Her World In Silence

Chapter 1

They say your other senses take over when you're missing one. Your hearing enhances when you have no sight. Your smell enhances when you have no hearing. And so on. That was Dinah's story. She was born without eardrums. When she was a child she had implants to try to correct it, but it still made things very hard for her. The implants helped for a while but her hearing deteriorated as she got older. Now, with the implant she could only hear loud noises, most of everything else was silent.

But, Dinah accepted this. At 34 years old, this was her life. If someone was screaming at her, she could just barely hear them. There were more experimental surgeries available that she qualified for, but she chose not to do any of them. She'd accepted the fact that couldn't hear anything anymore.

Her world in silence was perfect for her. She loved her job. She worked at the North Carolina school for the deaf. Most of her lessons were for young children that were learning sign language for the first time. What she loved the most, was working with brothers and sisters of children that were deaf or hearing impaired. What she also loved, was that to the regular person, she wasn't deaf. Nobody saw her implants when she had her hair down. Catching their reaction when she ran her fingers through her hair always brought a smile to her face. At least over the years, she'd gotten really good at reading lips.

"Hi how are you today?" She read the lips of the barista.

Dinah held up her hand before motioning to her ear and shaking her head. The woman at the counter quickly smiled and nodded before grabbing a menu so Dinah could show her what she wanted.

"Thank you." She signed to her before pointing to what she wanted.

It was the same thing every time she stopped at Starbucks in the morning before work. But it wasn't the same young man that normally waited on her. She stepped off to the side and accepted the small buzzer she was given for when her order came up. Dinah pulled out her phone and looked down at it to read through some of her work emails to see if there was anything she had to be prepared for, for the day. She furrowed her brows when she read an important email about a journalist coming in to meet with some of the teachers after lunch that day.

Working at a school for the deaf tended to bring in some unwanted attention. It made it rough sometimes. They were no different than any other school across the country. It wasn't a private school but the only requirement for students to go there was medical documentation stating they were deaf or hearing impaired. Most students were young, under 10. Once they hit middle school age, the public-school systems were better equipped to help them out.

What Dinah didn't notice, was a young man attempting to talk to her. She didn't notice him because he was behind her and her head was angled down toward her phone. She ran her fingers through her hair and he spotted the cochlear implant behind her right ear. He huffed before leaving her alone. When Dinah finally looked up, she noticed him walking by her, but glancing back. Out of respect, she smiled to him even though she wasn't interested. She looked up when she felt the small device vibrate in her hand.

"Thank you." She signed to the woman before handing the device over to her and picking up her Venti latte and banana nut bread. Dinah tucked her phone away in her purse and got her car keys back out as she walked to her car so she could finish the last few minute drive to the school.

Normani wasn't exactly sure why she'd been sent off to the North Carolina School for the Deaf to do a piece. But, it was her job to write the stories that were assigned to her. It was supposed to be a piece on how wonderful the school was, but she was also a journalist. There was always some underlying tone and reasoning for sending someone on a job.

She checked her time, it was just after 12 p.m. Her time slot was at 12:30 that day. They'd arranged for an interpreter to go around with her as she asked questions. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed her bag and climbed out of her car to head inside so she could check in at the school. As she walked in, she saw a woman waving to what appeared to be her class of kindergarteners. She clapped her hands and waved to get them to hurry, all with a big smile on her face.