Speechless

Embry looked around the lunch table. People were laughing and talking, smiling at him. It was sickening. Embry hated it. He hated how everyone could pretend when it was so obvious that something was wrong. If he could speak, he’d tell them all to go away, that this wasn’t what he wanted. But the fact was, he just couldn’t. Not because of a guilty conscience or regard for other people’s feelings – no. Embry was physically not able to talk.

Of course no one had noticed, up until he reached the age of five and still hadn’t uttered a single word. His concerned parents had taken him to countless specialists that all told them the same thing – Embry would never speak. It was all pretty quick from then on; Embry and his parents were taught sign language as a means of communicating. It wasn’t as if Embry was stupid, he just couldn’t talk.

He was quite an intelligent boy and this was obvious as he picked up sign language at a rapid speed. He did well in school, perfect grades and popular among the other kids. His parents hadn’t sent him to a ‘special’ school, they wanted Embry to be independent and live a somewhat ‘normal’ life. But everyone had known, the teachers had told them to be nice. Embry was sure that they talked about him behind his back. He wished that someone would say what they thought right to his face. He wasn’t deaf, after all.

Now, as he looked around the table, Embry knew that he didn’t belong. Even though everyone tried their best, he knew it wasn’t his place. With that, he picked up his stuff and left. A few of them waved before going back to their conversations and Embry walked away, thinking that if someone would hate him, he’d be happy.

And maybe that didn’t make any sense to anyone but Embry. He didn’t really care. As he pushed through the doors, he ran straight into someone, sending books and papers flying everywhere. Embry immediately dropped to the floor to help retrieve the things he had made the person drop.

As he looked up to hand them their things, he paused. Standing in front of him was a girl and she wasn’t happy. She hand one hand on her hip and the other one out towards him. Embry handed her the papers and she raised her eyebrows.

“Well?” she said. Embry shrugged his shoulders.

“I think you owe me an apology” she said as a prompt.

Embry used his hands to say sorry but the girl obviously didn’t understand.

“What the hell?” she said, before leaving. Embry was stunned. Why hadn’t she been nice?

Before he could stop himself, Embry ran after her, not knowing what had possessed his feet to move in the direction of the girl. When he reached her, he tapped her on the shoulder and she turned around. When she saw it was Embry, she raised her eyebrows. He held up a finger, motioning for her to wait a minute. He rummaged through his bag, pulling out a notepad and pen. The girl waited while he wrote. When he was finished, he handed her the notepad and watched anxiously as she read.

My name is Embry, I’m 17.
I would have apologized, but I can’t talk.
I’m not being stupid and this isn’t some sort of joke, I really can’t.
I guess I was born that way.
Anyway, I’m sorry.

The girl handed the note back to him but her annoyed expression didn’t change.

“If you’re looking for sympathy, you won’t get any from me” she said fiercely. Embry stared at her in disbelief, how could she be so mean?!

Wait...wasn’t this what he had wanted? Someone real?

“By the way, that was the most pathetic attempt of picking up a girl. Seriously ‘I can’t talk’
What is that?”

Embry shrugged.

“Look, little boy, the mute thing isn’t working. Game’s up” she said, waiting for his reaction.
Embry shrugged. This was one of the times when he wished he could talk. He’d tell her that she was completely obnoxious and not worth his time and effort. Or he’d think of something incredibly witty to say right back at her. But when one can’t talk, one can’t be witty, because it takes an awful long time to write things down on paper.

He looked at the girl, studying her profile. She had a great figure and was just a tiny bit shorter than him. She had an angular face and jet black hair, but what really got Embry staring were her eyes. They were unlike any others he’d ever seen. The very darkest concentration of brown, almost black, they were simply astonishing.

“Quit staring, pervert” she said “You’re freaking me out”

Embry shrugged again and the girl let out a huff of frustration before walking off on him for the second time. Sure, he’d never been able to talk, but only now as he stood alone in the hallway, did Embry really know what it felt like to be left absolutely speechless.