses to fire up your nerves. Your brain fries. Your pupils contract as if bursting for joy.

Bring on the champagne.

You hate it. It consumes you the moment it occurs; the moment it wails. Your muscles spasm. Your eardrums scream; alarmed. Your eyes collapse as they fiercely shut their curtains. You hear nothing but the voice of Pain. What anyone tells you doesn’t matter anymore. You heart runs, sprints, races against time; desperate for a sedative. A muffler of comfort. Anything to shut the noise up.

Fucking noise.

Why you? You ask. Why now? Why ever? Pain is very careful. Like a cunning snake, it invades when it senses that you’re vulnerable; when you are exposed like a newborn babe, raw and fresh in facing Pain; when you have that slightest moment of doubt; when you fluctuate between reality and fantasy.

Of course, nobody is secure all the time. Nothing is ever really certain. But Pain is also a capricious lover. It leaves once you have the courage to find that unseen, untouched somewhere and silence it.

You are not alone. Pain isn’t picky. Everyone hears that noise. The voice resides in them too. But nobody dares to find it.

They all kept quiet.

Because it was too painful.