Budapest » [Clintasha]

Chapter Thirty-Six: Impairment

"I'd like to see Kate," I said politely, nodding like I understood what her nanny had said.

I shifted my weight from foot to foot, awkward where I stood. I toyed with the flowers gripped in my sweaty palms, the green of the stems rubbing off on my palms and the scent of pollen thick in my nostrils; my nose twitching, I resisted the urge to sneeze.

"She'll ... ... ... a moment!" The older woman replied with a beaming grin, her old yellowed teeth bared to me. She turned and called something up the stairs.

Unable to hear the usual racket of Kate darting down the stairs, I waited impatiently for her to emerge. She sauntered up to the door looking unimpressed.

"Go," she said sharply to Maria, their maid, and the old woman bowed her head and scuttled off into the luxurious recesses of the house. "What's that?" Kate snapped, nodding to the weeds and flaccid flowers in my hands.

"Peace offering?" I chuckled dryly, wincing as I offered her the tatty bouquet.

She lurched back at the sight of the plants robbed from the roadside and shook her head. Finally her face broke out into a smile. "You're an idiot." There were few enough words in that sentence for me to follow, and I was used to seeing her say it. "No need ... ... ... offering," she mumbled, her lips hardly moving as she spoke.

"Can I come in, then?" I requested, fidgeting on her porch.

"Leave that ... ... ... my doorstep ... yeah," she replied, taking the bunch of dead plants from my hands and chucking it out onto her front lawn like compost.

She lead me through her house by the hand, her back to me and nattering all the way. Little did she know I couldn't make anything out but the hum of her words.

"Kate-" she didn't turn around and didn't stop yammering. "Kate." I tried again, but she didn't halt her burbling. "Katie!" I raised my voice and finally she turned around with a face like thunder.

"What?!" She exploded, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms defensively. She always hated me calling her Katie - said it made her feel like she was in preschool again.

I choked my words and made an estranged noise in the back of my throat. "Kate, I'm deaf," I admitted for the first time aloud, albeit I couldn't hear myself say it.

"What ... ... ... deaf?" She strung all of the words together.

"You're going to need to slow down, I can't follow what you're saying," I sobbed, tearing up, my body taut with frustration.

"What do you mean you're deaf?" She said so slow it was agonising for me to watch, but I still appreciated the effort.

I shook my head with my lips pressed tight together, gnawing on my lip with self-pity. I looked about, checking if Maria or Eleanor were present and found we were pleasantly alone. "Something happened, Kate. My dad, he-" I gesticulated wildly, trying to explain without saying the words. "-and when he did, he kicked my head and something happened and now I can't hear!" I spluttered, the tears spilling down my cheeks.

"Can you hear me..?" She checked, her words drawn out and relying heavily on gestures to support her words.

"I can't hear much, I'm going on reading your lips..." I replied, a solemn apology written across my face.

Then Kate did something completely unexpected. She threw herself at me and hugged me tight, her face buried in my shoulder and her hand smoothing up and down my spine like I was an agitated animal. Kate had never been overly affectionate, she was an aloof lone wolf; so you could understand my surprise when she squeezed me so tight I was convinced my ribcage would implode.