Sound

Chapter One

The first thing Jack hears when he wakes up is the beeping of his heart monitor. The second thing is a voice.

"Jack you really have to wake up, your students have an exam next week. And your plants need to be watered and I don't even know why I'm telling you this, you can't even hear me. I just really miss you."

Peyton's hand is clutching his tightly, her palms sweating.

And then he realizes. He's hearing things. He can hear Peyton talking to him.

"I can hear you," he whispers, opening his eyes. His throat is dry and scratchy.

Peyton jumps, looking down at him in shock.

"Oh my God. You're awake, I'll get your doctor, hold on," she says, attempting to sign the words with her shaking hands. She lets go of his hand and stands up from her chair.

"I can hear you," he says again.

She stops.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I can hear you. I can hear your voice."

"That's not possible, they didn't even finish your surgery- there were complications." She reaches down and takes his hand again.

"What kind of complications?"

"That's not the point. You can hear? How?"

"I don't-" he stops talking and his hands move to cover his ears.

In that moment, he can hear everything. He hears his own heartbeat and Peyton's. He hears the ticking of the clock and the beeping of a dozen heart monitors. And it's loud. It's as if he's in a room made of glass and it's all breaking at once, over and over again, shattering his ear drums.

He squeezes his eyes shut, attempting to curl into a ball and shield himself from the noise.

"Jack? Are you okay? Nurse!" He hears Peyton yell and for the first time since he met her, he doesn't want to hear her voice.

He hears footsteps as the nurses run in and they're all shouting and Peyton is shouting and trying to explain to them that Jack can hear. And then Jack is screaming. He's screaming, because maybe if he screams it'll drown out the rest of the noise, and he feels something thick and warm on the side of his cheek but he can't look, because he's afraid to take his hand off of his ear.

There's a prick in his neck and a moment later the noise stops and he feels himself drift off.

The second time Jack wakes up, he hears nothing. He feels himself panic. Is his hearing gone again? His hand flies to his ear.

"Jack?" Peyton whispers.

He opens his eyes to a completely white room. He can't help but notice it looks a lot like the padded rooms they put mental patients in.

"Peyton? Where are we?"

"Don't worry," she says, talking as low as she can. "They just moved you to this room because it's sound proof. They thought you'd be more comfortable in here than the other room."

His hand goes to his other ear, which has a bandage over it.

"What happened to my ear?"

She frowns, a worried look spreading across her face.

"It was scary. You just started screaming and we couldn't figure out why, and then your ear just started pouring blood. They don't know why; they said your surgery shouldn't have caused it."

"It was too loud," Jack says.

"What was?"

"Everything."

She reaches over and brushes a strand of dark hair off of his forehead before standing up.

"I have to tell the nurse you're awake."

She leaves the room and returns a few minutes later with a nurse pulling a cart.

"I'm here to check your vitals and we're going to do a quick hearing test, okay?" The nurse says, as she pulls her cart into the room. She checks his blood pressure and temperature, takes his bandage off, and then sits him up and places some headphones over his ears.

"Just raise your hand when you hear the beep." She instructs.

As he listens for the beeps, he realizes how perfect the nurse is. Everything about her reminds him of a barbie. Everything except the intense scowl she wears on her face.

The test goes on for a few minutes, until the nurse stops. She removes the headphones from Jack's ears.

"All done," she says. "I have to go give your test results to your doctor and I'll be right back."

She places her equipment back on the cart and leaves the room. A moment later, Peyton walks in carrying two cups of coffee.

"Hey," she says, handing him one.

"Thanks."

She sits in the chair beside his bed.

"It's weird to be able to talk to you without using my hands," she says, speaking quietly.

"It's weird to hear your voice. It doesn't sound like I imagined."

"Is that a bad thing?"

He grins and shakes his head. Just as Peyton leans forward to kiss him, the nurse walks back in, and she pulls back. The nurse doesn't seem to care that she had interrupted them.

"Okay, so your hearing is perfect, the bleeding happened because you hadn't heard anything since you were nine years old, and it was a shock when you were able to hear perfectly. We suggest you wear earplugs for a few days and gradually get your ears used to hearing again. We've also referred you to a otolaryngologist who specializes in hearing, just to make sure everything is alright in there. Here's her card, I've already made you an appointment for tomorrow morning but feel free to change it." She hands him a small business card for a doctor called Lindsey Sanders.

"Do you know how he's suddenly able to hear, even though you didn't complete his surgery?" Peyton asks.

The nurse shakes her head.

"They're calling it a miracle," she says, and Jack swears she sounds bitter.