Cocoa Under The Sky

Chapter 2: Knight of Swords

Jude was familiar with the beep in his ear just as much as he was familiar with the face of the man that sat on the other end of the glass window. The teen sat in the booth with a remote in his hand. The procedure the same as always, "Press the button when you hear a sound."

He always felt like he was in charge of detonating missiles, the different beeps in his ears being the go-ahead, or even launching a rocket.

"Go ahead Huston" he pretended to hear a voice say.

"Launch," he would whisper in his head as his imagination showed him a vision of a rocket lifting off, his thumb pushing down that red button. He wondered what it would be like to be in space, even with the notion that it would be boring.

His peripheral vision caught a wave, and he turned his head to the doctor. A gentleman he always saw in the light of a grandfather. Wire glasses, with a partially bald partially full head of grey hair, and a round friendly face when not stressed.

'The beeps will change now' he signed, 'same as usual. Remember you'll hear different frequencies.'

'Thanks,' Jude smirked, 'Didn't know.'

The doctor's lips parted with laughter as he shook his head, 'Cheeky.'

The teen smiled, and they continued the process with the beeping machine within the booth.

Not long after the door in front opened and Jude smiled. The headphones were slid off. 'Any different?'

'Well let's slip into the Audio Cave.'

Jude rolled his eyes good-heartedly, and looked down at his worn out Bat-Man shirt. "Funny, Doc."

Following the doctor into his office, he sat at the chair. He slid on his old hearing aids, leaving the ones that were prescribed on the previous day behind.

"So," he pulled two charts out placing them in front of Jude, "Your right ear is mild and your left is moderate. Your hearing has decreased as you know is normal to happen in your case with your meningitis history and the damage it did."

Jude nodded, watching the changes in his chart.

"So the right decreased by five decibels and the left by seven."

"So instead of both being moderate this time, the left has me a step closer to being Deaf."

Dr. Hurtz nodded. "That said, one of the other reasons the hearing aids are squeaking is because you're raising them to a volume where the frequencies they try to amplify merely clash. Especially when it's already a loud one."

The doctor swiveled in his chair turning to the other side of his L shaped desk and brought over a box. "So that said, here are your proper and customized hearing aids. My assistant only focused on the old data reading, not on the new one I just double checked."

Another nod from Jude and he took off his hearing aids, before sliding on the new set. Grateful that it was a RIC, unlike his previous one that sat like a bulk on the back of his ear and shifted every time he spoke. He settled the main part behind his ear before slipping the receiver into his ear canal.

Sifting to the back he adjusted the volume.

"Sound good?"

"What?"

The doctor's brows scrunched, and concern graced his face.

"I'm just kidding Dr. Hurtz," Jude laughed, "these are a lot better than the others."

"Good."

"Then we're all set," the teen reached for his messenger bag that rested on the chair next to him, but he stopped when he caught the doctor shaking his head.

"What's wrong Jude?"

Jude arched a brow, "What do you mean?"

Dr. Hurtz folded his hands underneath his chin, his elbows resting on his desk, "While you're you, you're not quite you. Is something going on again?"

Jude rested his back on his chair, and stared at the man before him for a moment, knowing very well what he meant by again. This itself was the bad part of the doctor being the family friend who comes over more than not.

So as much as he wanted to, Jude knew he had to say something, and something that was close to the truth more than not, "Do you think I'm an asshole?"

Dr. Hurtz stared for a moment, eyes seeming to analyze the boy before him, and Jude's face deadpanned.

"You have to think about it that long?"

The man laughed, "I'm just teasing. While you're cheeky and sarcastic, I blame that on your mothers. You are not, as you said, an asshole. Why?"

"Just," he trailed off, "wondering."

"Of?"

The boy's brows poised, "There's this guy,"

"Oh," the doctor sang, to which Jude rolled his eyes again.

"And it's not a date or anything, as everyone around me seems to think. He just asked to teach him about the something, but we don't even know each other, and I honestly find it weird that someone would ask a stranger that."

"You're scared that the same thing as before will happen again."

Jude pushed at the bubbling memories and settled for a nod, his eyes resting at the man in front of him.

"I don't want to be afraid my whole life, but I'd be an idiot if I wasn't careful."

"Switching between your room and school isn't really what I call careful, or healthy."

"I go out Denny, I just don't go out with," he could find a word for it.

"New people, you know you haven't made new friends. The only three I know are your childhood friend, Auri, and Aludra."

Jude blushed at the third agent being his dog.

"I'm not saying let your guard down. I know my teenage years taught me not to, but later you also learn that without risk there isn't growth. So what if he's a stranger, you never truly know a person anyways."

Jude's heart jolted, "That last line doesn't really comfort me."

The doctor laughed, "Spend some time doing enjoyable things. You don't know what enjoyable qualities you'll find within every new person you meet. So, live a little"

Jude bit his tongue causing him to wince. His brows threatening to scrunch, a scowl nearly forming on his face. Live a little was officially a blacklisted idiom, the very words making his ears heat up in anger.

He didn't say anything to Hurtz letting him continue his speech.

"No one's path is easy, c'est la vie. But red lights and stop signs don't' stop you forever, and speed bumps only slow you down temporarily. Even mountains can be climbed or flown over. You can do the same with life, obstacles are temporary unless it's death. Fear is temporary unless you don't climb over it."