Excerpt from The Infinite Voices
"The Infinite Voices: Stories of Love, Choices, and Self-Discovery" is a collection of surreal short stories by Gizaw Legesse. Paperback and eBook versions are available on Amazon CLICK HERE to find it from $0.99. Read one of the short stories, entitled "The Infinites", from the book below and don't forget to leave a comment. (P.S: the online version of the book had been offered for free on this page, but will not be available for the time being.)
The Infinites
He motions me to caress her soft cheeks and restrains me from throwing the punch I was about to land on her. Just as my right hand moves toward her left cheek—the one with a dimple—he strikes me with another command.
"What? Nonsense! Slap her, instead," he snaps.
Another time, when I open my mouth to curse and insult her, he interjects, "Stop it. Calm down. Unite those sweet lips with yours."
Lacking the courage to resist him, I obey, closing my lips to hers, imagining their sweetness. But just as I do, he yells again, "What are you thinking? Spit on her, instead!"
I freeze, bewildered.
Sometimes, he throws me into turmoil, leading me astray. Other times—who else do I have but him?—he reassures me, steadies me.
And yet, what am I without him?
At times, he feels like me... but we are not the same. We are two.
And today, he demands the ultimate—he wants me to leave her.
To abandon the one I learned to caress instead of clenching my fists. The one I learned to kiss instead of hurling insults.
I recoil in shock. "What? How can you say that? She is a part of me—my better half!"
He scoffs. "She is your flaw, your darkness. Don't be mistaken—she isn’t part of you; she is your excess, your discard. She was created from the waste stripped away to shape you!"
He speaks with certainty, as if he holds the secret of my very existence.
A realization grips me. "She was created only so I wouldn’t feel loneliness!"
"Exactly. And that’s why you have me," he counters, his voice sharpening as if sealing the truth. "I was created within you—for your loneliness."
"But she," I protest, "she is the one who played the biggest role in the joy I now feel."
"But she is... But she is... But she is..."
I try to list her many values, but my voice falters.
He stands before me, hands on his waist, voice laced with finality. "Listen to me... Listen. Don’t you see the sense of defeat you feel every moment you spend with her? The sickness of longing when she is gone? The nostalgia that lingers when you lose her—a cancer, not of the flesh, but of the soul? And then, have you ever felt the pain that torments both you and me inside?"
His glare pierces through me, his eyes narrow, burning with an intensity I have never seen before.
Of course, my inner self and I disagree on many things.
We always argue. In most cases, he wins.
Sometimes, he is brave. Sometimes, a coward.
Sometimes, skeptical. Sometimes, trusting.
One day, he is empathetic. The next, indifferent.
He has shaped me for so long, sculpting my behavior, carving my identity.
I have endured his arguments against love—against something that should never be questioned, a sacred chapter of my life.
And yet, I have been patient with him.
Because I remember...
There were times when he whispered to me: "Love is your nature. Do not put a price on it. Do not offer it for negotiation. Do not ask for conditions..."
So why does he change his mind?
Could he, like me, have another inner self? A force within him that pushes and pulls?
What if it never stops?
What if the inner self is an endless, infinite pile of existence?
What if I, too, am merely the inner self of another?
I sit with these thoughts, questions rising within me like waves.
And then—silence.
For the first time, I ignore him.
Because once, he taught me the secret of non-negotiable love—and today, I choose to embrace it.
"I don’t want your opinion any longer," I tell him. "I don’t need to think about love—I just need to live it."
And so, I stop thinking.
Because love does not require thought.
It requires loving.
It requires living.
It requires being.
And in that moment, I finally get. That I must move on. That I no longer need him.
Undeniably, my inner self had a part in this realization.
Now that he is gone, will he able stay away?
Will love prevail and overshadow him?
Will I ever miss him?
--#--
Hi Gizaw, how’s it going? I hope everything is going well for you. I just finished reading your “The Infinite Voices” and I absolutely enjoyed it! The storytelling is captivating, and the unique style really stood out. I loved it!
A very sweet piece, just like a candy you don’t want to lose in your mouth, so you keep taking it out and coming back for.😊 You put words to the infinite voices of our head, the confusion of our hearts. And nightmare a gem among masterpieces, I love how you told the filling power of reading and vice versa. I won’t say it was short cause maybe that is what contributed to its sweetness but i just wish we had a hard copy of it just pocket/ wallet sized to have her with us and read whenever in need. Thank you for letting us read such sweetness for free.
Refreshing take on profound issues of the soul!
Gizaw, in his small, but philospically dense book, unpacks issues that resonates deeply with our soul. Each story demands our slow reading and forces to reflect on our personal lives. Written in a concise, prose, and sometimes poetic style, rich in allegorical references it is a wonderful read. From the perennial question of determinism, to writing, to love, this small treasure touches on universal issues that surely will trigger our imagination. Looking forward to read more works from this talented author.