SHE DECIDED TO STOP TALKING

She decided to stop talking.
It seemed the sensible thing to do. She didn't want him. She didn't need him. Nor did she need anyone's sympathy. She'd long shed herself of all her friends. Her own mother had given up on her while she was at university, accusing her of "retreating into her shell" as if it was something to be ashamed of rather than the cry for help it clearly was.
Well sod them. If they couldn't understand, they didn't deserve her. No-one did. She'd once read about a pair of identical twins who never spoke a word to anyone, who seemed to communicate to each other by telepathy and formed a barrier between themselves and the outside world. Why couldn't she be like that, she thought? Only without the twin. But that didn't matter, she'd always been a loner anyway. Another word her mother had spat out as if it was venomous.
She had her computer, she could do all her communication with the outside world that way. If she needed to go to the shops, she could get by with a smile and a nod. If it really came to it, she could write messages on a notepad and pretend she'd lost her voice. What would it matter? She had such an annoying nasally voice anyway, as he'd so thoughtfully pointed out before he left.
And then the phone rang.
"John?" she answered.