Hushed

Chapter Two

Sharon Mayweather is Miss Thang. She always has been. She wears the stylish clothes. She has perfect hair. Her eyeliner is always on point. She has money enough to live in absolute luxury, no questions asked. And that is how she likes it. Nothing needs to be questioned because she is simply perfect. No one glances down on her because they cannot find a blemish about her. And that's how she wants to keep it.

Sharon has had a movie life. Popular cheerleader. Hot football jock. Emotion. Marriage. Pregnancy. Normal, everyday, cliché life that everyone wants. Exactly how she wanted it. But, then something strange happened. The birth of her child. A bright, beautiful, baby girl. Perfect little--WHAT?! Suddenly, Sharon was shattered. Her perfect child, her perfect life, was not perfect. Her child was deformed, just not in a way you can see. The little girl was- is- deaf. Sharon tried to fix it. Surgery? Adoption? Implants? No. She was stuck with a child that was different. She is stuck with me.
However, my imperfection didn't take away her quote-on-quote happiness. No. You see, I'm normal. I am just like my mother. I have perfect, straight, blonde hair. I have perfect, crystal blue eyes. I have perfect, straight, white teeth. I have a perfect, slender figure. I just am coincidentally so shy that I don't speak. I don't answer questions. I don't ask what's up. I read lips and understand. I am normal. Can't you tell? Perfectly. Normal. Gorgeous, silent, mysterious. The girls want to be me. Everyone wants to have my mother as theirs. Every guy wants to be with me. And they've never heard me speak a word. And they never will.
They've also never seen me sign. She's made sure of that. I've learned plenty on my own, but I'm never allowed to use it. I've never had a conversation with anyone but her. With a dry-erase board and me lip reading.
I've tried to convince her to learn a language I speak. Hahaha I was so silly to ask such a preposterous thing. Why would she learn a different language when the one she knows is sufficient for EVERYONE? How could I be so selfish? The world doesn't revolve around me. She brought me here on the earth. She was perfect without me and my silly, unnecessary language. Without my terrible deformity. How could I even ask her to LOWER herself to my filthy problems? No. She would never learn my language. I would learn hers. I would act normal til the end of time itself. I am normal- can't you tell?