A/N: I love Abby, and when I found the challenge on NFA, I thought writing about her as a child would be awesome. This is very short, but I might expand on it later and have something about each different facet of Abs' personality.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Abby Sciuto is only five, but she knows she's different. The other kids in her kindergarten class don't talk with their hands with their parents. They are loud at home too, not reserving their voices for school. Abby loves to talk – but sign language makes it hard to just tell stories and talk for no reason. Oh, she's done it, but it's not the same.
Her little four-year-old brother Andrew doesn't have this need to talk. Neither do her parents. But none of them can hear the beautiful tones of spoken English as it falls on their ears. All three are deaf and use the expressive sign language Abby has known since before she can remember.
Abby loves sound. Her favorite birthday gift is the small CD player she keeps on her dresser, turned up as loud as possible so she can feel the vibration of the music as well. This is a combination of her deaf family and her hearing friends – she loves to spend time with her mother, lying on the floor, feeling the beat of Abby's rock music. And her hearing friends have learned to love the loud music that is always playing somewhere in the house when they come over.
At school, Abby is one of the most talkative in her class. Her best friend is one of the quietest, letting the loud-mouthed girl do the talking for both. They fit together like puzzle pieces; one quiet, small, and blonde, the other loud, tall, and dark. Abby and Ashley. They are so different, yet they work together like machine gears.
Fiercely loyal, even at four, Abby will stand up for anyone who is in a bad place. Ashley is often the one in that bad place – made fun of for being so quiet. But Abby will stand her ground and let the bully know that no one messes with anyone while Abby Sciuto is around.
She loves being with her extended family. Two of her cousins and one uncle are also deaf – the other three cousins and the rest of the adults can hear. All the kids run from conversation to conversation, their hands and mouths going a million miles an hour. This is one of the few times Abby can truly be just Abby – showing both the loud and the silent sides of herself. It is so easy to slip between languages here – not having to worry about whether she is using the right language for the situation.
Abby also loves to read. It is another form of communication for her, another way people talk. She knows most of the kids in her class can't read, but because it is a way for the deaf to communicate, she and Andrew have both learned to read early.
One of the smartest kids in her class, she is already doing simple math with one of the first-grade teachers during the older kids' recess. She loves it – the learning how things work, how numbers always make sense in a confusing world. Her parents are thinking about moving her up to first grade, knowing she could keep up with the work but worrying about how their exuberant daughter will adjust to actual school.
The Sciuto house is characterized by a fast-moving flash of red – Abby's favorite color. She is always hyper, always needing something to do with her extra energy. There are only a few things that capture her interest long enough for her to spend time on, her schoolwork being one of them. This has often confounded her parents, who know most children find schoolwork boring and a necessary evil. Abby does it willingly, only sitting still when she is solving something new. Her favorite drink is the infamous Caf-Pow!, something she is only allowed to have as a special treat. Sleep is often out of Abby's reach after she is put to bed, but she doesn't seem to need as much sleep as many assume she would.
Nighttime is her favorite time of day. Abby loves the dark, loves laying out on the back porch and watching the stars. Unlike most children the dark has never been a source of fear for her. She has learned much about animals that live in the night – especially bats. Time and time again she will sit quietly and wait for the tell-tale screech of the owl that lives in their backyard tree, another sound she finds beautiful. Her little brother is the exact opposite – he loves the daytime and is afraid of the night. The owl's cry passes by him unheard every night, but he knows what Abby listens for, and refuses to sit outside at night.
The kids on her block and many of the kids in school seem intimidated by Abby. Her energetic personality is often a source of conflict between the five-year-old and the children she longs to be friends with. The Sciuto family is a family full of differences, and they have learned to accept that others will not understand everything about them. Yet Abby still yearns to be included by more than just the ever-dependable Ashley, hoping she will not always be left on the outside.