Prologue – Deaf

"Blindness separates us from things but deafness separates us from people."

/Edward/\Harry\

Silent. Everything was quiet, as if someone had muted the world.

What happened? His body felt heavier than lead. With a soft groan, he attempted to open his eyes. Blinding pain overwhelmed him and he gasped, drawing in ragged breaths. After a few moments, determined, Edward Masen opened his eyes and flinched at the bright lights. His head was fuzzy, he felt disoriented, and the world seemed to spin on its own accord. He let out another groan of pain and brought his too-heavy arm up to rub his forehead.

The last thing he remembered was his father getting sick. His mother had been worried, knowing that most of the people that had gotten sick lately died not too long after. Then she'd gotten sick, and he had succumbed to the influenza epidemic almost instantly. Thinking back on before they'd all fallen ill, Edward immediately regretted arguing with his parents.

When his headache had lessened in intensity from sharp stabs to a dull throb, Edward opened his eyes again. He noticed the white sterility of the room and was able to conclude that he was in the hospital. A ghost of a memory flashed across his eyes; it was mostly blurry, but he could vaguely recall someone—probably Mr. Stanley who lived across the street—finding him and his mother in their beds and the illness overcoming them. They'd returned the night before from the hospital after Edward's father was admitted, the doctor's words echoing painfully in their heads.

"We'll do everything we can, but it doesn't look good. You'd best pay your respects now and say goodbye."

His mother had been crushed and spent that night weeping. All of a sudden, their fight the day previous wasn't so important. He didn't have any time to apologize, however, before he joined the rest of the Chicago population in the hospital. Edward didn't know how long they'd been there and kept drifting in and out of consciousness. His hearing became muffled before, blissfully, everything stopped.

No more noises of the bustling nurses.

No more people screaming in pain.

No more doctors shouting orders.

Nothing.

Edward frowned in confusion. Why couldn't he hear anything?

Fear seized his heart. His breathing deepened and his eyes widened when he found he couldn't hear that either. A nurse walked in and she looked at him sadly, her mouth moving but no words coming out.

Why couldn't he hear anything?

The nurse's mouth moved again, and this time a doctor came into the room. He had messy black hair, glasses, and hazel eyes. The doctor tried to speak to him as well, but it fell on deaf ears.

Edward looked devastated. He tried to speak, but he couldn't even hear his own voice. Panic overtook him and a sob escaped his lips. The doctor looked sadly at him before leaving the room.

Why couldn't he hear anything?

He began thrashing, attempting to get out of the bed, but found his arms and legs held down by hospital personnel that suddenly came rushing into the room. He screamed as loud as he could, but still he could not hear anything. Tears streamed down his face and one of his arms broke free. Edward tried to push the restraining limbs off his person, but very soon the black-haired doctor came back with what he assumed was a sedative.

He shook his head, screaming "No!" at the top of his lungs, angry that he couldn't hear himself. "I want my parents! Get off me!"

The silence was deafening.

Soon he felt the slight sting of the needle entering his arm. Edward's eyes drooped of their own accord, and he tried to fight against it futilely. It wasn't fair.

Eventually his world went dark.

A/N: I wasn't going to post this until the end of Wish Upon A Star, but FF dot Net is being really weird (not letting me post the next chapter of Wish Upon A Star) and I wanted to make sure I could actually still post stories. So, yeah, this will be a short one. It's around eight chapters and will be posted weekly after Wish Upon A Star and will kinda take second priority to Pleasant Dreams (depending on the response I get). Lemme know what you think. =)