You catched Joel staring at you for the hundred time this week. Especially when you signed with your friend. You always smiled and waved. He'd always look away and wave back. You never spoke to each other. Not that you'd hear him. An explosion left you deaf. Unable to hear the beautiful world out there. Or at least what as left of it.

"Hi!" You saw Ellie wave one night.

You waved back. You saw her say something but motioned to your ears.

"Oh, right." Ellie said as she pulled out a piece of paper and leaned against the wall to write on it.

You waited for her to finish before she handed you the paper.

"Joel got you something. He's in the town's clinic." The note read.

You liked up at Ellie, a confused look in your eyes.

"What did he get?" You asked, hoping you weren't being loud or too quiet.

Ellie got the paper back, writing on it.

"Surprise." She wrote.

You didn't have anything to lose. Although you weren't sure what Joel could've gotten you. But you followed Ellie to the clinic in town. Once inside you found Joel and other patrol members unboxing the last medical shipment.

When Joel saw you, he smiled. You hadn't seen Joel smile before. Not like that. He didn't say anything as he didn't open his mouth, but he offered his hand, which you took and he led you to the back, towards the nurse's office.

Your eyes widened when you saw what seemed to be ear equipment. You hadn't seen a doctor after the accident. So you just assumed you'd be permanently deaf. But this gave you hope.