White Noise

Prologue

Evie Green ran onto the playground, slowly turning her hearing aids to adjust to the loud sounds and watching as her five-year-old peers climbed onto the jungle bars and slid on the slides. Excitement bubbled in her chest as she looked around the playground, searching for someone to play with. Someone to talk to. She soon spotted a group of boys - no older than 7 - sitting in the corner of the playground, chatting amongst themselves. They seemed friendly enough (and Evie was very excited to finally speak to a second grader), so she approached them.

That was a mistake.

As she came closer to the group of boys, she heard bits and pieces of their conversation - along with some words she didn't quite understand. It sounded like that word her mom would say when she made an accident, but she wasn't quite sure; she'd have to ask her later.

At first - the boys didn't notice her, due to her lack of height and presence, so she tugged on the shirt of the closest one.

The boy slowly turned around with confused blue eyes. He looked down at the small girl who gave him a big smile.

"Hi! I'm Evelyn Green but everyone calls me Evie! I'm hard-of-hearing so please be patient with me!" She chirped, reciting the line her sister taught her.

"What does hard-of-hearing even mean?" a boy with green eyes asked.

"It means she's deaf, dude." another boy answered, brushing his blonde hair out of his eyes.

"Hey, what're those in your ears?" the blue-eyed boy asked, the confused expression on his face not changing.

"They're my hearing aids!" Evie answered, the cheerful expression remaining on her face.

The boys were silent before the blue-eyed one burst into laughter; the others following. Evie's smile slowly disappeared until all she was left with was a frown.

The green-eyed boy snickered. "My grandma has hearing aids, does that mean you're a grandma?" which caused the group to double over in laughter, clutching their stomachs.

Evie's frown deepened, and tears started to brim at her eyes. The blonde boy then reached over and ripped out her hearing aids. He then proceeded to put them up to his ears and yelled:

"Hey, I'm Evelyn and I'm a kindergarten grandma!"

The entire playground erupted into laughter. Evie's eyes started to blur as tears spilled out.

"Sh-shut up!" a trembling voice yelled from the swings. The blue-eyed boy turned his body to face the new voice.

"And why should I listen to you?" he grunted.

Evie looked over to see who the boy was looking at. Through her tears, she spotted a small boy who looked her age, attempting to size up the older and larger boy.

"Because if you don't, I'll tell a teacher...!" he said, hesitance evident in his voice.

"So, you're gonna be a snitch?" the green-eyed boy scoffed, looking down at the smaller boy.

"If it means that you'll leave that poor girl alone, then yes, I will be a snitch!" the small boy squealed.

The blue-eyed boy clicked his tongue, motioning to the others.

"'C'mon you two, we don't want mister tattletale over there to cause us any trouble."

The group of boys wandered off, throwing Evie's hearing aids towards her. The small timid one approached.

"Hi! I'm Oliver Vanderburgh! You're Evie, right?"

Evie slowly nodded, taking in the boy's features.

His eyes were a shiny grey, so full of life and happiness. His fluffy brown hair was disheveled and messy. He couldn't be older than 4 or 5, as he looked rather young.

The bell sounded, the students around groaned and slowly made their way from the playground. Oliver gave Evie a closed-eye smile and hummed: "Until I see you again!", skipping off to his own classroom.

Evie slowly waved at him, then proceeded to wipe her hearing aids and head back inside.

Oh, how she wished she heard what that boy said.