Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
Drowned Out
Chapter Nine
The following week was a blur and now Matt sat anxiously in the car as his parents drove closer to the speech clinic for his first appointment. T.K. initially wanted to go with them, but he had to go basketball practice to prepare for an upcoming game against a rival team.
Once their destination came into view, Hiroaki turned and parked the car close to the clinic.
"Well, Son," said Hiroaki, "here we are."
After waiting for about fifteen minutes, the speech therapist entered the room.
She was a slightly older woman than Nancy, fair-skinned, with her short brown hair curling at the ends around her face. A pair of reading glasses hung around her neck and she wore a white lab coat with a nametag on it.
She greeted the three of them with much enthusiasm.
"Hello, I'm Dr. Mina Otoya, it's very nice to meet you!"
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, ma'am." Nancy said, politely, "Can you really help our son speak again?"
"Ms. Takaishi, I'll do whatever I can to help him. I'll also be taking notes if both of you don't mind."
"No, ma'am! Not at all!" said Hiroaki rather quickly, "If it helps Matt in any way, go ahead!"
Dr. Otoya turned and looked at Matt, who was a little unnerved by her big brown eyes.
She then sat next to her new client, put on her glasses and pulled out a clipboard.
"Now," the therapist began, her tone taking on a serious shift, "your son's voice loss started following his rescue from an abduction, correct?"
"Yes!" Hiroaki replied, growing furious, "He was held hostage and was beaten up by that man!"
His hands balled into fists, recalling the pain in Matt's voice when his abductor contacted him.
"STOP IT! STOP IT! HELP ME DAD!"
Nancy nodded in agreement. "Matt also spent a week in the hospital recovering from his injuries and a concussion."
"I see."
The therapist scribbled down some notes onto the clipboard.
Then she stopped writing and the room fell into an eerie silence. As the stillness grew heavier with each passing minute, Matt began tapping his foot nervously in an attempt to distract himself. Occasionally, he stole a glance at the doctor before looking away but she didn't seem to notice and appeared to be very deep in thought.
The former couple looked at each other and then back to the therapist, confused. They both told her all that happened and how the aftermath had left Matt mute but then a sudden thought crossed their minds.
Was there more to Matt's trauma then they realize?
"Well?" demanded Hiroaki, growing impatient for an answer.
Dr. Otoya looked directly into the eyes of the two parents, breaking her silence.
"Have you both ever thought about how the divorce may have impacted your son?"
Matt grew uncomfortable in his seat at the mention of that word, hanging his head down as he focused all of his attention on his shoes.
Both Hiroaki and Nancy looked away in shame. They knew that splitting the family up would hurt their sons emotionally, but they never realized how deep of a wound the damage left over had caused.
"Well," the older man began, with some reluctance, "Following our divorce, I was actually impressed by how well Matt seemed to be handling it. But as time went on, he became more and more cut off from the world, spending all his time alone in his room and always shutting everyone out. Even me. I don't even think he made any friends before he went to summer camp a few years ago."
After taking a deep breath, Nancy spoke.
"Although he chose to live with my ex-husband, I felt that Matt hated me for taking his little brother away from him."
Nancy's blue eyes slowly welled up with tears.
"And they were so close, too! Both Hiroaki and I tried our best to make our marriage work for their sakes, but in the end, our selfish desires won out and tore them apart!"
"W-while…we live in the same district now," she continued, her voice growing shaky, "I-I feel that even now Matt still resents me for what I-I've done!"
Matt flinched when the therapist put a hand on his shoulder, snapping him out of his trance.
"Now, come with me, Matt."
Matt slowly arose from his seat as the speech pathologist gently ushered him into the next room, closing the door behind them.
Covering her face with her hands, Nancy began to quietly weep.
Hiroaki bit his lip, watching his ex-wife cry. A part of him wanted pull her into his arms to comfort her just like he used to, but his body was locked in place.
…
After offering him a seat at a table across from her, she handed the blonde a piece of paper and a pencil.
"Since we heard both sides from your parents," she said, "I want to know your side of the story."
Matt looked at the speech pathologist for a moment but took the pencil and started writing.
He wrote that his parents were right about some things, like how keeping his distance from others eased the pain of the divorce, and how he initially believed that friendship was meaningless. Continuing to write, Matt mentioned his younger brother, feeling it was his sole duty to keep him safe from harm until T.K. showed that he could stand on his own. There was even a small degree of jealousy Matt had towards his friends. Despite the familial issues that some of them had, none of them came from broken homes. Finally, he discussed in writing about his passion for music at a young age and how he was now robbed of his talent.
Dr. Otoya frowned as she read what her client had written.
"Matt," she stated, "you are not the first one to experience this type of loss. But with my help, you'll be able to move forward and regain your speech."
"For starters, in order for you to speak again, we'll have to go back to the basics."
Matt blinked. Basics?
"Well, you didn't start talking right away when you were a baby," the speech pathologist said, adjusting her glasses, "You only babbled until you learned how to form words."
The blonde-haired teen couldn't believe his ears.
So, for me to recover my voice, I have to start over?
Well then again, he thought, if this will help me get my voice back.
"All right then," Dr. Otoya said, "let's begin."
…
Over the next few weeks, Matt continued with his therapy sessions. Despite showing signs of improvement, the closest that he came to speaking was humming in a low quiet murmur.
While Matt and his father were away at another appointment, Nancy, armed with a spare key that Hiroaki gave her, entered the Ishida apartment. She wanted to do her part as much as she could to help with Matt.
