After Hearing the Autistic Voice, I Earned Millions

Inside the livestream of Melvin Gilbert, the therapist influencer with millions of followers, he was walking another millions-strong influencer through a counseling session.

The other man was Elijah Swanson, an autistic influencer who had mastered every kind of instrument. Right now he was tied down to a chair.

Three days ago, he had suddenly started hurting himself.

Before that, he simply never talked to anyone, lost inside his own world of music.

Now, the moment the ropes came loose, he would tear at himself like a man possessed.

Melvin had all but talked himself hoarse without the slightest effect, and could only sigh at Elijah's mother and sister.

"You've both seen it for yourselves. Eli is very sick."

"My recommendation is hospitalization. Medication combined with shock therapy. There's an eighty percent cure rate."

Patricia Butler covered her mouth and began to cry. "Butbut Eli is terrified of unfamiliar places."

I badly wanted to warn her that the drugs Melvin liked to use were foreign, never cleared in clinical trials, and that shock therapy did enormous damage to the internal organs.

And that a patient might look cured on the surface, but not long after coming home, the illness would only get worse.

But I had no proof. I didn't dare say it.

And Patricia had already lifted the pen to sign Elijah into treatment.

"I don't want to be hospitalized, and I don't want to be shocked!"

"There's a reason I hurt myself!"

"Someone save me!"

I heard Elijah speaking, but his mouth hadn't moved. Was this his inner voice?

1.

"Ms. Butler, maybe I could try!"

My conscience wouldn't let me stand there and watch Elijah be hurt.

Especially not after hearing his inner voice. I couldn't sit still now.

"Try what?"

Patricia asked, puzzled, her signing hand pausing.

"Who are you?"

Kathryn Swanson frowned and turned to Melvin. "Dr. Gilbert, is she your livestream assistant?"

Melvin shot me a hard glare. "Samantha Pruitt, you're a psych intern, and you're here as my livestream assistant. Watch your mouth."

That only made Kathryn angrier. "An intern. Who said you get a say? My brother's problem is this serious, and you think it's something an intern can just try her hand at?"

Melvin had a huge following, and the viewers in his stream weren't happy either.

"Some nobody intern thinks she can question Dr. Gilbert's authority?"

"Looks to me like she just wants to leech off his traffic."

"Stupid intern, shut your mouth before you get someone killed."

Melvin's eyes carried a threat now. "Samantha, you haven't even graduated, and you dare show off in front of me? Do you still want that degree?"

Studying medicine had cost a fortune to begin with. My family had lived hard for years just to put me through it.

If I couldn't graduate, not only would over a decade of study be wasted, my future would be gone too, and I'd have dragged the whole family down for nothing.

The pressure was crushing. I didn't dare say another word.

Seeing me go quiet, Kathryn quickly turned to Patricia. "Mom, just sign it."

Patricia glanced at me, and when I still made no sound, she got ready to sign.

But I saw it clearly. Right then, Elijah was staring at me with a look that begged for help.

He wore a white shirt and black slacks, his whole frame painfully thin, yet his features were still striking.

Beneath the long, loose strands of hair, his eyes seemed filled with pain and sorrow.

"You can hear my voice, can't you?"

"Otherwise you wouldn't have wanted to try just now."

"Please, will you help me?"

"I have a private account. Just help me, and I'll give you two hundred thousand. Two hundred thousand!"

Elijah's voice rose in my mind again.

So it was true.

I really could hear his inner voice.

And so, at the risk of never graduating, I strode straight up to him.

I crouched down, laid my hand on his knee, tilted my head up to look at him, and asked, "You said there's a reason you hurt yourself. Tell me what it is."

"Are you sick in the head?"

"My brother never talks. You think you can just get an answer out of him?"

Kathryn yanked hard at my high ponytail, and I dropped down onto the floor.

Patricia's face twisted as she cursed at me. "You don't even know that Eli never says a word, and you still want to try? You just want to leech off his traffic. People like you, your whole family deserves to die!"

Melvin jabbed a finger at me and growled, "Samantha, that's enough. Get out of my livestream, now!"

The chat only got uglier.

"You'd have to sacrifice your whole family to grow a face this thick."

"Mind this filthy, were you born in a gutter?"

"Guys, I've got Samantha Pruitt's personal info, DM me!"

I felt so helpless, and so rushed. I couldn't exactly tell them I could hear the inner voice of an autistic person, could I?

Even if I said it, no one would believe me.

"It's my sister!"

"She stole my work. My original songs, and she put her name on all of them!"

"I, I, I can't speak because of a mental problem, so the only way I can fight back is by hurting myself!"

Elijah's voice rose again inside my mind.

So this was why he hurt himself.

He was autistic. He already held on to the things he cared about with a deep, unyielding attachment.

And he couldn't speak, which only made it worse.

