Lightning's world was a quiet one.
It wasn't always that way. It used to be filled with noise; pleasant laughter and loud music. Her home was brimming with joyful screams and giggles as she and Sarah chased one another, their mum swooping in before anything could be broken. Her dad would fill the place with dulcet violin tones, an old high school hobby he had passed on to Lighting. She stopped playing when it got quiet.
Lightning was sixteen when it happened. A loud explosion on Bohdum's bustling high street. The gurgling children with their gossiping parents, the folksy buskers, they were all over powered by a loud BANG at the trade center. Ear splitting screeching of smashing glass, hysterical crying, the chaotic sounds of families trying to reunite, it was all so loud. Ringing. That God-awful ringing. Things became quiet after that; at least the ringing stopped.
Lighting's parents didn't survive, lucky Sarah's girl scout group had been on a trip to Lake Bresha so she wasn't there to see the carnage. Sarah and the doctors did everything they could to bring noise back to Lightning, but she was mostly non-compliant and wouldn't tolerate the hearing aids for long. Lightning liked her new found quiet, that explosion had produced enough noise to last her a life time. She would the hearing aids at work, and sometimes at school, but they made her feel like she was underwater and everyone else was one the shore. Besides, she really was content to just ignore the world; Lightning was perfectly fine in her own, self made bubble.
After a few years had passed Sarah had made a some new friends. People with bright hair and even brighter personalities. They often got Sarah involved in their somewhat questionable shenanigans. Lightning to pay close attention to make sure they weren't up to anything to dangerous. Added to this problem was the new transfer student who was hell-bent on dragging Lightning into mischief of her own, an ever present smirk and animated body language always left Lighting slightly dazed.
Yes, Lightning's world was quiet, but colour was slowly creeping back in, whether it was welcomed or not.