unconditional || graser [on hiatus]

four

I took a shower and got dressed. I threw on a thin sweater with a pair of jeans. I put on a pair of black ankle booties and put my hair in a bun. I walked out in the living room and told Liam that I was going out. He gave a concerned look but said it was alright. He never liked me going out alone, even so that this was one of the first times he let me leave without a fight. I smiled and thanked him and left.

Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I had my speech therapy class with Allison; although she's made a strong effort to make it feel as little like a class as possible. I first met Allison when I was around 13. My mom saw how much I was lacking in communication and found an oralism instructor for me. Unfortunately, Allison lived in Chicago, and we lived in Rockford, an hour and a half away. I couldn't see her often because of the traveling distance, but when we did, she was very helpful. It's been extremely easy to see her now that I live in Chicago, so she set up my schedule so that I see her often.

I walked through the front door and walked over to the receptionist's front counter. I signed in and sat in one of the big leather chairs. I sat and waited for around 5 minutes. A little boy opened the door from the back with his mother. They signed out and left. I'd be next then.

Allison looked at me and waved. She gestured for me to come and follow her. I got up and she took us down the long familiar hallway. She took us to one of the rooms and shut the door behind me. The walls were all white, and nothing other than posters hung on the walls. The posters read things like "You can do it!" and "You're a star!". Every room had posters like these covering the otherwise bare walls; despite the inspirational sayings being very cheesy, they always lifted my spirits. I sat down on a red couch while Allison sat across from me in a chair.

"How are you doing?" Allison signed. This is how began every meeting. We talked a little bit about what's been going on in our lives before focusing on the real task.

"Great, actually. Liam surprised me and told me we're taking a little road trip up to Toronto to meet some of his friends on Friday." I signed and she gave me a wide smile.

"That's good. I hope you'll have fun. You'll be missing our meeting on Friday, then?" She asked, and I nodded.

"And do these friends know sign language? Have you ever met them?" She asked, bringing the question to my mind. How would I communicate with them? It's always awkward having to hand a person a notepad and pencil just so that we can have a conversation. There'd be no other way. It's either that or I'm texting everyone 24/7.

"No, not that I know of. I guess I'll need to bring a few notepads. It's always so annoying though, passing paper back and forth." I signed, and she gave me a pouty look.

"I know it's hard, but you do know that there's no way more efficient than writing to them, besides signing of course." She said. We talked a little more about the trip and we got started. First, she grabbed a thin stack of papers off the end table next to her. She sat them in her lap and began talking again.

"I want to practice verbalizing with you today. These papers have short, simple words on them. You're going to read them, and then I want you to try reading them aloud. Can you do that?" She asked, and I nodded my head.

She gave one of the pieces of paper and I began reading the words.

Hair

Shirt

Brush

Brother

Shoes

I'm able to read the words in my mind, and I know and how it's supposed to sound. The tricky part for me is actually speaking them aloud. It's difficult figuring out what noise I'm making just from feeling the vocal vibrations in my throat.

I said the word 'hair' as best I could, feeling the vibrations. I looked up at Allison for approval and she gave me a big smile and nodded. I said it a few more times, memorizing how the vibrations felt when I said the word. I said the rest of the words. The rest were fairly easy to say, except for the word 'brother'.

"Good. The next paper has those same words. I want you to try using those words in a sentence." She signed.

This excercise wasn't too complicated because I was just adding conjunctions and small, short words that I knew to the 5 new words.

We practiced more exercises like this and I finished everything Allison wanted me to within around 45 minutes.

"Remember, if you ever get lonely or bored or have any issues on this trip, text me. These are Liam's friends, not yours, so I can imagine you'll get at least a little lonely." She signed.

"Of course." I said aloud and gave her a hug.

She took me back to the receptionist's desk where I signed out. I waved at Allison again and left.

I hope Liam's friends and I can get along, and I hope I won't be too much of a bother. Meeting new people and becoming friends with them tends to be a hassle, so much that I've stuck with Liam and Allison all these years and never really tried to expand my little world of friendships. Yeah, let's hope I won't be too annoying or needy or shy or boring for them.
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Yay, it's back! Stick this story in your library if you haven't already.

400 followers, WOAH. Thank you so so much. I'll try and do something cool and interesting for 500 followers, when the time comes c;

-K