Title: Enjoy the Silence

Author: Sorcieré (hack_heaven@usa.net)

Disclaimer: Kiss my...

Rating: PG-13 (a few cuss words. Nothing an 8-year old doesn’t know, but we better play it safe)

Pairing: None --- it’s a TCP story.

Archive: Sure, go ahead.

Summary: Not everyone’s a superhero. And not every mutant power is as spectacular as those of the X-Men.

 

A/N: This, my dear, is a The Common People story. That’s right. No X-Men, no evil mutant baddies, no insane scientists and no Sentinels. What can I say? I was attacked by a plotbunny.

Oh, yeah, and the title is the first line of lyric from the song ‘Silence’ by Taiko.

I’d planned a long, dark fic. Then this plotbunny bit me - and now my sillyfic muse feels neglected (maybe I should give it up for adoption. Any takers? It’s housebroken and not very demanding *cough*).

 

 

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Enjoy the Silence

 

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Have you ever noticed how people in our society seem almost afraid of silence?

 

I’m serious – look around you. Listen. How many times do you hear nothing but silence? There’s always something – the sound of cars driving by, people talking, a radio playing, a TV turned on, noisy computer-games, a CD being played as loud as possible. 

 

Very few people take the time to sit down and just enjoy these rare moments of silence.

 

Silence...damn, what I wouldn’t give to experience it just once – ONCE – in my life. I’ve all but forgotten what it feels like. It’s not because I live in a big, loud city – in fact, my current home is in a small town in Tennessee – but because someone upstairs must be *real* pissed at me.

 

You see - I’m a mutant.

 

And what is my mutant power? Stoic blasts? Claws and a healing factor? Or maybe telekinesis? Oh, no, mate. I’m not superhero material.

 

My mutation is my enhanced hearing. Oh joy, oh happiness. I’m sarcastic, by the way, just in case you hadn’t guessed it. Wouldn’t want you to actually *use* your brain, now would we?

 

Shit. Sorry about that. I’m always like that when I have a headache...which, unfortunately, is pretty damn often. You have no idea the kind of headache a simple trip to the mall can cause when you have sensitive ears.

 

And it has always been like this. I was born with it. I’ve always known at some level that I wasn’t normal, but I guess I managed to hide it pretty well. It wasn’t until I was thirteen that they discovered it.

 

It was some routine check-up, I think. You know, say ‘ahh’, look at the letters on the wall, blah, blah, blah. It was when they checked my ears that the shit hit the fan. First they did the usual “listen to the sound” stuff. Then the doctor frowned and put some small electronic things in my ears and I had to sit still for five minutes while a computer tested the limits of my hearing.

 

When the reading was finally finished, the doctor took one look at it, then looked at me and hurried out of the room. Very comforting for a thirteen-year old kid, I might add. Insert sarcasm.

 

A few minutes later he came back with another doctor who looked equally dumbfounded. I had to stay there for hours while they did all sorts of tests – the most memorable being “this won’t hurt, okay? We just want you to say when you can’t hear the tone anymore.”.

‘Won’t hurt’...yeah, right. When you have heightened sense, those high frequency tones feel like someone’s clawing on the inside of your ear...which took the doctors about an hour to realize. The longest hour of my life, let me tell you that.

 

Then they showed the results to my parents and told them something along the lines of “I’m sorry, but your child is a mutant.”...just wrapped in a shitload of medical crap to make it sound nicer and more professional. The verdict’s the same, though.

 

Mutie. Freak. Genetic mistake.

 

My parents took it pretty cool, though. The only change is that they always seem a bit worried whenever the papers write something about the Mutant Registration Act. ‘Registration’, my ass. ‘Control’ is more like it. The army and the government and whatever will have a long list of mutants and their powers, and can pick whatever mutants they think will be useful. There are already rumors on the Internet about secret government facilities and mutant experimentation, you know.

 

You think I’m paranoid? Ha! Don’t you know the saying “It’s only paranoia if they *aren’t* out to get you”?

 

I think I’m fairly safe for the time being, though. I mean, what need would anyone have for a teenager whose only mutation is an abnormally good hearing? The first ones they’d go after would be the powerful ones, those who could be used as weapons or are “hazards to the safety of all Americans” as that senator guy always says. He’s a complete moron. Unfortunately, he’s a complete moron with power, the most dangerous kind of morons around.

 

Yes, I’m very cynical for a sixteen-year-old. Blame the society. Or the politicians. Take your pick.

 

Or even better – blame the people around me. The people who haven’t learned to appreciate the things they take for granted.

 

I look at the world and I have to wonder why people seem so determined to fill every single moment with noise. Are they afraid of the silence like some people fear the dark? Don’t they know that some of us would give anything to even *have* the chance to know silence?

 

When I look at them, I’m torn between pity and anger. Pity because they don’t know how lucky they are. Anger for the very same reason.

 

I can’t even explain all these things to them because they probably wouldn’t believe me.

 

If one of them *does* listen, though, I have only one tip of advice:

 

Enjoy the silence.

 

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~Fin~

 

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Sorcieré’s Madhouse – www.wolverineandrogue.com/sorciere