So he fought back by hurting himself. I understood that.

I wanted to help him.

Not just because he'd promised me two hundred thousand.

But because he was so pitiful.

I looked at Elijah, whose eyes were full of pain, and gave him a small nod, telling him without a word that I would help him.

Then I stood up, and my gaze landed on Kathryn.

"You plagiarized your brother's work!"

"He can't speak, so the only way he can fight back is by hurting himself!"

I laid the truth bare.

The livestream went dead silent in an instant.

I saw it clearly. The moment I spoke, there was panic and fear in Kathryn's eyes.

Smack!

Melvin slammed the desk and shot to his feet, roaring at me. "Samantha, have you lost your mind? You made up a lie like this just to get famous?"

Patricia pointed at me and shouted, "Let me tell you, spreading rumors is illegal. Watch yourself, or I'll have you thrown in prison!"

The chat was howling too.

"This Samantha Pruitt is shameless, making up rumors just to blow up!"

"Everyone online knows Katie is the best sister there is!"

"Katie would die for Eli, and you're actually framing her? Are you even human?"

The panic and fear had already vanished from Kathryn's eyes.

Because she'd realized everyone was on her side.

She burst into tears.

"Samantha, I don't know why you'd frame me like this!"

"Even if you want to get famous, you could pick another way!"

"But instead you spread a lie that I stole Eli's work. That's the deepest wound you could give me!"

Melvin pointed at me. "Samantha, you'd better produce proof today, or I'll pull every string I have to make sure you never graduate. I mean it!"

"I don't need proof!"

"Elijah can't speak, but he can nod!"

"So all we have to do is ask him."

The moment I finished, I turned to Elijah. "Kathryn plagiarized your work, didn't she? If she did, nod!"

In that moment the livestream fell silent again, and even the chat paused for a beat.

Every eye landed on Elijah.

Under the weight of every stare, Elijah's face drained paler and paler.

Beneath his uneven bangs, a fine sweat had broken across his forehead from the strain.

And with Kathryn fixing him with a threatening glare, he was even less able to answer.

"Samantha, what else do you have to say?"

Melvin came right up to me, his finger already jabbing at my nose.

Patricia shot me a vicious glare.

"You'd frame my daughter just to get famous? I'm not done with you!"

"I'll make sure you never graduate, and I'll pull every string I have so you can't work a single day in this industry!"

"You think you can be famous just by being hated, ride that toxic attention? I won't give you the chance!"

Melvin pulled out his phone and pointed it at me. "I'm calling your school right now. You are definitely not graduating!"

The live chat comments started flying by:

"This bitch. She sounded so sure of herself just now, I actually believed her."

"Selling out her own mother just to lie, and Eli won't even play along!"

"Eli loves his sister Katie most. Why would he ever play along?"

Melvin suddenly shoved my shoulder hard. I lost my footing and dropped straight down onto Elijah's lap.

"You bitch, now you're trying to seduce my brother too?"

Kathryn rushed over and tore at my hair.

Slap!

Patricia's hand cracked across my face. "You little slut, you won't even leave an autistic boy alone. Your mother must be an old slut too, teaching you every trick by hand?"

"I didn't. I"

I tried to explain, but another slap landed and drove the words back down my throat.

Right now, I could only look toward Elijah. He was the only one who could prove I was telling the truth.

And Elijah, who a moment ago had been tense and terrified, watched me get hit, and his eyes went firm.

He nodded. Hard.

But the others acted like they hadn't seen it.

So he kept nodding.

Every nod sent a tear falling.

The live chat comments went quiet for a beat, then began flying again:

"He nodded!"

"Eli nodded!"

"Did Katie really plagiarize Eli's work?"

"I always knew Kathryn wasn't a good person."

I saw him nod too, and I shoved Kathryn and Patricia away, pointing at Elijah. "He nodded! He nodded!"

Melvin, Kathryn, and Patricia all turned to look.

They all saw it, Elijah still nodding, one nod after another.

Kathryn's eyes had filled with pure fear and guilt.

But Melvin suddenly said, "Eli responding doesn't prove Katie plagiarized his work. It's because the therapy I just did is taking effect."

Kathryn jumped in at once. "Exactly, there's no way I would plagiarize my own brother's work!"

Patricia looked like she'd let out a breath. "My daughter would never do something like that! Dr. Gilbert is right, it's the therapy working!"

The live chat comments chimed in too:

"You'd ignore a famous therapist and believe some intern instead?"

"Besides, we all know how much Katie loves Eli."

"This is all that bitch Samantha's fault, stirring things up. So annoying. Can she just explode where she stands?"

I pinned all my hope on Elijah, looking at him as I said, "Is Melvin right? If he's wrong, please shake your head!"

Silence again.

Every burning stare fell back onto Elijah.