ISABEL★ISABEL★ISABEL

username: Diamond Sapphire
name: Isabel
gender: Female
growing up: I was slumped back in my chair, in my fifth grade classroom, doodling a few flowers. Mainly roses, since I found them the most fun to draw. I heard a muffled voice in front of me, but I ignored it. After doodling my seventh or eighth flower, my teacher loomed in front of me, her eyes narrowed. I glanced upwards, emotionless. My teacher's mouth moved, but all that I heard that came out of her was a quiet, muffled word. The word ''why''. Why what? I looked up, titled my head at her, and wore a confused face. She slapped her hand on my desk, and an angered expression crept onto her face. I was severely confused. She started moving her mouth again, this time looking annoyed. This time I could hear some words, but they sounded soft and quiet. "What do you think is more important than listening to my lesson? There's a test in a few days, and if you keep this up, you're surely going to fail it." My teacher spoke quietly yet bitterly, glaring at me. What did I do wrong? She barely said anything a minute ago. But I mean, I'm used to her doing this. She seems like she's never talking, as well as most of the people around me. "I dunno." I replied with a shrug. "Why are you shouting, huh?" My teacher demanded, slightly louder than last time. But she seemed so mad, I could practically see smoke coming out from her ears. "Uh, I'm talking in my normal voice? Your the one that's speaking so quietly." I answered. Her face went from furious to suddenly concerned. I was now extremely confused. She sighed, lifted her hand from my desk and motioned for me to follow her. Did I seriously do something wrong? I was brought to the office, and I'm pretty sure she asked someone else to takeover her class for now. I don't really know. She sounded extremely quiet. My teacher then turned to me as I plopped myself down on the polished wood bench in the office. "Isabel." My teacher said my name, this time she sounded awfully muffled and quiet. I could barely hear her. I titled my head. "Isabel." She repeated, only a tiny bit louder this time. "Isabel." She said one last time. This time, I could almost perfectly her. "Yes? Why were you so quiet the last two times?" I questioned. My teacher's eyes widened a bit, before she sighed, shook her head and walked away. Moments after, my mom came early to pick me up in the office. "What's happening?" I asked. My mother knelt down, a few tears forming in her eyes. She passed me a piece of paper. I was shocked after I read it. Really? Really? I felt my hands tremble as I passed it back to my mother. Why was I so scared? Was it because it could most likely never get better. Because my sense of hearing was slowly chipping away. And I could one day become completely deaf, and not hear a single word once more.
I went home, and once my dad heard the news, tears quickly formed in his eyes, and he threw his arms around me. Some of his tears dripped onto my clothes, but at this point I didn't care. My life was ruined. Stupid ears. My father pat my head before walking off, wiping a tear off using his hand. My mother came and wrapped her warm arms around me. I really did need some comfort now. I sighed, before slipping out of my mom's arms and dragging myself into my room. I dug myself in my pillow, sobbing. I didn't want to be seen ever again. Sooner or later, I'll not be able to hear anything. My life was going to be absolutely pointless. I might as well be blind as well. My mom burst into my room, and sat on my bed. She passed me a chocolate chip cookie which was for dessert later in attempt to cheer me up, but I refused it. I continued to cry. And cry. And cry. I didn't even know why this had overtook my mood as a whole. If I didn't get told this, I could've been happy a bit longer. But no. Everything came flooding to me. All the realizations and finally answered questions of why. Why I could barely hear anything. Why my world felt silent. Why did I not realize before? Why did no one else realize before? Were they purposely trying to not tell me so later on I could have a terrible, completely silent life? Why why why? It cheered me up only slightly at the fact that summer vacation was next month, but that only meant people outside of my school could know that I'd be ultimately deaf later on in my life. My hope, my faith, my confidence. All those feelings stuck into a jar and they couldn't escape. Not only was my hearing slowly falling apart, I was slowly falling apart. I felt lost. I felt gone. I felt like I was myself no more.
The news spread around my school faster than a wildfire. I was glad I couldn't really hear any of their taunts, but I still got rude notes on my desk, thrown in my backpack and taped on my shoes. According to many of the notes, I was now known as the ''deaf flower''. Whatever that meant. I wasn't even deaf yet! So they had no right to call me that. I told my teacher a few times about the notes, but she didn't really do much about it, since the kids would still tease me about it. Summer break was coming so soon, yet I was barely excited for it. In fact, I was the complete opposite. I felt like nothing at this point. I didn't know what to think of myself. Was I even worthy to live? Or was my life simply a mistake? Everyday, more questions filled my brain, with most of them still unanswered. I felt like I had no hope. But little did I know, there was a miracle right around the corner.
Hearing aids. A few weeks in my summer break, and my parents told me about these ever-so-magical things called hearing aids. Apparently they would help me regain my hearing and hopefully not make me deaf. So the day when I got hearing aids came. I was both excited and scared at the same exact time. What would happen? What if it actually was a trick and I actually became completely deaf? How would it work? Is this real? Are they lying? I couldn't stop my mind from flooding with all sorts of questions about them. I never heard about hearing aids, and I was a bit unsure about them. Alright, I lied. I was really unsure about them. When we got to the hearing aid place, it had some other people, but for the most part, it was almost completely silent. Comforting. When it was our turn, a person came and introduced himself. "Hello you two! I'm Dr. Kail, but call me Sam." He said with a bright smile. "And you guys are..." "That's Isabel, and I'm Melanie." Said my mom. He nodded, and led us to another room. "I heard you have a lack of hearing, Isabel." Sam/Dr. Kail said to me, even though his voice sounded awfully quiet. I nodded. "Well today is your luck day! Today all of your hearing will at last be restored!" Sam announced happily, and I'm pretty sure loudly since I could hear him pretty well. I still wasn't sure about this whole thing though. But I guess it was worth a shot. Sam put something on my ear, adjusted it slightly and backed away. "How does that feel?" He asked. "Fine." I replied, louder than I was suppose to. But a moment later, all sorts of sounds started to stream into my ears. The sounds from different rooms in the building, my slow, relaxed breathing, and simply everything. "Isabel, how well-" My mom started, but I cut her off. "I'm complete. This is what I needed." I said, shaking with excitement. I squealed and couldn't help but make as much noise as possible. I stomped my feet on the floor, I clapped my hands together, I made odd sounds. Everything I heard was... crystal clear. It was like a river of sound came into my ears and destroyed whatever that was making my hearing worse. "Can you hear me?" My mother spoke quietly. I vigorously nodded, giving her a huge smile. She spoke softly. My mother spoke softly and I could hear her so well. Everything my life once was has now vanished. I could finally live like a normal person now. I clapped my hands again. "Any words?" Sam asked. Right now I could say so many things. I swear I could've died of excitement at that very moment. But I stopped myself from saying anymore than I needed to. "Thank you." I spoke. "You're so very welcome." Sam replied. My world was finally whole. No more silence. No more teasing. No more no more no more. Only more sound. And only more sound is what I wanted, and only more sound is what I was given. My silence was gone. I was now free.