Gone in a Moment, Never to Return

It was just a simple ear infection. That was what she had been told. It was common and very easy to deal with. But yet, what came from the infection was not.

Yukina had no idea what happened. She had felt fine that night when she had gone to bed. And yet, that morning, her world came crashing down.

She woke up not to her alarm, but to someone shaking her. Yukina blinked up at them. Lisa was there. Yukina wasn’t sure why she was in her room.

Lisa started speaking, and that's when everything came crashing down. Yukina couldn't hear anything. She saw Lisa talking, saw her mouth moving, but no sound came to her. Was she dreaming? No. This felt too real to be just a simple dream.

"I… I'm not feeling well…" Yukina stammered, "I'd like to be alone."

Lisa frowned. She tucked some of Yukina's hair behind her face and spoke again. Yukina could only try and guess what she was saying. It helped that she knew Lisa very well. It was obvious she was expressing concern. That was enough for Yukina to work off of to figure out what to reply with.

"I'm fine. You don't need to worry." Yukina said after Lisa stopped.

Lisa said something else and then left the room. Yukina sighed. She felt wetness on her cheeks. A simple touch revealed she was crying.

The crying turned into sobs before long, Yukina having thrown her face into her pillows. She was completely broken. Her entire world had just collapsed.

Her life revolved around hearing. And now that was gone. Stripped away from her in an instant. Her life was over. That was all she could think of. She couldn't continue as a singer. Not if she couldn't hear.

Her dreams had been destroyed. Everything she had aimed for and worked so hard for meant nothing now. Not if she couldn't do it. Yukina pulled out her phone.

She hesitantly texted everyone in Roselia, telling them she was sick and wouldn't be able to make it to practice. She also added that they shouldn't book another session. She knew they wouldn’t question it. They’d just assume she’d get around to doing it. But, that wasn’t going to happen. As far as she knew, that would be the last practice Roselia every booked with their current members.

Everyone wished she would get better soon. Yukina frowned. Why couldn't she just tell them? Why was she hesitating?

Yukina knew why. She was afraid. Afraid of their reactions. After the other incidents of them fighting because of things she had done, Yukina grew wary of saying much about her feelings.

Yukina stared blankly at her phone. Her hand hovered just above the keypad. All she had to do was tell them. At least she wouldn't have to see their reactions. She'd just have to deal with their texts.

Yukina blinked as her phone flashed. Lisa was calling her. Yukina glanced at the time. She didn't realize it had been two hours. Yukina sighed. She let the call go to voicemail.

Yukina looked at the chat. Nothing new had come up. She sighed and turned off her phone. She didn't want to deal with any of them right now.

Yukina winced as she felt her stomach growl. She hadn't eaten at all today. She sighed and got up. She went downstairs. Yukina simply grabbed some cereal.

She curled up on the couch. Yukina turned on the TV, before she remembered. She couldn't hear it. Yukina fumbled with the remote, trying to figure out how closed captions worked.

She struggled, but eventually managed to find them. She muted the TV and then watched. Yukina hated this. Why did she have to suffer like this?

Yukina sighed as she slowly ate her cereal. She couldn’t follow along very well on the TV. She had never been that fast of a reader. She knew this was going to be a struggle. Yukina knew she’d have to go to school again. How was she going to survive?