Payton's Finally Talking.

Payton was talking again, but only to one person. Purity. He didn’t say a single word to anyone, not even his therapist who he spent an hour with each week fielding question after question or his speech therapist who was surely getting fed up with him. But when Purity came home for Winter break and she and Payton were sitting in his room he just spoke. And the wonderful part was that she only paused for a second, then smiled a little before carrying on the conversation. And nobody told anyone.

But it wasn’t long until their dads figured out.

One day Phillip was just walking by his room and heard that voice he hadn’t heard in a really long time. Phillip stopped in his tracks and stood there, hearing even a laugh. Payton hadn’t laughed in the last five months.

David passed by and Phillip reached out to stop him,  putting a finger to his lips telling him to be quiet.

“Listen,” Phillip mouthed.

David stopped and furrowed his brows in concentration, then there it was; Payton’s voice replying to something Purity said. David’s eyebrows shot up.

“Oh my god,” he mouthed.

Phillip nodded furiously.

“What do we do?” David whispered.

Phillip shrugged.

“I’m gonna go get something to drink, be right back,” Purity was heard saying, now obviously close to the door. Their dads didn’t have much time to run before Purity was standing there staring at them.

“Hey,” she said slowly,” what are you guys doing?”

“Passing by,” David said.

Purity gave them both suspicious looks then walked past them, “alright, dads.”

Their dads waved to Payton who was sitting on his bed. Payton just stared at them, his eyes open wide, then stood up and shut the door. Not saying a word.

Phillip and David quickly followed Purity to the kitchen where she was filling up to glasses with pineapple juice.

“How long has Payton been talking?” Phillip asked.

“He’s not talking,” Purity lied.

“We heard him,” David said.

“Maybe that was just me imitated him,” Purity said, looking smug.

Her dads shared a glance, she could do a pretty good imitation of Payton’s voice. But that didn’t make sense.

“But why?” Phillip asked.

Purity shrugged, “he doesn’t want to talk to you guys anyway.”

They frowned, “why?”

Purity shrugged, “I don’t know, none of my business. Or yours, or, frankly, the therapists either.”

They watched as Purity picked up the two glasses and left the room without another word leaving them wondering where exactly did they go wrong.

----

Purity loved the sound of Payton’s voice. It’s lightness and the way it was so similar to her own. She even liked how he now talked a bit like a baby, because he wasn’t used to it. He messed up his words and had a slight lisp. She wondered if he would ever talk the same.

He told her straight up that he just didn’t want to talk to anyone, especially not his therapist who thought there was something wrong with him.

“What’s wrong with not talking?” Payton said, “It’s my choice.”

Purity wondered if it had always been his choice, if he had just decided not to talk after the accident. She didn’t think it was, as he had acted pretty distraught over it.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Payton laughed a little, “and no, it wasn’t my choice before. but I like being quiet now. I don’t want to talk anymore.”

“Except to me, of course” Purity said.

“Yeah, I guess,” Payton said.

And that made Purity pretty darn happy.