Following the expired food incident, Nancy had been keeping tabs on the apartment making sure that her ex-husband and their firstborn son always had fresh food to cook and eat and a clean home to retire to.
I better make sure that they both have clean bedsheets. She thought to herself. I don't want Matt getting sick like that again.
She opened the door to her eldest son's room and proceeded to strip the bedsheets from the mattress to wash. As she did so, she heard something fall with a loud thud. After untangling the blankets wrapped around it, Nancy discovered the digi-egg.
Holding it in her hands, Nancy examined the dull egg, and to her relief there were no cracks on the shell from when it hit the floor before she carefully set it down on the desk.
She was just about to leave the room with the sheets when out of the corner of her eye, Nancy saw a torn piece of paper on the floor. Curious, she picked it up and saw what appeared to be lyrics to a song in Matt's handwriting.
Shifting her gaze to the trash bin, she saw it was filled to the brim with shredded bits of paper, similar to the one she found. Taking out a few pieces out and reading them, they consisted of crumpled words and melodies, all written by Matt.
…
Meanwhile, the school was abuzz with excitement: The Teenage Wolves' concert was tomorrow but their lead singer was still voiceless and the hallways filled with the gossip of students.
"How are they gonna pull it off?"
"Do you think that they'll call off the concert?"
Matt ignored them as he headed on towards his next class but his path was blocked by an imposing figure.
"Well, well, so this is the famous Songbird Ishida whom I've heard so much about."
Matt looked up and found himself facing Donzo Hojo, an upperclassman accompanied by his gang of thugs.
Donzo was a big, burly teen with jet black hair. While Matt and his friends were usually lucky enough to avoid him, the rumors surrounding him had a grain of truth to them: While his educational strength varied, his physical strength gained the respect and fear from his classmates as he was one of the strongest students at the school and no matter who dared to stand up to him, Donzo always came out as the victor, earning the nickname, 'The Don'.
"I heard that you can't sing anymore, Songbird," taunted Donzo, "Which means you can't steal anymore of my girls and with that concert coming up, what'cha gonna do?"
"The band is nothing without their songbird!" one of his friends said mockingly.
"A canary is more like it! I mean, the dude's got yellow hair!" said another, making tweeting noises.
Matt attempted to walk past them but he was soon surrounded on all sides. Before he knew it, the Bearer of Friendship was grabbed hard by the shirt collar.
"Ooh, Donzo, I have an idea! How about we help this canary sing again?"
"That's a great idea!" the muscular teen said with a devilish grin. He flexed his free hand as he clenched it tightly into a readied fist.
"You'll be singing in no time when I get done with you, Songbird Ishida!"
"Hey!"
The bullies turned and saw Tai and Sora coming towards them.
"You better leave our friend alone, Donzo!" Tai shouted, "Matt didn't do anything to you!"
"Yes, he did, all the girls in my class prefer seeing this little canary sing silly songs about doors and seesaws," answered Donzo, tightening his grip on Matt's shirt, "instead of real men, like me."
Tai scoffed. "Well, that shows that he has more talent than you."
"That's really low of you," Sora added, glaring at each of them, "picking on someone who can't defend himself!"
Donzo and his gang were about to turn their attention to Tai and Sora when the late bell sounded. Grudgingly, Donzo released Matt as he and his gang hurried off to class.
"Are you alright, Matt?" Tai asked.
Matt gave a brief nod as he readjusted his shirt collar.
"Why is Donzo still here?" questioned Sora, "I thought he'd transferred to another school already."
"He must be finishing up this year before he transfers." Tai guessed. "But don't worry, Matt, Sora and I will keep an eye out for Donzo or his goons if they try to bully you, not while we're around."
"We'll also let Izzy and Joe know too." the auburn-haired girl stated as the three went into the classroom and took their seats.
…
After school ended without incident, Matt went over to the music hall to meet up with his bandmates.
"Oh, Matt, you're here!" cried Akira.
In writing, Matt asked if they still had the note that he had given them earlier.
They nodded yes and Yukata pulled out the note from his coat pocket and read it aloud.
"'If my voice hasn't returned, we will still go through with the concert. I don't want to disappoint our fans by cancelling it. Instead of singing, we can perform instrumental versions of our songs and let the audience be a part of the show by letting them join in singing.'"
Despite the optimism in the note, the trio were also concerned about the talent scouts that were coming to see them. After all, how would they react to a band that couldn't perform their own songs?
"Are you sure you still want to go through with this?" Yutaka questioned.
The blonde gave a firm nod.
"But Matt," protested Takashi, "ever since you've been going to your speech therapy, you haven't been able to practice with us."
Matt resisted the urge to roll his eyes. It's true, I haven't had time to practice with them but that doesn't mean I can't play.
Akira agreed. "He's right, man. If you want, one of us can sing in your place."
Takashi's eyes widened. "Are you kidding, me? Have you even heard yourself sing? You sound like a dying cat!"
"Says you!" retorted Akira, "You don't sing, you screech!"
"Now, now, cut it out you two." groaned Yukata while Matt got in-between the bickering teens to break them up. "It doesn't matter whose singing voice is worse."
Once Akira and Takashi calmed down, Matt turned with a wave and headed out the room but not before handing his bandmates another note which said,
'What matters is making sure that the concert is another success.'
"Well," Yukata said as he and the others exchanged unsure looks, "looks like the show will go on as planned."
Takashi nodded. "You know how Matt is, once he sets his mind on something, there's no stopping him."
-To be continued…