Better Off Alone (Adopted by Brendon and Sarah Urie)

3. Callie

I came to with two people staring down at me. I shook my head and sat up.

'Are you okay?' Brendon typed into his phone.

'I'm ok. I have a bit of a headache, though,' I wrote back. He nodded and frowned.

'What was that all about?' He asked.

I shrugged.

'I can read lips a little but I couldn't make out a word she was yelling,' I said.

'How did you know she was yelling?' Brendon asked.

'Her face. She looked angry, easy to tell,' I said.

'Miss Jones gave me trash bags for you to pack in,' Sarah typed. Her face looked apologetic.

'Yeah. That's typical,' I wrote. 'I don't have much anyway.'

I gathered up the clothes I'd taken out of my dresser and wardrobe, and shoved them in a trash bag. Then I picked up the few books I had and a couple of CDs I had. Brendon looked at me curiously.

'How do you listen to music if you can't hear?' He asked. I smiled.

'I play it REALLY loud,' I wrote. Hoping he'd find it cheeky. He did.

'Cheeky,' he laughed.

'Seriously though, I turn it up and feel it. If I have a big enough speaker, sometimes I'll sit on it and feel the vibrations. Or, I put the stereo on the floor. Wood floors are best.' I said.

'That's amazing,' Brendon smiled.

'Ok. I have everything, I think,' I said, running into the bathroom to grab my toothbrush and hair brush.

Brendon took the bags and Sarah put her arm around my shoulders and pulled me into a side hug and smiled at me.

Miss Jones met us downstairs and said something to Brendon and Sarah. I thought I caught the word 'consider'. Or maybe 'reconsider'? Brendon shook his head.

Natasha came up to me and frowned. She was saying something but I couldn't catch anything clearly enough. Then she kicked me in the shin. Brendon started yelling at her and Miss Jones. Sarah bent down and looked at me. She mouthed very clearly 'are you ok?' I nodded. She hugged me and led me out the front door. I was not unhappy to see that door close.

I climbed into the back seat of the car as Sarah held the door open for me. Brendon came out frowning. He said something to Sarah and shook his head. Then he started typing in his phone and handed it back to me for me to read.

'That Natasha kid and that Miss Jones are a piece of work!' He looked back at me. I shrugged and gave him a "yup. Tell me about it" look. He smiled back.

We drove away from the children's home and I smiled. I had a family. Then I frowned. How long until they realized the deaf kid is hard?

I suddenly felt vibrations in my back. Sarah handed her phone back to me.

'Brendon turned the stereo up to share the music with you. Is it okay?'

I nodded. Music in a moving car was a bit tough. But it was sweet of him to think of it.

After a drive of about 20 minutes, we pulled up to a large house. A gate opened and Brendon drove in. He typed on his phone and handed it to me.

'What's the sign for 'home'?'

I showed them. They mouthed 'welcome' and signed 'home'. I smiled. They already knew more sign language than any of my foster parents ever had.

Sarah opened the door for me and Brendon grabbed my bags out of the trunk. Sarah was typing on her phone again.

'Two things, one, we have dogs, two, we haven't decorated your room. We wanted you to be a part of that. It's got a furniture, but we want to be able to paint it the color you want and decorate to your taste, okay? We can go shopping tomorrow.

Oh, and we'll get you a phone, too.'

I looked at her.

'I don't need a phone,' I wrote.

'You can text with it instead of writing notes all the time.'

I shrugged.

We went into the house and two dogs came running up to us. They were barking and I could feel the vibrations in the air. I smiled. They were cute.

'The black one is Penny Lane, and the Jack Russell is Bogart,' Brendon typed to me. I nodded.

'What's the sign for 'dog'?' He asked. I showed him again. He repeated the signs for home and dog. I smiled.

They led me into the house and showed me around. Occasionally they'd ask for the signs for some things.

In the backyard there was a pool and a building. Brendon typed that it was his studio and I was not to go out there alone without permission. I nodded. He also said no swimming alone. Which just made sense.

Then they took me upstairs and showed me where their room was, the guest room and finally my room. It was painted beige and had a queen sized bed with a headboard that was also a book shelf. There was a night table and a desk. A dresser and a wardrobe as well as a closet. Sarah showed me the bathroom attached to the room.

'Just for me?' I asked. They nodded. I have my own room and my own bathroom.

I looked around the room. It was pretty big. I had a lot of space just to myself. I smiled. I signed beautiful, forgetting they didn't know sign language. They looked at me funny. I laughed and wrote 'beautiful. The room is beautiful'

They smiled and Sarah started typing on her phone.

'It is a nice room, but it needs personality. What's your favourite Color?'

I wrote 'blue' and then showed them the sign for blue. They copied me.

'Brendon and I are going to sign up for lessons,' Sarah wrote. 'And we need to know what we need to keep you safe. You won't hear the smoke detector if it goes off. Or the alarm.'

I nodded. They had a lot to learn, but they wanted to.