The Colour Of Sound /LARRY/

Prologue

16 years ago...

"Just one more push!" The doctor said. The woman screamed and suddenly the sound of a crying baby was heard. "Congratulations, mrs Tomlinson, you delivered a beautiful baby boy" the doctor said as he held the baby whilst nurses wrapped it up in towels.
"Thank God" the woman puffed. Her hair stuck to her head and sweat was dripping off her cheeks. The doctor cut the umbilical cord and gave the tiny baby a blue bodysuit with the name "Louis William".
After they weighed the tiny little creature, they gave little Louis to his mummy. "He's tiny, but healthy" the doctor said. The woman didn't listen. She stared at her baby and smiled widely. Her whole world was born today and she would do anything to keep him safe.

12 years ago...

"NO! HONEY! DON'T DO THAT!" Mrs Tomlinson screamed and ran to little Louis, who just turned four years old. The adventurous young man was climbing on a chair and reached his hand out to grab a kitchen knife that laid there unguarded. Mrs Tomlinson took the knife away and scolded Little Louis, but he didn't seem to notice that she was talking to him.
"Do you hear me, Louis? Don't touch those knives, baby" she said as she placed a finger on Louis' chin, forcing him to look at her.
Little Louis teared up because he didn't understand what his mummy said. He tried to say that he couldn't hear her, but he even couldn't hear himself. He knew something was wrong, but he couldn't tell mummy.
"Baby? Tell me what's wrong" Mrs Tomlinson said and he pulled Little Louis on her lap.
Louis mouthed that his ear was broken. Mummy could fix it right? Mummy could fix everything.
"Baby, why aren't you talking. You should be able now..." Mrs Tomlinson wondered.

Mrs Tomlinson has tried to make Louis talk for the past three years, but nothing she did helped. She's been to the hospital multiple times, visited specialists but they all didn't know why Louis refused to talk. She felt hopeless. She didn't know what was going on but she could see it upset her Little Louis. She decided to take him to a hearing professional, since Louis always pointed at his ear. She really hoped Louis was just a little bit late with talking, but deep down she knew something was wrong.

A few days later they went to the professional. Little Louis was scared and didn't want to leave his mummy's safe arms. He didn't want to sit in that scary chair. The scary doctor told him to push a button if he heard beeps. Louis panicked. He couldn't hear anything. How was he supposed to push that button?!

Suddenly Louis heard a soft beep, so he quickly pushed the button. Then he heard one that was louder and he pressed the button again. Then all of a sudden, the doctor turned off the device.
"Mrs Tomlinson, he heard two out of seven beeps" the scary doctor said.
The whole world just collapsed in front of Mrs Tomlinson. Her baby was deaf. Well almost deaf.
"But there is a way we can fix it" the doctor added. "He needs hearing devices. If he gets those, he'll be able to learn to talk too."

Louis didn't know what was going on, so he pulled his mummy's sweater and looked at her questioning.
"Don't worry baby, you'll hear again soon..."