The world has fallen into a "silent apocalypse", and most people have suffered panic, stampede and mental breakdown due to loss of hearing. As a deaf person, I became the only "hearing survivor" in the world, and gradually heard the strange sound wave signals behind the doomsday.
I finally understood that silence is just a filter - those who can hear the sound are the candidates for this evolutionary experiment.
---
The heavy sign language dictionary fell on the solid wood table, raising a small cloud of dust. Chen Mo stopped sorting the bookshelf and brushed his fingertips over the word "sign language" dented on the spine of the books. People with normal hearing always feel that this word has a bit of sympathy or curiosity. But to him, it was just an extension of existence, as natural as breathing. Outside the window, the city was as noisy as ever. The white noise of the traffic rubbing against the ground, the impact of the construction site in the distance, and the few intermittent syllables played by the kid next door practicing the piano filtered into a blurry background vibration through the tempered glass and flowed against his skin. His world has always been like this, with these tremors that can be "read" floating on the quiet base.
He glanced at the clock on the wall. The electronic screen showed 14:59. It's time to take your medicine. The medicine bottle on the corner of the table has a complicated chemical name written on the label, which is used to treat "sudden sensory nerve disorder with vestibular migraine." A rare disease that even top doctors find difficult to diagnose only occurs at the edge of his remaining, extremely weak and distorted hearing, causing dizziness and tearing headaches. He unscrewed the bottle cap and swallowed the pills with the already cold water, the bitter taste melting on the back of his tongue.
