Switching Paths

I jerked awake, sweat trickling down my face. I was absolutely terrified and I could hardly breathe in my swelteringly stuffy bed. My chest was constricting, my heart about to break out of my chest. Hurriedly, I calmed myself down, breathing in and out, reminding myself that it wasn’t real. I was okay. But it wasn’t working, and I could still feel its hot breath on my neck, and those fierce, black eyes. Every word I said to myself never helped, considering I couldn’t actually hear them. All I ever hear is a dull buzz, since I was born. In the end, I willed myself to stay calm, false hope flowing through me.

Checking the time, I realised my dad was going to come in to wake me up in 10 minutes, so I decided to wake up anyway. After two minutes, I reluctantly dragged myself out of bed and tiredly shuffled towards my walk in wardrobe. I scavenged my draws for something to wear and hastily put it on, while fluffing up my hair. I’d decided on a skater shirt and some blue jeans, with a NRL Cowboys flip back hat. It seemed pretty appropriate for my first day of my new school, which is good. Even though my stomach was twisting so hard I could barely function.

When I was 3 months old, I was medically diagnosed as deaf. Life at first was harsh, but with the help of my family and friends, things worked well and slowly got better. Well, it was ok, until my dad got a new job application and we had to move. I had wished endlessly that it wasn’t true, that we were still staying in our home town, but 2 weeks later, we had already made our move to Druslank, a shiny new city that was ‘perfect for work conditions’. At least, that’s what the brochure said.

I felt a quick tapping on my shoulder and whipped around, seeing my dad frantically sign to me. ‘Nick, the school bus is here’. I swore under my breath and raced to the kitchen, snatching an apple and racing outside, bag in hand. As I raced to the bus, I grabbed out my bus card and two dollars, flashing my card at the driver and hastily handed him the two dollars. I walked to one of the free seats and breathed a sigh of relief, waiting for that familiar vibration of the bus starting up. My stomach flipped, and I knew it wasn’t bus sick, but I pushed on and tried to think about the positives, instead of what felt like impending doom.

***

The school was actually smaller than I thought it would be, to be completely honest. I thought it would be huge and sprawling, but it looked like a primary school building. Still, standing in front of the crowd of teenagers spilling in and watching them talk to each other, it made me feel a bit worse, knowing that I could never have a normal conversation with someone. While I walked into the building, I noticed all of the posters on the walls, the hidden graffiti and the stickers that you would see every now and then. I smiled to myself, thinking how I might just be able to ease my way through. Until I slammed into a girl standing right in front of me.

Understandably, she immediately started to yell, at least I think she was, and she was motioning at her dropped stuff on the floor, which her friend was picking it up for her. The knots in my stomach tightened, and all I could think was, ‘oh no oh no oh no’. Mid panic, I realised that she thought I could hear her, and was still rambling on. I quickly shook her and motioned at my ears, signing that I couldn’t hear, in case she knew sign language. She looked confused at first, but then realisation flew across her face and she looked ashamed. At first, it looked like she wanted to say something, but then she moved out of the way and I continued onto class. I scanned around for room number 56, making sure to not bump into anyone again. Eventually, after many dodgings and a bubbler break, I arrived at the classroom. My heart started thumping again and I felt that familiar feeling of my chest constricting. Willing myself had no effect, this was too much for me to handle. Just as I was about to completely freak out, I felt someone tap my shoulder.

I turned around to see a petite looking girl with blonde girls and emerald green eyes, and a stokier looking, darker skinned, boy with chocolate brown hair and light brown eyes. The boy signed to me, ‘Hello, I’m James, and this is Missy. I know sign language but Missy doesn’t, so she wanted me to ask you if you were ok? We saw you start to freak out and came over to check on you. We were also there when you bumped into Diana.’ I smiled feebly and signed back that I was okay, and I was just a bit nervous. I also let them know that I was deaf, which was why I wasn’t able to hear them. They asked if I was in this class and I replied yes, so we walked in together.

Sitting down, I felt a bit better, knowing that I now had James and Missy on my side. I smiled properly this time, thinking to myself, ‘Maybe it will be better this time. I guess I was a bit worried for nothing’. My heart lifted and I instantly knew that I was going to be okay! Mum would be so proud of me!

I am going to add some more in a bit, but it will take some time. I have been writing this story for a while.