The Day They Stole My Voice, I Started My Rise Chapter 07
Six months later, at the MIT–affiliated Academic Medical
Center in Boston, Massachusetts.
I sat in the consultation room, facing the attending physician
across from me.
Dr. Vance held my latest laryngoscopy report.
His brows were tightly furrowed.
“Bree, your vocal cords haven’t healed the way we hoped.”
The scarring from the chemical burns is extensive.”
If we perform a second reconstructive surgery, the success
rate is only ten percent.”
And the risks are extremely high.”
I looked at him calmly.
Then I picked up my pen and wrote a sentence on the small
whiteboard I carried with me.
[I’m willing to take all the risks. Please schedule the surgery.】
Dr. Vance let out a heavy sigh.
‘You’re a brilliant researcher.”
“Even if you never speak again, your theoretical work alone
could still change the world.”
“Why does getting your voice back matter so much to you?”
I smiled faintly.
Then I continued writing on the whiteboard.
【Because I want to stand on the award stage myself and
read my paper aloud.]
Over the past six months, I threw myself into the research
laboratory like I had nothing else left.
Unable to speak, I led my team through one breakthrough
after another by communicating only through typing.
My name started appearing in the world’s leading academic journals.
Meanwhile, Aubrey’s case finally reached its verdict.
With undeniable evidence and the severity of her crime, she
was sentenced to ten years in prison.
Theodore and my mother both attended the hearing.
Theodore looked nothing like the man he used to be.
He had lost a frightening amount of weight,
His beard was untrimmed, and the confidence of the elite
legal professional he once was had completely disappeared.
My mother had turned almost completely gray.
Her back was slightly hunched.
When Aubrey was taken away, she stared at them.
Hatred filled her eyes.
“You two are acting heartbroken now?”
“You’re the ones who made me this way!”
You’re the ones who protected me!”
When they walked out of the courthouse, Theodore grabbed
my mother’s arm.
“Evelyn, I found her!”
“Bree is in Boston!”
She’s at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s research
laboratory.”
My mother’s entire body froze.
A desperate hope suddenly appeared in her eyes.
“Let’s go.”
“We’re going to find her.”
“I need to beg my daughter to come home.”
They sold the last property they had left.
Then they bought two one–way tickets to Boston.
One week later.
Outside the MIT Research Laboratory, I had just finished a
full day of experiments.
I pushed my wheelchair out of the building.
Because of complications from my second surgery, I still
couldn’t stand for long periods of time.
The moment I reached the entrance, two worn–out people
with messy clothes rushed toward me.
Bree!”
Theodore dropped to his knees in front of my wheelchair.
He reached out, trying to grab my hand.
But the security guard beside me immediately stepped
forward and pushed him back.
Bree, do you need me to call the police?” the guard asked.
I looked at the man kneeling on the ground.
There was no emotion in my eyes.
Then I shook my head.
My mother slowly walked toward me.
Her entire body trembled.
Tears streamed down her face.
“Bree…”
“Mom was wrong. I’m sorry!”
“Mom really knows she was wrong.”
*Please come home with me.”
I’ll listen to you.”
“Whatever you say…”
I’ll do it.”
“I’ll give you all the money I have for your treatment.”
Theodore crawled toward me on his knees.
“Bree, I don’t know how to live without you.”
I’ve spent every day of the past six months regretting what I did.”
“I lost my damn mind.”
“I was an idiot!”
“You can hit me.”
*You can hate me.”
‘Just please don’t leave me!”
] looked at them crying in front of me
But I felt nothing.
Not even a little sadness.
Instead, I found it almost ridiculous.
I took out the voice synthesizer device I carried with me.
Then I typed in a sentence.
A mechanical female voice echoed across the empty plaza.
“You have the wrong person.”
I don’t have a mother.”
“And I don’t have a husband.”
Theodore looked like he had been struck by lightning.
“Bree…”
‘Don’t do this.”
We know you’re angry at us.
“You can punish us.”
“But you can’t pretend you don’t know us!”
My mother nearly collapsed from crying.
I’m your mother!”
‘I carried you for nine months.”
‘I gave birth to you!”
“How can you say you don’t have a mother?”
I stared at her coldly.
Then I typed another sentence into the voice synthesizer.
“Mrs. Baldwin…”
“Six months ago, in the Emergency Department, when you
refused to treat me…”
“Did you ever think about the fact that I was your daughter?”