The world was too damn quiet. I still didn't understand that it was not so quiet for everyone else- I didn't understand the the movements of the mouth that I tried so hard to decipher into words actually produced sound. I didn't understand that everyone had it much, much easier than I did. It didn't really matter, though. Perhaps it was better that I didn't know. Better that I couldn't find myself in a spiraling loop of self-pity, better that I simply tried to make myself better than everyone else to begin with. Without my deafness I figured I'd be much the same, with a desire to do everything and anything to come out on top in the end.
Being without sound I usually found myself wrapped in my own thoughts. It was easy to forget the world existed when you could close your eyes and everything just... disappeared. If I felt overwhelmed, I could simply shut my eyes and I no longer had to deal with others, whoever they may be. Perhaps it was dangerous to be alone with myself for so long, but I had gotten to know myself quite well. Alistair, I knew my name, and I could say it too. There weren't a lot of words I could say yet, but I was learning, slowly. Frustratingly, everyone seemed to be better at speaking than I was.
I wondered where they all found the time to learn. Maybe they stayed up late after I had fallen asleep, and whispered amongst themselves, teaching language to each other, excluding me. The thought filled me with a certain kind of anger that I couldn't quite place, but I didn't have a long time to dwell on the thought as the vibrations of my rambunctious siblings finally roused me.
I opened my eyes and suddenly the world existed again- eliciting a groan from me as I resisted the urge to just go back to sleep. Though I wasn't too concerned with the affairs of my siblings, I was still a child, and curious children were. I rolled onto my side only to see Alexander's rump disappearing towards the entrance of the den. My tail gave a few curious thumps against the den floor and I grinned. Finally, we were going to be a little daring. I pushed myself to my feet, scampering in the direction of my siblings.
Yet as I exited the den, the light blinding and positively loud, I realized that I was not simply surrounded by my siblings. Strange faces stared at me and I stared right back with a piercing white gaze. Of course I couldn't make eye contact for long because I had to focus on their mouths and deciphering speech took up most of my concentration. The white one started to speak and I only understood some of what he said until his introduction. Pan-zer. That was easy enough. I cast a glance towards Alexander and he introduced himself and Ankh.
"I'm Alistair." I said in a slow, monotone voice that sounded very out-of-place compared to the rest of the pups. Words felt so strange on my tongue, but I had spoken the latter two often enough that they were at least slightly familiar. It would be hard, I thought, to keep track of so many different words from so many different mouths, but I could handle it, surely.
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