Mudculber (bunker stories #3)

Brogan learns sign language

Brogan’s hearing was damaged when he was six by a older kid who did band next door to when Brogan did dance, the kid thought it would be funny if he blew his trombone as loud as he could right in his ear, but after Brogan could see people laughing but it was very faint, he was so scared he started to cry, after that incident the kid was kicked out of the band and Brogan stopped dancing cause of his hearing loss, ever since the accident, my father had paid every single doctor to see if there was anyway to get his hearing back, repair the hearing nerves or at least stop the damage from going any farther into with his hearing loss, but there was nothing they could do to save his ability to hear. Ever since than, his hearing had been leaving slowly ever since, I was only an infant when his hearing got damaged, I have never talked to Brogan when his hearing was not damaged, I guess I should say, I’ve always had to raise my voice or shout for him to hear me. Brogan does feel bad that he never got to hear mine or Aiden’s voice, when we’re talking normally but there was nothing he could he do to change that. Besides our voices don’t change tone when it gets louder, but of crouse for him, he still feels bad. One day I heard a knock on the door, my father was in the warm shower and my brother was still sleeping peacefully in his bed since it was only 10:00 AM so I didn’t answer it. I then heard a familiar knock and than a little boy’s voice say. “Kat, let’s go, come on, baby girl!” I opened the door to see a boy who was five, the same age as me, his older brother, Cal and a pretty blonde haired girl probably 3 years older than me. The two boys I had known since I was young me and Aiden would play together as Cal and Brogan would hang out. Cal was a tall boy with dirty blonde curly hair with blue eyes, Aiden was average height with blonde curly hair and dark blue eyes, they were both in jeans, Cal had a grey T-shirt on showing his olive skinned smooth arms with is visible veins and the scar on the inside of his left elbow from a construction accident. Aiden had a red T-shirt on with a black sweater unzipped with the word “GAP” split in half from the zipper. The Girl had long healthy blonde hair and dark brown eyes, she was in tights and a long purple under amour Lind sleeve shirt, She looked at me with confusion in her gorgeous face. “Are you home alone?” She said in the sweetest voice I had ever heard. I shook my head and said. “My brother is sleeping and my father is in the shower.” she then looked inside. “Is this the Similar’s residence?” I nodded. She came down to my level. “Hi, my name is Jasper Camelot, I’m here to teach your family how to learn sign language because of your brother’s accident, do you remember what happened?” I nodded saying quietly. “Yeah, I remember, My family doesn’t like to talk about it though.” She smiled and nodded saying. “Okay, I’m sorry, can I come in?” I nodded letting her in as Aiden ran in and Cal called after him saying. “Aiden, at least try to be quiet!” Cal messed up my head. “Hey kitten!” He said making his way to the kitchen. Kat is a nickname

Brogan made for me when I was little but the Danarooters have always have their own nick name for me. My father then walked out in to the living room with half of his face shaved. “Aiden is here, isn’t he?” I nodded. my father looked to his left. “And Cal is in the kitchen.” Cal looked at them. “I don’t know why but the food always tastes better at your house. Aiden then ran out of the hallway. “That kid knocked on the bathroom door for at least 15 seconds before I was about to open it. Brogan then walked out of his room. “Aiden’s here is Cal here too?” He said yawning with his bathrobe around him as he was in pyjama pants. Jasper said. “I really like that kid.” And made some hand gestures with her hands. My father said. “Oh! You must be here to teach brogan sign language.” Jasper nodded and signed everything she said. “Yes, I’m here to teach your son, Brogan sign language, now I heard he hasn’t lost all his hearing.” My father nodded. “Yeah, but we have to shout for him to hear us.” Jasper nodded and signed as she was talking. “Does he know any signing?” my father nodded. “From videos he’s been watching and books I’ve got him from the library or brought them off online.” Jasper nodded and said. “Can I talk to you and…” she turned to me and looked at me for about seven seconds and finally then said. “I’m sorry sweetheart, I can’t remember your name.” I smiled and replied. “It’s Karissa” Jasper nodded and said “you and Karissa in the kitchen?” my father nodded.

