But it could happen.
It happened to me.
“How is a boy so young that has no sound at all?” a man said.
His voice bounced off the glass.
“Show me,” he shouted. “Fight.”
I didn’t move.
I couldn’t.
Warmth spread down my legs. I peed myself and lay there in it, unable to move. I was afraid. So afraid.
If they died like that, would I die like that too? Would I see them again? Mom said good people go to heaven.
What if I wasn’t good?
What if I will never see them again?
I started to sob. Tears streamed down my face.
The man laughed. “Pathetic,” he said.
His hand slammed against the glass. I flinched so hard my neck burned where the collar was. He walked around the cage, clapping against the walls again and again, until my sobs broke louder now.
The collar flashed red, and pain came again.
My eyes closed.
The man won.
They called himthe Silenceron the news. Now I know what it meant.
“Man, I am sorry,” Nico says as he crouches to clean up the spilled sauce and broken glass.
He glances at me, then signs.Sorry.
You know ASL?I sign.
My mom is deaf,he signs back.
I hesitate, then sign again.Why didn’t you say anything before?
He shrugs. “I thought you were just a weirdo, man. You know how many weirdos I’ve met?”
You’re weird now,I sign. The alcohol makes my eyes drift, the room slightly off balance.
“I figured you couldn’t talk when I saw you signing to Carmen,” he signs.
I laugh again,Funny, because she has no idea how to sign.
For a long time, I thought having friends would always be limited for me because most people don’t know how to talk to me. They try at first, then give up on me, treating me like a lost cause. But now I know I can finally have a conversation that doesn’t end with just me.
My eyes are closing, my head falling back.
“You don’t look good,” he laughs, watching me too closely.
