The tendrils of sleep slowly receded, leaving confusion in their wake. Something had drawn him from his slumber, yet his phone wasn’t screaming at him in the usual morning alarm. It must still be early.
The hot morning sun glanced through a gap in the curtains, casting a strip of blinding light over the tousled bed. Reluctantly, he stirred, checking the time on his phone.
8.35am! Heat flushed his skin with the kiss of instant panic. He had slept through all his alarms, the screen flashed angrily, demanding the dismissal of missed notifications.
He cursed inwardly as he flicked away the incessant app and tumbled out of bed. He would barely make it in on time. The frantic, clammy rush of panic filled his limbs with uncoordinated energy as he wrestled into his work trousers.
He dropped down the stairs, two at a time, as his momentum carried him. The thick, padded carpet softened each heavy step. An uncanny sensation was taking form inside him. Something he didn’t have the time to figure out right now churned in his gut.
He dashed round the kitchen, grabbing cereal from the cupboard, sliding the box on the counter to take with him as he opened the dishwasher to retrieve a spoon. He couldn’t have slept well, a disconnected haze enveloped him in a surreal, detached cushion as he hurried to put something together for lunch. He couldn’t shake the swollen ringing in his ears, the soundless screaming of nothingness.
All he had left to do was make a quick coffee for the road. He stood on the hard kitchen tiles, absently twirling a teaspoon while he waited for the kettle to boil.
The small spoon slipped from his uncoordinated fingers, tumbling to the hard floor. The thin metal hit the tiles with resounding silence, the lack of sound jarring.
He stared at the spoon for a moment, as though half expecting the sound to follow. He tried to force cognition through the flustered blur of sudden awakening. His mind echoed with the familiar ring of steel on stone, retrospectively correcting the moment.
He had only had a few beers last night, he shouldn’t feel this bad. The memory of the loud TV, hissing bottle tops, freed then pinged across the room, grounded him. Feeling less stupefied, he retrieved the spoon, gently tapping it against his hand as he willed the kettle to boil. His foggy mind still needed the kick of coffee before he attempted the rush hour traffic. The steam curled in silent puffs, he stared out the window at the snarling lines of traffic. A polluted haze of exhaust fumes drifting between the trails of stationary vehicles. He wrinkled his forehead as he absently looked out the window, his ears ringing with the deafening sound of nothing.
He lent over the kitchen sink, opening the window to let the cool air rouse him. He ran his fingers through his cow-licked black hair, smoothing out the splay left by the pillow. He realised then that the usual roar of the morning flowed through the window in dead silence. His mind focused, and he became aware of the street below.
Not a sound echoed from the bustling street. People had poured out, swelling on the pavement. Dismay etched their faces as they frantically turned to each other. Their arms flailed, lips moved, but the red flush of panic could not break the calm hush that had descended. Mouths opened wide, faces distorted in unheard shouts, yelling without sound. Others had fallen to their knees in inaudible prayer, some turned to each other in muted sobbing.
“What the…” he tailed off. His could hear his voice in his bones, but the sound that left his lips fell on deaf ears.
He was stunned for a moment, before, without thinking, he shouted, roaring into the air. He felt the vibration in his throat, the rumble in his chest, he felt the sound, but he couldn’t hear it.
A cold fear gripped his insides. He couldn’t hear. He grabbed his phone, his thumbs finding the way to music despite his blind panic.
“We are no strangers to love”
Music reverberated out of the tinny speaker, he could feel it on the back of his phone, but he couldn’t hear anything. He lifted his phone to his ear, unable to believe his senses. He found himself pressing the metal case to his face, feeling the sound in his cheek, but unable to hear a single note.
He was deaf. The cold fear broke its floodgates, sickening his stomach as he dropped to the floor.
He barely moved, sat on the cold tile, attempting to process his new found state.
It was nearly an hour before he reached for his phone.
“Call a doctor” he thought, then, staring at his phone, realised the impossibility. It was slow moments before he went to facebook. He could message someone, ask for help.
He was so focussed on opening messenger, he barely noticed the homepage. It was only after he had clicked away, something nagged inside of him, and he went back.
“I can’t hear”
“Everyone has gone deaf guys!”
“Ok please tell me this is a dream”
“Is this everywhere?”
“Can anyone hear…?”
He stared blankly at the screen, he saw the letters but his mind didn’t want to comprehend the meaning. He continued scrolling, the words moved around, but the reality he was struggling to face didn’t change. The blanket of dead silence had smothered him.
A push notification came up on his phone, the kind he was supposed to have blocked. It took over his screen, white words appeared on a black background.
“Citizens, please remain calm. Please do not attempt to contact emergency services unless you have sustained physical injury. Reports are suggesting the entire population has become deaf. We are asking everyone to return to their homes and remain there for today. Please be assured we are working on understanding, and addressing this situation. Further updates will be given as more information is made available. Please remain calm, and stay at your place of residence. Thank you for bearing with us.”
His fingers rested on the back of the phone, something about the vibrations on his fingertips felt off. He lifted the speaker to his face, pressing the back of the case around his ear. He couldn’t make out words, but the message looping unheard through the loudspeaker was clearly much shorter...
This was another fun write, I knew how this short story would start when I saw the prompt. I am dying to write the sequel to this, so you never know, you may find out a bit more about this. Life has been a bit hectic recently, especially today. I should be back in full force and catching up again, as well as releasing the round up reminder for the latest round of my contest, tomorrow.
This is my entry to @svashta 's Constrained Writing Contest - this round the theme was to tell the story of a world where all humans lost one of their senses. I loved writing this snapshot of waking up to this surreal shift. I would highly recommend this contest, it is one of the ones I enter every time I can. The prompts change every week, sometimes they are more technical, sometimes they are a theme for a story. Drop @svashta a follow to catch each round as it comes out.
Photo Credit by Pixabay user Curriculum_Photografia who has a stunning range of landscape imagery, some really beautiful scenery that is both well shot, and well framed, I have seen less impressive postcards!