Page 1 of Interpreter

Radio host: Good morning, Nevada! We’re here with Penelope Lambros, Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter. Welcome, Penelope. It’s great to have you on our show.

Penelope: It’s great to be here, Brian. Thank you for having me.

Radio host: Well, your news has shocked the country. We’re happy to give you another platform to reach the fans that may have missed your big announcement last week.

Anniston: Don’t make me do it. Do not make me ruin my molding by popping this door off the hinges.

Anniston: Please, Tim. Please open the door.

Cade: We can’t hold the girls off much longer. They’re worried about you. You’ve been in there for five hours.

Theo: I’m not getting on Anniston’s bad side. You have five minutes to pull your shit together and let them see that you’re okay. After that, I’m giving Anniston the key and you can deal with their shit.

Hayes: Bianca has a crowbar. She almost has Anniston convinced to ruin the molding.

Theo: Unless you’re midpump into the best hand job in the world, you need to open the door. Ans and Breck are crying now. You know I don’t do crying.

Mason: Come on, man.

Vic: We’re here for you.

Chaos. That’s the state my family is in. And it’s all because of me.

I should feel bad for making them worry. I should open the door and hug Anniston, my commander, and tell her I’m fine. It’s not like we didn’t know this day was coming.

But I can’t.

All I can do is look at the surrounding devastation.

A smashed alarm clock…

A portable speaker in pieces…

The guitar my mother gave me, now broken in two.

I destroyed it all. Every memory. Every sound. And I don’t feel an ounce of emotion over it.

Numbness has settled around me like a shot of whiskey, the weighted stench of denial heavy on my chest. I’d do anything to keep my family from seeing me bent over my knees, the heel of my palms digging into my eyes, broken and defeated.

Breck: Please, Tim. Let us make sure you’re okay, and then we promise to leave you alone.

Theo: They lie. Do not believe for one minute they will leave you alone. They will smother the shit out of you the second you open the door.

Kane: You could always go through the window.

My phone keeps vibrating with all of their incoming texts, but I leave them unanswered. The silence has pulled me under, and frankly, I’d rather sit here and drown in its wrath.

I was prepared for this day.

I waited for it, journaled the countdown for when it finally sealed me off from the world.

I knew it was coming.

Slowly, deafness creeped into my life, muffling the surrounding noise. Shouts became whispers and music became white noise.

Until now.

Now, there’s only silence. Just me and the voice in my head pleading for company.

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