When They Call My Name

A Little Different

Silence was a dichotomous thing. It was relaxing to some, distressing for others. There was peace and quiet, but there was also awkward silences. If you asked different people what it meant to them, some would paint you a serene picture of early mornings, gentle rain, and cuddling under a blanket with a good book. Others would describe stressful, anxiety ridden spirals that can't be drowned out.

Silence was one of those things that meant different things to different people.

But to some, it was nothing more than reality.

Andy Biersack loved the quiet because silence was all he's ever known. Well, not quite. He was four when he lost his hearing. Too young to remember what anything sounds like though he felt like he could somewhat recall his mother's voice, sadly there was no way of confirming that.

He had gotten very sick, and during the night, his fever had spiked to 106 degrees. His parents had gotten him to the hospital, but even the doctors struggled to bring his temperature down in a timely manner. By the time he left that hospital, his hearing was gone.

Doctors said that his cochlea was severely damaged from the extreme fever. He was too young to really understand what that meant or really process why he couldn't hear anymore. It was a struggle to cope with it. Andy's poor parents barely survived the meltdowns of a young boy unable to understand why everything was quiet now.

Andy essentially had to relearn how to do everything. He relearned how to speak, but to this day he is far too self conscious to use his voice around people he didn't know unless they were clients. He's been told that he was lucky because he didn't sound deaf. Andy didn't really know what that meant. Was it supposed to be a compliment? Being told that he didn't fit a stereotype for his disability never sat right with him.

It was like people were telling him that he was lucky that others wouldn't assume he was disabled. It felt more like an insult, just ableist bull shit that Andy has dealt with for so long.

Andy turned to drawing to cope with everything going on in his life, and turned it into a career.

Andy became a tattoo artist straight out of high school. It was artistic, and therapeutic. Drawing had been his escape from the crushing loneliness he felt as a child.

Being deaf was painfully isolating at times. In school, no one wanted to be friends with the weird kid that didn't talk and 'flapped' his hands around with an adult that followed him everywhere. Trevor was his interpretator until he got confident with speaking and reading lips. He was a twenty-two year old grad student that did shadowing on the side for extra cash. For a long time, he was Andy's only friend.

It was sad that a grown man was the only friend Andy had as a child, but not incorrect. Trevor was like a big brother to him, and always watched out for him.

It wasn't all bad though, Andy did eventually make friends.

He felt a rhythmic thudding under his palms on the table suddenly. Andy looked up in confusion. He saw his friend and business partner, Juliet standing there, hand resting on the table where she had obviously been knocking to get his attention.

"What do you want to eat, dick face?" She signed with a smile. Juliet was a stunning woman with long, blonde hair and delicate tattoos trailing up and down her body.

"Food." He signed back, grinning when she flipped him off. Juliet was a brilliant and beautiful tattoo artist and part time musician. He's been told she has a beautiful voice. Sadly, he would never get to experience it, but he loved feeling the vibrations of her guitar whenever she played it.