Prologue: Who Knew
VRRRR! VRRRR! I open my eyes slightly, responding to the soft vibrations. I squint at the clock to realize that it's time to wake up, and slowly swing my legs out of bed.
'Six a.m. already?' I think, wondering where the time had gone. I slowly begin to dress in the same thing I wear everyday: overalls, a plaid shirt, and tennis shoes. I pull my hair into my signature split ponytail, and set out the door to tend to my farm. As I walk into the stable my horse, Beauty, immediately perks up. He opens his mouth and I suppose he's neighing, but no sound reaches my ears. I pick up his brush and gently began to clean and stroke him. I do so for a while, my motions continuing in a soothing rhythm. Beauty moves his head in the rhythm and I smile, knowing without sound he's happy. Sometimes I feel guilty for not being able to talk to him, to tell him I love him. But then I remember that animals can feel love through your actions and your presence, and I shake the negative feelings away. After I'm done in the stable, I kiss Beauty's nose and head to the chicken coop, where I tend to my only other animal, a newborn chick name Flower. After I stroke and take care of her for a while, I step out of the coop only to be scared out of my mind.
"Eeek!" a sound escapes my mouth as I am greeted by an unexpected visitor.
'Sorry!' Celia signs, looking guilty for scaring me. 'I was looking for you in the house but I couldn't find you.'
'It's okay.' I sign back. ' You don't have to sign by the way. I can just read your lips.' Celia smiles.
'I like to sign though! I feel like I'm really communicating with you. It's nice to talk in your own language, isn't it?' I just look at her. I want to be nice, I really do. After all, Celia is the only person in town whose ever even tried to learn a few signs to communicate with me. But after being burned and ignore so many times, I want nothing to do with people. Not even the 'nice' ones.
'What do you want?' I sign, my expression clouding. Celia's bright smile slowly fades, and she sighs.
"Your shipment of seeds is in." she says, albeit slowly, making sure I can catch every word.
'Thank you.' I sign, before walking to tend to my crops. I don't even bother to say goodbye,as I know she'll eventually see herself off the farm. Unlike most of the town she hasn't learned to stay away. In the village, I'm the grumpy old man who doesn't like children on his lawn or the cranky old women who demands to be alone. Or maybe I'm just the twenty- two year old deaf girl who doesn't deserve the joy of human contact. Who knew anymore? I certainly didn't.
A.N. Hey guys! Thanks for checking out this story. Sorry this chapters so short, but it's just a prologue of sorts. Fair warning: this story is different. Most of the dialogue is through sign language or lip reading, all through Jill's P.o.v. I'm learning sign language, and I always wanted to write a story from a deaf person point of view. I'm not deaf though, so I'll never be able to capture everything accurately, but I do hope you'll enjoy my take on this. Thanks for reading, and reviews are VITAL!
-Goldengirl