Lesley

A Short Story

Written by Aliah Nicole Tejano

"--new classmate, Lesley. He's--"

"--write it down--"

There it is. The same looks of wonder, confusion, and pity. It was the third one I hated the most. I hated feeling like I was an exotic animal.

Hi. I'm Lesley. And I was born completely deaf. No hearing aids for me.

Honestly, I never wished to be able to hear. How can I wish for something I don't know anything about? Besides, I heard there were unpleasant noises, too. One of the perks of being me.

As soon as I sat down, they started checking if I really was deaf, screaming into my ears. Not that I could hear them. It was just funny how their faces contorted. Hm. Reminds me of so many people. They had passed a dog-eared notebook back and forth. It featured a mess of different writing styles, but the thought was the same. Can you really not hear? Those same looks of pity again.

I remember those faces. The very reason I hated them. Best seats in the house. Individual attention from my teachers. Help from everyone. Special treatment. I just wanted to be normal. I felt sorry for my siblings. For those people who were tended to last. I can understand if they felt angry towards me.

"Honestly! How could they have been so insensitive!" Even as they signed, their mouth was furiously moving around. "Seriously! 'Faking being deaf'? What if you were really deaf, huh?! I mean--you are, but you get my point--"

It was funny how they seemed more affected by it than I was.

"Seriously. How can you be so calm about this?" They were facing me, looking me in the eyes. Wow. The power of eye contact.

I shrugged. What could I have said? I was used to it. I was born this way, after all. It's been, what, almost two decades? It would have been troublesome if I had not gotten used to it by now.