Hush

THREE

The next day, Ruby was awake bright and early, ready to take on the day. But her limited movement capabilities prevented her from doing much except washing her face before collapsing back onto the bed.

When a nurse knocked and entered the room with her breakfast tray at exactly 8:06 it was accompanied by a sheet of paper that looked suspiciously like her school timetable. Sure enough, it was labeled with scheduled times for different sessions across the week with different focuses and priorities. In an hour she was scheduled for a hearing test and a hearing aid fitting if they deemed it helpful to her. Until that was sorted, she had the rest of the day to herself for no one was yet quite willing to test how much sound they could withstand if she could not yet hear herself.

Every deafening attempt she had made at talking over the last week or so had been so disjointed due to the fact that she could not figure out the noises separate from her own mind, no words had successfully formed except for the easier and more recognisable words such as 'hello' and 'bye'. It pained Ruby with every attempt at talking because she knew the sounds existed and she was capable of such words but as they left her mouth she was all the more unsure of herself.

The examiner greeted her with a grin and a handshake before diving head first into the examination since the usual small talk took nearly as long as the session.

It was a tedious affair and the device the examiner had stuck behind and on her ears was uncomfortable and left her fidgeting throughout the majority of the process. She pushed the button in her hand every time she thought she could hear something, although she managed to convince herself that it was simply a figment of her imagination. Each blip in her mind was a ghost of the life she once led.

By the end of the session the examiner began to speak to himself about the next steps but she could hear his muffled sounds and could see on his lips that her results were promising before dismissing her.

As the day passed by, she navigated the halls in her wheelchair, far more used to travelling by herself now. The ringing assisted her wherever she went and muffled the footsteps and conversations of SHIELD agents that parted around her like a ship in the ocean. No one so much as looked at her without a hint of apprehension, wondering when her next outburst would be. And she couldn't help but feel lonely.

She strolled the halls by herself.

She took the lift by herself.

She conversed with herself- her thoughts unusually quiet behind the ringing.

Manoeuvring through one of the lower levels she happened across a glass wall, through which she could see a familiar agent sparring against a dummy weighted to the floor of the training room. Auburn was panting heavily, sweat coating her forehead and plastering her baby hairs to her forehead as she punched and kicked the dummy. Ruby leaned forward and knocked on the window but Auburn didn't pay her any attention. Rapping her knuckles against the glass louder, the agent looked up and smiled briefly in acknowledgement. It wasn't until Ruby stood from the wheelchair did she move to open the door.

Face to face, Ruby hesitated. She knew exactly what she wanted but Auburn wasn't wearing mufflers and she couldn't risk speaking. Raising her fists meekly, she punched at the air.

Auburn's face softened, it felt almost pitying and Ruby shook her fists this time which made the agent laugh and beckon her in. Leaving the wheelchair by the door, Ruby wandered to the middle of the room where Auburn had been before, giddy with anticipation. She tried not to move for fear of over-exerting herself immediately.

The agent stood in front of her, hands on hips and squaring up the teenager in front of her. In silence, she carefully positioned Ruby in front of the dummy before standing nearby and demonstrating the stance she takes to go in for a punch. It took a few attempts but Ruby succeeded in eliciting a proud smirk from Auburn. Then, Auburn slowly twisted her body and landed her fist on the dummy and watched as Ruby imitated in a much more rushed manner. Her technique was off and far too rushed to be perfect but upon correction she was good to go.