Short stories and contest entries

Soundproof love

(Love story for six-year-old and up)

"What do you want?" Noah crossed his arms and looked at her, his eyebrows furrowed. She looked back at him with a tiny smile on her lips. She shook her head and took a step closer.

"I asked you something." Noah took a step back. The girl shook her head again, her brows furrowed as well. She pointed at her ears and shook her head once more.

"What?" Noah shot her a glance of confusion before looking back at the door to the house. Where was his dad? He smiled at her, quickly, before turning around and running back inside. She didn't move.

Only a short minute later, Noah's father came outside as well. He smiled at the girl and squatted, "How are you, sweetie?" He laid a hand on her shoulder. She pushed it off as she pointed at her ears again and shook her head. Noah's dad furrowed his brows.

"Are you deaf?" He tried to gesticulate all the words while talking. The girl nodded. Noah's dad nodded and turned around to look at Noah. "Don't you think we should bring her to the lake?"

Noah shook his head angrily, "No! You promised, dad, you promised." He turned around and ran inside, tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Noah! Come back here!" His dad looked down at the girl. He squatted next to her and wrote in the dirt in front of them; "Do you want to come?"

The girl looked at him and nodded again. He smiled and stood up. She smiled up him and followed him to the car, where he opened the door and lifted her up on the backseat of his car.

Not soon after, they were all three in the car, driving.

Noah sighed and looked out the window. He had his arms crossed as he moved further away from her. His dad just shook his head at the kids. "Noah, be nice now."

"I am nice." Noah tried to roll his eyes but failed. He stared at the side of the road.

The girl sighed and moved her hair away from her face. She didn't look at the road; she looked at him. He wasn't smiling, he wasn't happy. But she was. She unbuckled the seat belt and moved to the other side of the car; right next to him. She leaned across him and looked out the window at whatever he was looking at.

"What are you doing?" Noah pushed her away.

"Noah! She doesn't understand you so stop being mean to her." His dad shook his head.

"What's her name anyway?" Noah glanced at her.

She held up a finger and shook her head. She moved closer again and looked out his window. "Do you want to look?" Noah sent her a tiny smile. He pointed at the window and then his eyes. "You can see if you want." The girl nodded and sent him a huge smile. She looked at the trees, the sheep, the grass, the road.

"There isn't far till we get there. It's only a 20 minutes ride from the house, right, daddy? We will be there in a moment." Noah smiled as the girl moved a little bit away so she wasn't leaning across him. She smiled at him and nodded though she didn't understand a word. He continued, "Have you ever tried fishing before? Daddy never takes me out fishing with him. We haven't done it since I was a little kid. Do you have a dad? My dad's really cool. How's your dad?" Noah waited for a second, before he continued, "I bet my dad's stronger than your dad. My dad takes me fishing. Does your dad take you fishing? I bet he doesn't. My sister doesn't like fishing either. So I usually have daddy for myself. But not this time cause obviously you're here." Noah sighed and leaned back. The girl looked at him with confusion. She put a hand on his shoulder and pointed at him after which she held up her other hand and formed an "o" and a "k".

Noah furrowed his brows. "What do you mean? Is that sign language? I don't understand you, I'm sorry. Do you wanna see something? I have this book. Daddy, do you have my book?"

His dad smiled and handed him a little blue backpack. Noah hurried to take up a black sketchbook with the name "Noah Kent" on the cover. The girl looked at him with a smile all the way from her mouth to her ears.

Noah opened the book; the sun and a house met them both. He pointed. "That's where I live. And that's mama and daddy and that's Lizzy. And that's the mailbox. You see? It has my name on it. That's because you get to have your name on your mailbox once you're older. That's what daddy says. Where do you live?" He moved his hand from the mailbox and gave her a pen from the bag. She looked at him and smiled before she turned the pages until she found an empty one. She drew a big mailbox and wrote a name on it. Adelaide Rivers.

"A-de-la-ide... I like that name. Daddy, her name's Adelaide." Noah smiled at her and they started drawing a house together.

And they went fishing. Noah had never in his life talked as much as he did that day. Adelaide said nothing, but that didn't matter. He talked to her, he told her all about everything. They were out all day on the lake, fishing, and Noah completely ignored the fact that he wouldn't catch a single fish if he wasn't quiet.

As they drove home in the middle of the afternoon, Adelaide fell asleep on the backseat. And Noah didn't mind. He took her hand and squeezed it before he leaned back and closed his eyes as well.

--💘--

"Marry me?" He asked in sign language. The future Adelaide Kent nodded and mouthed the words: "I love you."