Lonely People

Revolution Lost

"We don't know if it's permanent or not," the doctor explained, "Only time will tell."

Molly and I wanted to stay at the hospital with Janice, but Ellen wouldn't let us. She forced us back to the hotel, leaving Peter alone with Janice. We were allowed to come back the next morning. All of us stood in the hall, listening to the doctor as he gave us the worst news possible.

"She can't talk either?" I asked.

The doctor sighed, "In cases like this, the patients can learn to talk again, with time."

"Do you know what caused it?" Ellen asked.

"Unfortunately, no," the doctor answered, "We're running several tests; blood samples, dna samples, etc. We theorize she had an infection, but we don't know what."

Peter wrung his hands together, "How long until she can leave?"

"We would like to keep her a few days for observation and more tests."

"Thank you, doctor," Ellen sighed.

The doctor nodded before hurrying off to his next patient. All of us stood there in complete silence for what felt like forever. Nobody knew what to say, because there was nothing to say. We could all grieve what Janice had lost, but it would do no good. There was nothing we could do but be there for Janice in the time she needed us the most. 

"I'm going to go talk to her," I said.

Molly nodded, "I'm going too."

"How?" Peter asked, "She can't hear you or respond."

I spun around to the nearest chair and picked up the thing I brought with me, "That, Peter, is why I brought my handy dandy notebook. She can't talk, but she can write."

Molly and I hurried into the room. Peter was about to follow, but Ellen stopped him. Janice, Molly, and I had several things to talk about. None of us wanted to, but we knew we had no choice.

Janice was sitting up in her bed, snapping her fingers by her ears. When she saw us, she opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out. Molly and I each sat on either side of her. Molly smiled as I wrote down the first thing I had to say.

How are you feeling?

I handed the notebook to Janice and let her read it. Her eyes scanned over the paper before she took the pen from me and scribbled her response. Her handwriting next to mine looked like The Queen standing next to a hobo, with mine being the latter. My writing was all jumbled and crooked in various sizes and misspellings. Her stood up straight with the poise of a royal.

Better. What's going on? Why can't I hear anything?

I took a deep breath and showed Molly what Janice had written. Molly pursed her lips, gazing at me and silently telling me to continue. I wrote as neatly as possible.

The doctor's don't know why or how this happened. Whatever happened took your hearing. They don't know if it's permanent or not.

Janice read over my explanation and choked back a sob. Molly moved to where she could hold Janice as the girl sobbed. I felt my heart break even more as I took in the scene. The girl I thought of as a baby sister had lost one of the most important things to her. It was a fate worse than death, especially for a musician. Janice's entire existence was about to be rewritten. Everything she was, everything she was going to be, was changed.

"I'm so sorry," Molly whispered, her lips moving across Janice's temples.

I reached forward to hold Janice's hands in mine. She looked at me, her eyes broken and lost, and continued to sob. Her cries echoed through the room, providing us with a tearful soundtrack to a gloomy moment.