We all sat down. She started to speak. “So we are going to have to teach Brogan how to sign the way he learned how to sign.” My father looked at her confused. “You mean just wait until he does it?” Jasper shook her head. “No, I learned sign language when I was young because of my parents so we’re going to teach him the same way I learned.” we both looked at her interested. She continued. “Babies learn how to talk because everyday they hear their parents talk and a lot of the time their first word is “mama” or “dada” because that’s what the parents usually say. With Brogan it’s going to the same just a little bit different. I’m going to teach you a lot of the signs and when you talk I recommend you sign what you’re saying, eventually it will help Brogan understand what’s going on.” after Jasper taught us for 3 weeks Brogan was learning a lot of sign language. One day I invited Jasper over for my birthday party. Cal and Aiden were coming and than a couple of my friends were coming too. Brogan also invited an old friend named Tony Marks who I knew pretty well, he was training to be a guard so I don't see him that often anymore but if he’s in my station we always wave to each other, but other than those people and kids no one else was coming to my party. Jasper came soon after I called her to come over to my house, when she knocked on the door she looked at me and said. “You know if you forget a sign I don’t have to come over to show it to you, you can google it, or text me, right?” it didn’t seem like she was asking a question it sounded more like she was making a point. But I nodded anyways and said. “I know, I invited you to my birthday party.” Jasper was shocked. “Oh! Um… I don’t have a gift for you.” I laughed and smiled saying. “That’s all good! I just wanted you to come.” she smiled and I let her in. me and Aiden were fascinated by Jasper even if she was only two years older than us she remembered the world a lot better than we did. She told us about the sun and clouds she remembered seeing, and how the flowers would bloom in March and April. She also had a album of when her and her uncle would go to her collage and go fishing, hiking and mountain biking. Aiden would always ask her questions about the world and what it looked like at dust or dawn and the seasons and so many other things and he never ran out of questions he would write it down in a little note book, he probably had at least 35 two years after we met Jasper.

I really became close with Jasper in the bunker. When my father had enough of us, we would go to Jasper’s dorm but of course our favourite place was the freezer we would grab our sweaters and race the other kids there. We had met a kid named Guy there from dairy station. A while later a little child who’s name was Lisa walked in she was only 4 at the time but, Man! She was so damn cute! After the freezer was shut down from us, Jasper, me and Aiden would run down the the hallways playing in all the stations of course if we were planning of going to the defection station to bring a pocket or switch knife and keep it open in your pocket.

After a while Jasper finally told us she lived in the armoury station. I didn’t love she lived with the people that were responsible for my mother’s death, but I know she didn't get to choose her dad was a cop back when he was on earth and than quit being a cop two weeks after being down here. Her dad didn’t really know us, her mom liked her though, she had a big house, we would go to her house mostly unless we wanted to go play video games at Aiden’s house but if we were hungry we'd book it to my house. Having Jasper around didn’t just help me get a friend, it helped Brogan get use to the new language he was learning and how he was going to communicate in the bunker. Brogan spend most of his time reading about mudculber aside from learning sign language, Jasper every now and then would bring a book or two about mudculber, he loved getting them and would always return them when he had finished reading and copying some notes down, that’s how he became a researcher for mudculber and finding a way to get back to the surface. A lot of time we would go to Aiden’s house and play Minecraft, Rocket League, Skylanders or Fortnite on his Xbox, of course if we ever played a game in teams it was always girls against boys. Me and Jasper, against Aiden and Cal. Before we knew Jasper, it would be Similars against Danarooters. Me and Brogan against Aiden and Cal but Brogan isn’t good at video games. Jasper was like an older sister to me and Aiden, she would team up with Brogan and Cal saying that me and Aiden would definitely get married when we grew up. But of course I fought back saying she would get married to Aiden, unfortunately for Aiden, he didn’t have anyone to ship me and Jasper with and he knew I wasn’t gay and we thought Jasper was straight including her but that changed when she became a teenager. Brogan really liked Jasper and so did Cal, Jasper taught Cal some sign languages too. Of course Cal didn’t know all of it but it helped him communicate with Brogan. When Brogan got his frist job Jasper helped him find a translator to help him communicate with his coworkers, of course he chose a job where he didn’t have to talk to much, even if it wasn’t his dream job, it paid well and he enjoyed it. After Brogan got his own place Jasper became a part of mine and Aiden’s little duo group. Which turned into a trio after she joined. I don’t remember the last time me and Aiden called out group a duo, it’s been a trio for a long time, and I like hanging out with Jasper, even if she’s a couple years older than me and Aiden.