mute.

one.

-Sunday. February 21st, 1997. 1:39 am-

"Why is she not crying? Is my baby dead?" Erin Peters asks her doctor after giving birth to her first child. Her husband, Walter, holds her hand anxiously.

"I'm not sure." Doctor Scott tells her while he examines their newborn daughter. "She's alive. And as healthy as can be. Let me run some x-rays and tests." One of his nurses takes their baby out to another room in the hospital.

Erin cries silently with her her husband until Dr. Scott comes back an hour later, their baby in hand. The parents sit up quickly, expecting the worst. "Your daughter is perfectly healthy." he hands the child to her mother and she looks down, admiring her baby.

"So what's wrong?" Walter asks, confusion all over his face.

A nurse comes up behind their doctor, holding pictures and x-rays. Pointing at the pictures, Dr. Scott explains, "Mr. and Mrs. Peters, your daughter was born with a rare disability. If you look at her throat in this picture, you see a small gap right here. There are no vocal cords. She will be able to breathe and swallow just fine, she just..." he pauses and looks away from the parent's eyes. "She wont be able to speak."

"She can't... talk? At all? Or even cry or make noise?" Erin cries.

"I'm sorry but. No. Not at all. But there is a surgery she can go through when she's older. I'll show you the papers when she gets a little older."

The Peters exchange glances. "Anything for our daughter." Walter smiles sadly.

"What should we name her, honey?" Erin smiles with happy tears in her eyes. "She's beautiful."

"Emily? Natalie?" Walter suggests. "Those are the names we came up with."

"No. I don't think so. Lets name her Macy."

"Hm? I love it." her husband smiles.

"Hi Macy, baby. Since you wont be able to answer me, I'll be able to tell you whatever you want and you'll have to listen. So here's the first thing I'll tell you. Welcome to our family, honey."

-Wednesday. April 9th, 2014. 11:30 am-

I blink.

"Macy, do you have the answer for number eleven?" the substitute asks again. The class snickers and the sub just stares. It like he's staring into my soul. "Ms. Peters, so you have the answer?" I shake my head slowly and he moves on. "Mr. Endes-"

I roll my eyes and look down at my Math notebook. Advanced Algebra 2. Fun stuff right here. You would think the teachers would leave a note about me in their checklist, but I guess not. I look at the clock above the chalkboard and count down the seconds until class ends. The last minute ends and I stand up, grab my bag, and bolt out of the classroom. The sub shoots me a glare as I leave, and I smile politely at him. He ignores me and starts to talk to another student. I shove my way through the large hallways towards me locker. Maple is already waiting for me.

I take out my whiteboard, "Death sub in math". I show her and she nods. She's got the same math teacher as I do the class after Lunch. "I heard you got called on in math?" she asks, concerned.

"The sub didn't realize why I couldn't answer. No big deal. How'd you know?" I write after opening my locker. I switch my books out for the next class and grab my lunch.

"I heard some girls laughing about it when they came out of your class. I'm sorry." She tells me while we walk to the lunch room to meet Angel. I smile towards her and she shrugs, "Bitches, man. That's what they all are." I laugh and squeeze my way through the Junior hallway. I give a small stare to Kevin as I pass and he smiles. Every girl has a crush right? He used to be in my English class last semester, and we talked a lot. I have his number. But after semesters changed, we don't talk anymore. He wasn't popular, so he was actually sweet to me. He never asked what was wrong with me or why I didn't talk. I guess that's why I liked him. But we don't talk anymore, so I moved on.