SILENCE

In The Middle Of A Gunfight

"Blindness cuts us off from things, but deafness cuts us off from people"- Helen Keller

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A young man with pale white hair and pasty salmon skin sat on a smooth metal chair on a soft pillow. His elbow leant on the table next to him and his head in his hand. His other hand held an open book which he read quietly, the only sound that of the turning of the page and the ambience of the roaring engines. The space ship once so peaceful suddenly shook and the lights turned red as the alarms began to blare.
"Bryan! we're under attack!"
The white-haired man shot up, leaving his book for dead as he rushed to the familiar voice, grabbing the soft olive skin of his friend, "Ambrose!" but there was no time for hugs, they let go of each other's hands to run through the space ship's corridors, running into another man with short curly hair and deep coffee skin. "Ade, where's Sarah?" Bryan asked.
He smiled at them in relief then frowned at the question, "I don't know..." he admitted.
Suddenly the blast of a laser handgun could be heard, and a person hurtled down the corridor towards the group. The person's long blonde hair trailed out behind her and as she skidded to a stop, fell over her face. She was being chased by a few robots.
"Jistic Droids," Ade muttered, pulling out his own laser pistol and disabling all three consecutively. The spaceship shook as it was being fired at from the outside.
"We have to get out of here," Bryan said, running towards the airlock to get a suit and abandon ship. The others followed, all of them skidding into a room, Bryan pressed his finger to the print reader and the doors vrrrr'd open. They all grabbed suits and put them on, but there was only three. Bryan cursed, "I'll get one from storage. you guys go on without me."
Bryan closed the room's door and opened the airlock from the outside, ignoring cries of protests muffled by the suits. Bryan ran through the corridor to the small room. before he reached it, however, Bryan heard a loud bang and felt the shock wave just moments after. He fell, but to his surprise, he didn't hit the ground, he just kept falling. Another second later was the searing pain from both his ear and his skin, which was burning. He felt cold and hot at the same time, and he passed out from the shock and pain.

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Bryan eventually blinked awake, warm, flowery-scented air made him smile, but a few seconds later his smiled downturned as painful ringing filled his ear, he sat up and looked around, touching the soft, white bedsheets. Bryan noticed the bed was round, although not quite a perfect circle. The dizziness made him put his head back down. His skin felt raw, and he was wearing a hospital gown- he recognised it from the ship's infirmary, but his surroundings were different. "Amb-" he tried to call, his voice was raw and it was painful as he started to cough uncontrollably, but he couldn't hear it. he ruffled the sheets just to hear the sound, but nothing came to his ears. he lay back down, thinking; this must be some weird dream... He shivered and closed his eyes, slipping back into unconsciousness.

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When he blinked open his eyes, the same feeling of dizziness filled his mind, as well as the rawness of his right arm particularly. He brushed his finger against it, feeling his arm and the bandage dressed loosely around his arm. He assumed he was in a safe place. He took another look around, seeing the room around him looked like that of a private hospital room. He closed his eyes and focusing on his hearing, hearing nothing except for a ringing which faded in and out. He opened his eyes again and sat up, taking the bandage off to look at the burn. It was red on his pale skin, blisters of several sizes covered its area and the wound wept. the breeze touched his arm but he ignored it, walking to the door and opening it a crack, immediately grabbing the attention of a cat-like creature about the same size as him. it had feather ears and it looked at him curiously, looking at its files it held seemingly with telekinesis. It smiled and its lips moved but no sound came out. Bryan looked at it questionably and the creature seemed embarrassed, looking at the ground for a moment before looking back up. 'Sorry about that, I'm a nurse here, how are you feeling?' Its lips didn't move as it spoke and the meaning filled Bryan's mind.
"I- uh-" He didn't know what to say, and he couldn't hear himself. he felt his sore voice in his throat but he didn't know what he sounded like. he wanted to know. he looked lost and he almost felt like crying, he always knew what to do, or how to go about things, but now he was just lost, and confused. 'I'll get your friends' the nurse thing 'said', and it walked away, its fluffy tail swaying peacefully. Bryan watched it go and wrung his hands in anticipation. did his friends know he couldn't hear? that... he was... deaf? he realised what a liability he would be now to the diplomatic mission. wait. what planet was this? is this Ishiak? His thoughts were interrupted as arms wrapped around his neck and shoulders. his shoulders tensed before he turned and recognised Ambrose, he smiled and hugged back, his eyes watering just a bit. Ade and Sarah smiled, standing a few paces away until they caught Bryan's gaze and came to hug him too. the group hug lasted a little while, Bryan hiding his crying face from them. When they pulled away, Ambrose started talking, his lips moving fast and his hands flailing about- he was clearly explaining something, and Bryan focused on his lips. completely lost, although he was pretty sure 'you' was said, and he was sure ambrose said 'and' a lot. He looked at him blankly, and Ambrose's brows furrowed when Bryan didn't respond. Sarah and Ade also shared his concern. Bryan felt skin touch his ear and looked at Ade, his fingers were smeared with blood. Bryan touched the same place and looked at the blood at is pointer and index finger. His blood ran cold for a moment and he breathed deeply, calming himself. He looked at the ground and a hand was placed on his back. He looked up at Ambrose, only to see him also looking at the ground. 

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[A/N: So that's the first chapter! haha idk if it's good i'm pretty nervous, I might make shorter chapters in the future but yeah, I hope you enjoyed!]