Page 1 of The Voices are Back

PROLOGUE

If you have a beard, and no valentine, remember. You still have a beard.

-Text from Morrigan to Aodhan

AODHAN

The first time I met her, I didn’t remember.

My parents remembered, though.

That day, the worst thing that could ever happen happened to two different families. My mom and dad, Stella and Abram, were visiting friends and family the week before my mom was due to give birth. Then, while on the way, a car hit them and she went into labor.

Something happened, and during the birth, my twin brother perished before he’d even taken his first breath.

Fast-forward to me in the NICU. I hadn’t calmed down one single second since I was born.

I’d gone from a happy little world with my brother right beside me, to a totally different one with no one at my side. My parents were both in rough shape, banged up from the accident.

Meanwhile, I was all alone with no one close to hold me or comfort me but some overworked nurses.

In the cradle right beside mine, there was another baby that had lost her twin sister that very day. Though her mother hadn’t been in an accident like mine. Her mother had tried to kill herself and had only accomplished killing her twin sister.

Two overworked nurses had seen the two babies crying their little hearts out and noticed that no one was able to come and comfort either baby.

So one nurse chose to see if putting them together would calm them both down.

Well, it worked.

And from that moment on, I had a soul connection to a girl that would stay with me for the rest of my life.

Her name was Morrigan St. Pete.

PROLOGUE II

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Except for country girls. They’ll definitely kill you.

-Text from Aodhan to Morrigan

AODHAN

The first time I met her was in a hospital bed. The second time was eight years later in elementary school.

She’d stolen my lunch box because she thought it was hers, and had eaten half the sandwich before I’d corrected her and taken it back.

She’d shared her actual sandwich with me, since she’d eaten half of mine, and from that moment forward, we were inseparable.

For the next ten years, she was a constant for me.

She was my best friend, confidant, and ultimately the one and only person that I could count on forever.

The only problem was, she had a dream.

One that would lead her out of this small town, and into something big.

So the day we graduated college, we agreed that we would go our separate ways. And, if by the age of thirty, if we were still alone, we would make our way back to each other.

But life was funny. It never, ever worked out like we had planned.

---