David (narrating):
It didn't happen all at once. They didn't crown me with the title like a prefect badge.
It began… slowly. Like a rumour no one wanted to admit they started.
You see, after Takunda's betrayal — after I became the boy who made Form 2 girls cry — I stopped trying to be understood. I stopped explaining myself. I simply listened,
Not out of virtue. Out of fear. Out of shame.
Words had betrayed me once.
So I chose silence.
But here's the thing — silence, when worn properly, becomes a kind of power.
---
The first one who came was Tatenda — a hot-headed senior. He'd failed Maths, fought a prefect, and nearly got expelled. Everyone expected me to run when he approached. Instead, I sat under the jacaranda tree and waited.
"I just want to talk, Dave," he said. "Not to be fixed. Just… to talk."
And so he did.
Not a word from me. Just eyes. Nods. Stillness. He left lighter, like something had been released.
The next day, Chipo came. Then Kelvin. Then Rutendo again, for a different reason.
I never advertised. I never offered advice unless asked. But they came.
They kept coming.
---
David (with a smirk of irony):
I think it was Simba, the one with the shaved eyebrow and a tongue for gossip, who gave me the name.
He'd sat near me while I was reading and muttered to a friend, "Careful what you say near him. That's The Listener — even your shoes will confess sins."
They laughed. I didn't.
But the name stuck.
---
David (softly):
Funny, isn't it?
That a boy who once got burned by words would be the one everyone spoke to.
Maybe I became The Listener not because I was wise, but because I looked like someone who wouldn't tell your secrets to the wind.
---
People began saying things like:
"Go to David, he won't judge."
"David never tells anyone."
"He sees right through you — even when you can't see yourself."
And somewhere in there, it stopped being just listening.
It became something else. A calling. A burden. A myth.
But what they never knew… was that I never stopped being afraid.
I just stopped showing it.
---
David (turning to Adrian):
You wanted to know where the name came from?
It came from pain. From watching people choose me only when they were at their worst, and then forget me when they healed.
It came from knowing everyone's truths… and never being able to share my own.
I was The Listener…
Because being anything else hurt too much.
---