Chapter 1
She had never known what words had sounded like. No one ever taught her either. Some tried, but always failed, because she would always give them that confused, puzzled expression that she didn't understand.
How could you ever pronounce words that you never even heard before? She also tried to learn that system of hand motions by herself to form sentences, but the person who started that system never finished it. She never got past the letter L, in both print and physical form.
Sixteen years of her life ebbed away in the constant flow of time. She still couldn't speak or learn enough to be understood.
She honestly had no choice. As an infant, she was brought to the hospitals of Elder and left there, unwanted. Her legs never grew out to be what they were supposed to be. They dangled uselessly now as she sat by the edge of her bed, unable to ever know what walking felt like.
She wanted to wallow in an endless pool of self pity forever and ever. Her hand tore frustratedly at her bedsheets, her dull, lifeless eyes of amethyst watching people go by. Watching them talk to one another, walk in steady strides, listen to each other as if they took it for granted.
Aisha was deaf and couldn't walk. Her body was constantly being attacked by illnesses, and she was extremely frail.
She saw one of her nurses break away from a group of her acquaintances and come for her. She had long, black hair, and she was very pretty. Her eyes were bright golden, always full of energy unlike hers. Even the way she talked was pretty, but she was another person who couldn't understand her. She wished she could, because she liked her best out of the rest of the people in this clean, godforsaken medical-smelling place.
She said something to her, and she tried to look at her lips and guess what she was saying. It was really hard, but she thought she was saying "Good morning, Aisha" to her. She read somewhere in her massive pile of books that that was the greeting that people usually said in the morning to others. She waved gently back, trying to keep her smile on.
She smiled back. Her name tag said "Ara." She at least could say that, and she sought slight comfort in the fact that she knew her name.
Ara was setting up her breakfast for her. They generally had no difference from any other day; just scrambled eggs, a fresh slice of ham, and orange juice. She wished she could eat something else, but she really had no choice.
She picked up her fork and tried to settle herself on the bed, seeking a comfortable position. When she finally found a spot, however, someone rapped on the door.
Ara turned around and exclaimed something, as if she were welcoming someone in. Did she finally have a hospital room mate again? How long would they stay this time? They usually were out after a week or two, but some stayed for a month or so.
It was a boy. She eyed him curiously; the last boy she had was years ago. She still dimly remembered him. She liked him a lot; his name was Chung, and he loved to talk to her even though he knew she couldn't hear. He tried to read books for her and did almost everything together. However, that lasted a few months, and only then did she find out that he was the prince of faraway Hamel.
This boy looked nothing of the sort to be reading anything with her. Not that she could read much anyway, she thought bitterly. He had flaming red hair that was messily combed into bangs, his eyes crimson and blazing with emotion. He seemed healthy and fit and almost looked like he had no reason to be in the hospital room with her. She kept on staring.
He caught her gaze and, after nodding briefly to Ara, turned towards her. Never once did she break her stare until he opened his mouth to say something.
Aisha was expectant. She didn't lie, but she wanted to see if she could tell what he was about to say.
But then he closed his mouth and shook his head as if he were reprimanding himself for doing something stupid. He nodded at her as well, and she felt that him nodding was another way of dismissing someone that couldn't penetrate his barriers. She used to do that a lot, just nod at everyone that came in and said something. She could tell that there was more than what met her eye.
She leaned down and picked up a book to see if she could learn anything new as of that day. Never being past the letter L, she was trying to see what the other letters meant when he stood up.
Aisha raised an eyebrow at his sudden movement, for once not feeling especially conscious about the fact that he could stand and she couldn't. He hesitated, his eyes blinking, but he pointed at her book and made a motion for her to throw it at him.
She sighed and chucked the thing at him. Not like she could make much use of it in the first place anyways. Aisha started to eat, taking her sweet time picking through the food. There was no harm in giving him a book of hers.
But she was surprised when he opened the book and began scribbling in the corner of it with a pen. Where did that pen come from anyways?! She made a movement to get up but she ended up embarrassing herself and tumbling off the bed instead. She was picking herself up with her arms when she whipped her head up and looked at him.
He was laughing. It was the first thing that showed on his face other than irregular stoniness. But there was something about his laugh that caught her attention. It was as if he was chuckling yet...he wasn't. Like it was quiet yet it wasn't. But she couldn't hear, and so she couldn't tell.
Moreover, she was ashamed at her display of emotion and sprawled there helplessly. In normal circumstances she would call for a nurse, but as of now, she was too busy stirring up her long-lost pride. She was righting herself up with her arms when a shadow fell over the white floor.
Strong hands lifted her up and placed her roughly back onto the bed. By the time she got her purple hair out of her face, he was back to sitting and scribbling on her book.
She slapped the table to get his attention. He looked up at her before tossing her the book.
Aisha caught it, almost missing it (eliciting another laugh from the damn boy) and opened up to the page he was on. "Ca_ _ _ead?" it said. The rest of the letters she didn't know, but could sort of recognize. After a few minutes or so, she decided to infer that it was saying, "Can you read?"
The boy was waiting for her response. She raised her hand and gave it a little shake from side-to-side, like a "meh, kind of, not really."
His expression showed that he was slightly shocked. Of course, she thought. This room, surrounded and filled to the sides with stacks of dusty old books-and she could read none of them.
Then he got up again and snatched the book back. His pen was furiously flying across the book page, without thought for the precious words typed in it. He handed it back to her.
Z
Was he trying to teach her the rest of the alphabet? She had seen these letters before while browsing the contents of books. Especially the R one. There were usually lots of those. Beneath the big letters were the smaller, lower-cased ones.
l
And yet again her knowledge did not extend past L.
z
Aisha took all of this in with enthusiasm. Someone had finally given her a little shove in her life. Someone had finally given her a kick start in the standstill of her time.
He grinned, if a little shyly, at her when she began poring over the letters he wrote. His handwriting wasn't the best, but anything less Aisha wouldn't have wanted. If she could ever write, she made sure that her handwriting would be nice and elegant. Her room mate's was short and choppy, and she could see that his personality matched that.
He took the book back, and when he gave it to her again, it said, "Name's Elsword." She smiled and looked back down at the letters he had written for her.
While she was flipping madly through the pages of the book, going back for words and matching the letters inside, he grabbed another book and wrote inside of it. Then he leaned back on his bed to press the button for the nurse.
Ara came rushing back in to see if they were getting along. She saw Aisha with her nose in the book and sighed inwardly; that girl needed a friend, and she needed one NOW. But she saw the new boy waiting patiently for her to address him. "Anything you needed?" she asked.
He handed her one of Aisha's books. She gave him a strange glance before taking it. In the corner, he had written, "Do you have a dictionary?"
Ara may have acted quite stupid in the past before, but she was indeed brighter than she let on. "I'll bring one tomorrow," she said, and the boy nodded, satisfied.
Maybe Aisha already had a friend, she thought.
Forgive me if I can't exactly tell how a deaf person works. xc I was just thinking, how exactly DOES someone learn without someone teaching them the natural order? How DO you pronounce things, read and write, without being able to hear the given examples? But anyhow, I hoped you enjoyed this short bit, and more will be coming later on~