Emma's eyes slowly opened, blinking a couple times so she could see the room clearly. The room was clearly familiar, but she should have heard the humming of the air conditioner, and the pitter-patter of raindrops on the metal roof of the building.
That doesn't mean that Emma didn't hear it. It just meant that to her, everything was muffled, as if she was underwater.
On top of that, her head hurt.
A lot.
She didn't understand why or how this happened, since she had no recollection of the night before. She just knew that one moment, she was walking with Ray through the forest, and the next, she had blacked out and awoken in her bed.
Though it was muffled, Emma could still hear the familiar creak of her door opening, and her head perked up to see a familiar
figure enter her room.
Ray.
The only person she had ever felt completely safe around besides her old friend Norman.
Also the only person that she had fallen in love with.
"Hey, can you hear my voice?" Ray asked calmly.
Emma nodded. "It's a bit muffled, but yeah. Why?" She asked, tilting her head. It was even hard for the girl to hear her own trembling voice as tears pooled in her emerald eyes.
Ray sighed, looking down at the floor as his hands started to shake.
"Emma... Do you remember what happened?"
Just then, a flood of memories began to push into her brain.
They were in the forest, and were just talking when a demon appeared in front of them. Emma's eyes widened in shock, and she aimed her pistol at the demon's eye, which was its weakness, when all of a sudden, a loud ringing began to echo in her ear, causing her to fall to the ground as tears filled her vision. She impulsively fired the pistol, luckily it killed the demon and caused it to fall over before fading away...
Her vision blocked out after that.
Emma's eyes widened.
No wonder her world was quiet.
It was because Emma was losing her hearing.
"Did the demons cause my hearing to...?" She trailed off.
To her dismay, Ray solemnly nodded.
"I'm so sorry... If I hadn't stopped to talk.... This wouldn't have happened..." His gaze met the bedroom floor, tears pooling in his dark eyes.
Emma got up out of bed, walking over to Ray and gently grabbing his hands.
"Hey... It wasn't your fault, Ray. Neither of us knew that the demon was gonna do that."
Ray growled lowly. "But I should've known that stopping in the middle of the forest like that was dangerous... I was foolish. We were sitting ducks! Well, standing ducks in our case. Besides, we're already down to one ear each since our escape all those years ago..."
He instinctively reached up towards the bandaged area on the side of his face.
"What if you couldn't hear again? I would never forgive myself I let that happen to you."
Emma gasped quietly. "What if that actually happens!? I mean, my hearing is already deteriorating as we speak!" She clung to his shoulders as fear surged through her body, causing her hands to tremble.
Ray quickly pulled Emma close, wiping the tears from her emerald eyes.
"If that happens, it's a good thing we learned sign language back then, right?"
Emma's gaze met Ray's as she smiled softly.
"I guess it is."
---------
It had been a week since Emma's hearing had started deteriorating. Ray had stayed by her side the entire time, since he knew how tough it was for her. As the week went by, he found himself getting even closer to Emma than he had before.
And then the day came.
Emma awoke to someone shaking her, and she opened her eyes to see Ray with a panicked expression on his face. She could tell that he was saying something, but it was if the world had muted itself.
Emma felt her heartbeat pounding rapidly in her chest. She gripped Ray's shirt tightly, eyes widening as they met his. She wanted to ask him what was wrong, but she already knew in her heart what had happened.
Her hearing was gone.
Emma frantically signed something to him, hoping he understood.
Judging by the expression on Ray's face, he instantly understood.
And he didn't want to face the truth.
Ray quickly signed something back.
'You gotta be kidding me..'
Emma shook her head, signaling that she was not kidding. Tears pricked at her eyes as she gazed into Ray's eyes. She sniffled, knowing that her entire life was going to change forever.
Ray immediately pulled Emma into a tight hug, rubbing circles in her back. He knew how hard this must be for her, to completely lose her hearing just like that. He sat there, letting her sob into his shoulder, not even caring if his outfit got ruined.
After a few minutes of just that, Emma pulled away, wanting to say something.
'What do we do now? I can't hunt anymore... I can't do anything!'
Ray looked at Emma with a calm expression.
'Emma. Look at me.' He began to sign. 'I know that you can't hear anything, and yes, it sucks. Trust me. I get it. But there are still things you can do that don't involve your hearing. You can still hunt demons with me. While it may be a bit more challenging, it's not impossible. I mean, we definitely proved that when we escaped back then...'
Emma nodded in response, her fingers trembling as she signed a reply to Ray.
'I'm scared, Ray... What if something comes after me and you can't warn me in time? What if you die trying to protect me? I don't want that to happen to you...'
Before Ray could sign a reply, Emma's lips were on his, and a warm and fuzzy feeling fluttered in his chest, nearly overwhelming him as he kissed back. As quick as the kiss had occurred, the deaf girl pulled away, smiling sweetly at the dark-haired boy that she had fallen in love with.
Before a flustered Ray could even ask why she had kissed him, Emma signed three simple words.
'I love you.'
Ray nodded, holding Emma's hands in his own. Though he didn't use sign
language, she could tell exactly what his response was just by reading his lips.
"I love you too."
