Those Who Whisper Always Lie

Chapter 2

Grian needed to get his ears checked. He's been hearing a constant ringing for who knows how long and it's only getting louder. He couldn't concentrate on anything at this point. The brown haired boy could only lay down on his bed and stare at the ceiling of his base. He doesn't even know how long he's been lying there.

It could of been hours, or even days at this point. Grian couldn't tell. He just wished it would go away. Suddenly, through the ringing, he could hear something else. It sounded like, rockets? Someone must be nearby. The boy sat up from his bed and looked for the source.

Which happened to be Mumbo Jumbo.

"Hey Grian!" Mumbo waved at him as he landed onto the white floor and his elytra folded up behind him. The mustached man seemed happy to see him, as if he's been waiting awhile to speak to the brown haired boy. It made Grian really question how long he's actually been in his bed.

"What's up?" Grian smiled as he waved back, trying his hardest to ignore the ringing in his ears, which proved to be very difficult at this point. It was so quite at first too, Grian couldn't understand how it got so loud so quickly. He didn't really care for an answer either, just a way to make it go away.

"Just checking in on you, you've been silent for awhile," Mumbo made his way over to the brown haired boy and sat next to him on his bed.

"Oh sorry, I just have this awful ringing in my ears," Grian confessed. There was no point to act like everything was okay, that wouldn't get Grian anywhere. So he decided to just jump to the point on why he's been absent. Maybe Mumbo could help him anyway.

"Oh that's odd," Mumbo tilted his head slightly.

"Yeah I know, right," Grian chuckled nervously. He could see the concern on Mumbo's face. It was honestly heartwarming. It wasn't really that big of a deal. The ringing had to go away eventually.

"Are you stressed?" Mumbo suddenly asked, making Grian jump from his thoughts.

"No, not at all," Grian shook his head. He never thought about the idea that stress could cause ringing ears, but in its own way, it did make sense. But that wasn't the case for Grian. There was nothing he would stress over right now. No big projects, no conflicts, nothing. He's actually the calmest he's been for awhile now.

"Try plugging your ears," Mumbo suggested. Which Grian immediately did. It seemed to work! The ringing had stopped! That was until Grian actually unplugged his ears.

"Nope! Actually it got louder!" Grian screamed, trying to speak over his own ears. Grian wanted to screech now, hoping that somehow being louder than the ringing will assert some kinda dominance and it'll back off... or something.

"It did?" Mumbo's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He couldn't understand why that would make the ringing louder. That just made no sense at all to him.

"What?" Grian screamed, unable to hear his mustached friend. Now it was really getting on his nerves. First it was just a nuisance, but now, now it just makes him want to bang his head against a wall.

"It did?" Mumbo repeated, trying to speak a little louder but not screaming like Grian was at this point.

"I can't hear you!" Grian continued to scream, getting slightly more frustrated at his condition. He was willing to do anything at this point to make it go away, but nothing seemed to be working at all.

"I'm gonna take that as a yes!" Mumbo started screaming back. Grian tried plugging his ears again, anything to make it stop. It added some relief not didn't make it go away fully this time. He was scared to take his fingers out though, as it could make the ringing even louder than before. Any more and Grian's ears might just fall off.

"STOP IT!" Grian jumped from his bed and screamed from the top of his lungs. He was done and tired of this stupid ringing. It was really starting to get to him. But almost like the ringing was listening to him, it went away as fast as it came in the first place. His eyes widen in shock. Grian carefully unplugged one ear. Nothing. Then slowly unplugged the other. It was gone.

It was gone!

Grian punched the air as Mumbo quickly stood up beside him in a panic, "It's gone, Mumbo! It's gone!"

"So screaming at it to stop... made it stop?" Mumbo raised an eyebrow, confused on what just happened, but happy that his friend was feeling better than he was only a few moments ago.

"I guess?" Grian shrugged, "I honestly don't get it either, but it's better than dealing with it."

Mumbo nodded in agreement, still not understanding what in the world just went down, but deciding just to plan along anyway instead of thinking too deeply on it. Maybe the screaming made his ears pop or something? Yeah, that's the answer Mumbo was going to go with for now. But he knew this was probably gonna keep him up at night.

Grian was thinking about the same thing. It seemed like his ears were working on their own accord. First he heard his name when nobody was around, now this? Something was odd about the whole situation, but it could of just been a coincidence. Sometimes people's ears just ring! It was nothing to be concerned about, but something in the back of Grian's head said it there was something wrong. Almost like an old memory was trying to escape from the depths of his mind. Grian just wanted to stop thinking about this all together.

He looked towards Mumbo Jumbo, who seemed to also be lost in his own thoughts and spoke up, "You wanna go, uh, I dunno, go play golf at ConCorp or something."

Mumbo smiled, also relieved to get the situation off his mind, "Sounds great."

Grian, then smirked, "LAST ONE THERE IS A SPOON!" He shot off into the sky, leaving Mumbo in his dust.

Mumbo shook his head, "I thought I already was a spoon," he shot off after his friend.