I wake up the next morning then look around, feeling slightly confused, as I telepathically call for Bruno in English and Dog.

Where are...I mouth an Oh as I remember where I am. What happened yesterday.

It was very eventful for me. I was given a few things from a nice man.

I rub my eyes to see him standing in front of me.

Clark. That's his name.

One of the things that he gave me was a new name. The one he chose is...

"Good morning, Say."

I make fists then pound them against the bed as I try to scream.

He clutches his head. "Ow."

I didn't mean to use telepathy to scream in his head!

I quickly sign that I'm sorry, adding that I didn't want to hurt him.

I'm not going to get punished, am I?

He goes over to one side of me then places his right hand on top of my head.

"It's okay. You just don't like being called that, do you?

It's kind of like how you explained the glot in omniglot, only more so. That nickname would strongly imply that you can speak and, since you had to have been bullied over the fact you can't, that's why you don't want me to use it."

I bite my lip and nod as I remember some of the words said to me from that kind of bullying.

He got the reason exactly right.

I'd be mocked for being the way that I am, sound wise. What I once overheard it referred to as "more than mute". That I'm, for the most part, a "sonic hole".

I know what sonic means. I can't not.

It means, in that case, relating to sound. Like sonic boom.

I breathe out slowly as I push the memories back. It's the past and I want it to stay there as a secret.

I tell Clark that all of what he said about the nickname was right though.

"Well, I can keep that in mind. Now, are you going to get out of bed?"

I nod and he grins.

"Good. There's something I want you to see at the dining area."

I smile back at him then follow him there. I wonder what it is.

I find it in the chair that I use.

I raise my right eyebrow. It looks kind of like Bruno, which makes me kind of sad but mostly confused.

I touch it, feeling somewhat tentative, with my right hand.

It's soft like Bruno but not warm like him. This is not my good boy.

It feels...empty. Wrong.

This is what he wanted me to see?

I don't like this surprise. Fake Bruno.

I sit in a different spot, since I don't want to touch it. I hate those empty eyes.

I knock it down with my foot and it lands on the floor with a soft thump.

The impact took it away from me. My field of silence only extends to inanimate objects that I come into contact with.

I already knew that so I don't consider the sound a victory.

Clark looks at me. Did he hear that?

I don't think that his hearing would need to be as good as mine in order for him to have had to.

"You made sound."

I shake my head then tell him that Fake Bruno did.

"You don't like it, do you, Sayna? Well, I think that it's nice that it let me know that contact is important when it comes to your field of silence."

I tell him, using sign for the third time today, that it's nice Fake Bruno had a purpose.

He laughs.

That's pretty much the first time something I've said has made somebody laugh in a way other than mockingly.

I have heard that kind of laughter before though.

It's just that I was overlooked by a large part of the kids in the place where I grew up.

I have my telepathy, sure, but, even with it, I didn't have a lot of friends. You can obviously ignore it.

There's been more than one instance when somebody, especially one of my bully triangle, chose to do that.

Plus there were times that we weren't supposed to use our powers.

You'd get punished if, in this case, it was found out that you did.

They called the place where you'd get sent to "the detention room". You'd get fitted with an inhibitor collar, which would be taken off before you left the room and after they decided you were "ready to behave".

Said room obviously had to have an important installation for me.

Yes, it was a special camera. No, this doesn't mean that I don't like cameras.

The one in the room was pretty small but I know where they put it because they had already installed a PA system, just like the ones inside our classrooms. They were separated by gender, like where we slept.

Lunch and free time was when I'd see everybody, unless I was called to the private study room.

That's where you'd work on your power/s.

Most of the kids called it the showroom, since there was a man who'd see us in it every so often. His input must have been very important.

He looked a lot like Clark actually. He's the reason that my favorite language is Japanese.

He once told me about mokusatsu. He said that it's the Japanese art of silence.

Yes, I may have already known Japanese but I liked him confiding that in me. It was like our own little secret.

That's why I didn't give the reason why it's my favorite language.

Well, that and because my bully triangle took my snack from me because he got all "friendly" with me.

Energy told me that I don't deserve to have friends because of the way I am. He was the leader of the three.

I guess I shouldn't have told you about him last. He hated when I did that and I swear it was unintentional.

I like how I don't have to worry about him anymore.

A plate is put in front of me with a fork.

"Do you want to tell me what you were remembering, Sayna?"

Well, they were Silent's memories.

I'm not that girl anymore. Life before Clark belongs to her.

I explain my decision to him.

"Okay. I can still learn some things about Silent though, right?"

Just before I start eating, I answer him with a maybe.

"Does this mean that you'll be using a different name sign?"

Hmm.

I shake my head, telling him that I'm not completely reinventing myself. Besides, both names have the same meaning.

"That seems fair to me."

I use telepathy to tell him Me too as I continue eating.

"Don't talk with your mouth full."

That's got to be the weirdest time anyone's spoken figuratively to me.

He laughs when I tell him that.