The Sound of a Heartbreak. (BOOK 2)

1. "Be like Kate"

HERO

"Did you turn it on?" I asked Jordan, who had the controler in his hands.

He put his index finger in the air telling my to wait, while I adjusted the little metallic mechanical beans in my ears.

"You know you don't have to wear goggles, right? We're not playing with chemicals" I told him rolling my eyes, but he ignored me. Jordan will always be Jordan.

He pressed something else in the controller and then gave me the thumbs up. 

I closed my eyes and waited. 

I waited for Jordan to speak. I waited to to hear his voice.

I waited to hear anything. I didn't care what.

But when a few minutes passed and the only thing I could feel was complete silence I opened my eyes again taking the beans off my ears.

"Did it work?" Jordan signed to me, a hopeful smile on his face.

I shook my head.

He patted my shoulder.

"Don't worry about it. It'll work next time" Jordan smiled.

"No, it won't" I said cassually, signing at the same time.

"Hey, hey" he stood in front of me grabbing my shoulders. "Don't give up, yet"

"We've been trying the same techinc for four years, Jordan. And I still can't hear a thing!"

"Four years isn't that long. Other scientists are trying for decades!" 

"She won't be waiting for me for decades, though!" I screamed.

I saw his chest move up and down in a sigh as he let his hands fall from my shoulders. 

"You are still doing this for her?" he signed. I could see the look of disaproval on his face. "I thought this was for you! I thought you wanted to hear!"

"I do, goddamn it!" I ran my hands through my hair in frustration. My lips tremebled as I thought about the only person that was giving me the slightest of hope in life.

"It's been ten years since you last saw her. Get over it already, Hero!" 

Ten years since I last saw her.

Jo.

The thought of where she was and what she was actually doing was keeping me awake every night. Every night before I went to sleep I kept saying to myself that I was going to wake up the next day and try my best only for her. So I could fullfill the promise I gave her when she left me in that cold beach that day.

I said that I'd find a way to hear again and that I'd go back to find her, so I could hear her voice.

I got shivers even thinking about it.

Sometimes I even stayed up all night imagining how exactly would it sound and then I slept with a smile on my face as I dreamed of her.

After I finished med school I went to college again so I could learn about medical machines. And after that I started my research on legal deaf people. People like me.

But so far I had no luck.

I pushed Jordan back slightly, looking at him straight in the eye.

"I promised her" I gritted my teeth. 

He muttered something I couldn't catch completely. I only caught something like 'doesn't remember you'

"Why are you talking about me, Jordan? You are still hang up on Asher since high school!"

"I have higher chances than you" he crossed his arms.

"He is married!" I exclaimed. "To a girl!"

He rolled his eyes and we both left the lab.

That night when I laid in bed I couldn't sleep. 

Was I really wasting my time thinking of Jo?

I promised her I was going to find her. She promised me we were going to see each other again. 

It's been ten years.

Without thinking I took my copy of The Next Together and opened it in a random page. Jo always kept comparing us to Kate and Matt and I never really understood why. They are so much more badass than us.

I laughed as I read some of their married couple notes. I haven't touched the book in a while. The pages were now wrinkled and the corners were yellow. Dust covered the cover. 

As I turned the page something fell on my lap. I closed the book and took the piece of paper in my hands.

My eyes widened.

I like you.

It was the note Jo has given me when she admitted her feeling for me, in the small beach back home.

I almost started crying but I kept it together.

I examined the note for about ten minutes. I laughed at her handwriting, espessially at the e that she always kept writing like ε but I never told her anything about her. 

I folded the note ready to put it back and the book when I noticed something on the back.

Be like Kate.

This handwriting wasn't hers. It was mine. I remember writing it the nigh after Jo left.

I hate to admit it but I cried. And then I remember the exact words Jo told me before she left.

"Be like Kate. Come find me. Follow me to Australia"

Kate didn't hesiatate to leave her daughter behind to go and take the love of her life from prison. She didn't wait until her kid was old enough, she didn't think about losing her life.

She just went ahead to find Matt.

But I didn't do that.

I stayed. I stayed. I took care of my future.

"Fucking idiot!" I muttered to myself slapping my forehead.

I don't care if I still I can't hear. I need to find her. 

So I stood up, put my things in a suitcase and left.

"What the fuck are you doing here? It's two in the morning, Hero!" Jordan barely put his hand up to sign, sleepily. I assumed he said something like that.

"I'm going to Australia and since you are my partener I need you to come with me" I signed. 

His blue eyes widened.

"You are crazy. Are you high? Drunk?"

"I'm an idiot" I said going inside his apartment. "I did the wrong thing. Now I need to go there and take Jo out of prison"

"She's in fucking prison?" 

I shook my head.

"No! It's a metaphor. Fuck, I just need to go there! Like, right now"

He seemed to think about it for a second.

"Ugh, you owe me your life, man"

"What about a cute Australian guy?" 

He rolled his eyes, a smile on his face.

"You son of a bitch, I'm in"