All About Love

Customized Voice

I can’t hear voices. I’m not deaf but it’s just a special ability. It may be a curse or a blessing but the only sounds I ever hear are the voices of nature. The chirping birds, the whistling leaves, the silent wind, the sound of rain. The sounds of nature are clear as a placid melody to me.

I don’t lament that I can’t hear humans. It’s not much use either way. Letting them think I’m deaf isn’t a problem either. Specifically, I don’t like mingling much with people.

However, because of my facial features, I’m not really an outcast due to my ability. Uh yes, embarrassingly enough, I’m one of those ‘popular guys’ in one’s college campuses with that ideal boyfriend personality and face. Though my personality isn’t ideal and a bit introverted, it seems my face is enough to make up for that. So, as one would expect, I’m always showered with confessions of love. Every day at that. Seriously not an exaggeration but an absolute truth of my life. Still, since I can’t hear them, I tend to reject all of them. I just don’t feel comfortable with all these girls that keep on confessing to me, without any particular reason.
Not until a mellow voice was heard by me. It was soft. Almost inaudible. Unlike the discomfort I should have felt upon hearing unknown voices, it was a completely different and unexplainable feeling instead. Like a feather tickling my ear drums silently and gently, it gradually made my heart race to the point that I could only hear its thumping sounds amongst all the natural voices I could hear. It was like a priceless melody specially composed for me to hear. I was a dazed mess. Like a moth drawn to a flame, I was aimlessly moving towards that enchanting spell.

Unfortunately enough, that voice had stopped abruptly. The illusion suddenly shattered. The gentle aura along with the comfortable resonance remained an illusionary memory to me. I wondered what or who it was…..

The voice was so enticing that I had forgotten for a moment that what I just heard was a human voice. Precisely the first human voice I heard in 22 years of my life. Like a silent ripple in a calm stream of water.

I hastily looked around but there was no one except me in the surrounding. I lost that miracle. I couldn’t help but rue.
But, maybe, just maybe, I might get to hear it again. After all, the world is only so big. With a tiny little hope, I was unable to give up just like that. My hope wasn’t completely baseless either.

The small bird that had landed on my shoulder at some unknown point of time was chirping to its heart’s content as if celebrating my fate. It was a cause for celebration for sure. Since that person was nearby me, they should also be studying at the same college I was in as my institution doesn’t allow any visits from people who aren’t students here.

However, that also didn’t mean that I could definitely find that person amongst all the tens of thousands of students attending my college. With a complicated feeling of joy and disappointment mixed together, I went to my class, observing my surroundings on the way.

A month passed. I didn’t hear that voice for the whole month. It was to be expected considering my lack of effort in finding that person. However, rather than I “didn’t” it was more of I “couldn’t”. I couldn’t really ask people about voices when they had already assumed that I was deaf and moreover, I had played along with them out of indifference. So, I reached a dead end from the very beginning. To top all of this, I didn’t even know the gender of that person. The voice was just barely enough to make its existence known in the first place. Let alone being loud enough to let one perceive the gender of the owner.

God, just let me meet that person once…..
The situation got hopeless further as another two to three months passed. The senior year graduation was near and if that person was just unluckily enough another one of my seniors, then yeah, I really lost my miracle that day.

It may have been the desperation in my plea that God finally decided to show mercy. I heard it again. That soft voice that was now a frequent dream material to me. I was returning from the library when I heard it. The hallway was empty as classes had already begun after lunchtime. The voice was still tiny as ever making one feel a strong desire to protect the owner. I wasn’t dazed this time. I was determined to meet that person no matter what. I might as well just record what I was hearing as a clue.
However, the voice was of a soft cry. A muffled silent cry of sadness.

The owner was crying. I inexplicably felt a sting to my heart. Without wasting my time I hurriedly moved towards where the voice was coming from, concentrating enough that my head had started to hurt. As I got nearer and nearer, the illusionary world was built yet again, brick by brick, layer upon layer. The thumping of my heart and the rush of blood in my veins was being clearly felt by me as I experienced a feeling of excitement I never felt this whole time. This was fate. This was destiny. I knew this at that moment.
Just around the corner at the end of the hallway, a figure was crouched with the head down on the knees.

I was right. That person really was crying. I couldn’t control myself and with an ever so gentle voice I called out, “Are you okay?”

The ruby-like brilliant eyes shining with a layer of tears on them looked up to meet my own eyes. I was stunned. An indescribable feeling welled up in my heart on top of my excitement. My mind went blank and I continued to just stare at those eyes, forgetting to even blink.
Just then a choked little voice infiltrated my trance and asked, “Who are you?”
Who knows who I was? I just knew….
I finally found that person. My miracle. The voice that was customized for me to hear……