The Sound of Silence

Tisha came home and said to her mom, “Mom, tell me what this means."

Then she placed her right hand on her chest, followed by her left, and showed it to her mother with both hands. Her mom said, “I have no idea, dear.”

Tisha said, “This means I love you.”

Mom said, “When you love someone, just say it out loud. Why do you have to make such a big deal with your hands?”

Tisha said, “This is sign language. A boy came to our class who can't hear and can't speak properly. He communicates using sign language. He's teaching us sign language.”

“That's not a bad idea,” Mom said. “When you're home, if you speak sign language all the time, the house will be a little quieter!”

Tisha gave her mom a little shove and said, “Come on, Mom. You make fun of everything.”

Tweetie supported Tisha with a deep bark. It had been two years since Tweetie was first brought home—she was no longer a puppy but a fully grown dog. A muscular body, sleek features, and curious eyes. As long as Tisha is at school or out, Tweetie is a very responsible dog. The moment she comes home, her mischief begins. She starts jumping up and down, running around Tisha.

Tweetie's favorite game is to grab a single slipper from Tisha and run off with it in her mouth. Tweetie much prefers running around outside rather than staying inside the house. There was no problem as long as it hadn't snowed, but once the snow started falling, Tisha stopped going outside—and Tweetie can't understand it. She thinks everyone can run around in the snow like she can!

"It would have been very easy to cheat in the exam hall. Our first boy would sit in a corner and sign us in sign language, and all of us would write it down. Complete silently.”

“Dad, you don't need sign language to cheat on tests these days. Do you know how many kinds of electronic gadgets have come out?”

“That's true.”

Mom said, “Doesn't the boy who can't hear have trouble in class?”

“Not at all. He can lip-read. He understands everything by watching the lips move. He can also speak a little, but it's hard to understand him.”

“Interesting,” Dad said. “When we were in school, no one could have even imagined someone like that would be studying with us.”

Tisha said, “John is pretty normal. There's a blind person at our school. And two others are in wheelchairs.”

“Really?”

“Yes, the girl who is blind is the monitor of her class.”

“Wow!”

“We never say 'blind'; we always say ‘visually impaired.'"

“That's how it should be.”

For the next few days, it snowed heavily, and everything was covered in snow. In the midst of it, Tisha brought news one day that the nearby Sasquan Lake had frozen over, and everyone was skating on it.

Mom said, “I don't know, dear. What if the ice breaks and you fall through?”

Tisha said, “Oh, come on, Mom! You know how strong ice gets? You can even drive a car on it!”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Let's go check it out.”

“Tell your dad we'll go take a look. There are so many strange things in this world!”

“I'm going to take my skates.”

“Alright.”

Tisha does what girls her age do. On weekends she goes to the mall with her friends. They all watch movies together. Many people from her country come here and try to keep their children cooped up at home, but Tisha's parents never did that.

Two weeks later, on a weekend, Tisha's parents took her to see the frozen Sasquan Lake. Dad was driving with Mom in the front seat. In the back were Tisha and Tweetie. Tweetie was visibly excited; she was overjoyed to be out of the house after so long.

After a nearly two-hour drive, they arrived at the frozen lake. At first glance, it was impossible to tell where the solid ground ended and the lake began, as everything was covered in a brilliant white blanket of snow. If you looked closely, you could see that where the lake was, there were no trees, just many nearby trees with their leaves having fallen.

Since it was the weekend, there were, of course, a lot of people. Parking the car a distance away, everyone came to skate on the frozen lake. People of all ages, dressed in bright, colorful clothes, were scurrying about, and it was a beautiful sight to see. Tisha got out of the car, skates in hand, and rushed ahead. From the look on her face, it seemed as if the grand celebration unfolding before her would be over if she were to delay even a moment. Tweetie is just as excited; she chases after Tisha, calling out to her.

Dad and Mom get out of the car. Rubbing their hands together to warm up, as they walk a little closer to the ice-covered lake.

Tisha doesn't remember how long she had been skating; she was almost sweaty, even in the cold. A few kids from her class can skate so wonderfully that it's mesmerizing to watch. They spin so beautifully on the ice that it looks like the easiest thing in the world. Tisha has tried it herself, and it's not easy at all; she kept falling flat on the ice every few moments!

Tisha, spinning around, had come to the side of the lake when she first heard one person's scream, then suddenly a collective, terrified shriek from a group of people. Tisha stopped and tried to figure out what was happening. Along with the human screams, she heard a muffled sound of cracking ice, and the next moment, she felt something cracking beneath her feet. It took her a few moments to realize what was happening.

The thick layer of ice covering the lake had suddenly begun to break apart—there was no time to think about whether that was even possible right now; she had to get away from here quickly. Tisha saw everyone, screaming in terror, start running for the shore.

Tisha spin around, scanning for the quickest route to the shore, and started running in that direction. Just then, a crack suddenly appeared in the ice right in front of her, and a gush of glacial, black water shot up from below.

Tisha tried with all her might to stop herself, but she couldn't. She lay down on the ice and clawed at it, trying to stop, but still couldn't. Tisha fell through the ice crack into the freezing water and sank in an instant.

Tweetie came there instantly, then stood at the edge of the ice crack, let out a single, desperate cry, and then, before anyone could react, dived into the black, icy water.

Tisha's father and mother stared at the lake in a kind of panic; it took them a moment to realize what was happening. They couldn't find Tisha in the crowd, and when everyone had safely moved back and they searched among them, they found neither Tisha nor Tweetie. Then suddenly, an unimaginably horrific terror petrified them.

From the people who had rushed over, Dad and Mom heard that a girl in a red dress had fallen through a crack in the ice, and a dog had jumped in after her. Then, suddenly, Tisha's parents' entire world was completely destroyed in an instant. Her mom screamed and tried to rush over, but no one let her; they all held her back.

Several people cautiously moved in to search for Tisha. There was no sign of her in the pitch-black water peeking through the ice cracks. Tisha can swim, but once she sank into this icy water and went beneath the ice, getting out would be impossible. A person can't survive for more than a few minutes without breathing. Several minutes had already passed. Time was slipping away—all hope of rescuing Tisha alive from under this ice was quickly fading.

The rescuers have been notified and will be here in a few minutes, but when every moment is precious, there will be nothing The rescuers can do by the time they arrive. They might just come to recover Tisha's dead body. 

Just then, people's screams rang out. Through a crack in the ice, a red dress was visible, and something was moving beside it—it must have been Tweetie. Several people rushed over and pulled Tishar's ice-cold body out. Exhausted, Tweetie steps onto the ice crack and tries to pull herself up, but she can't.

Someone grabs her and tries to haul her out, but his hand slips and Tweetie falls back into the water. For a moment she disappears, then resurfaces and tries again to climb out. She couldn't get up. He grabbed her again and tried to pull her up, but his hand slipped and Tweetie fell back into the water again. For a moment, Tweetie was out of sight. A little later, she resurfaced and tried to get up again.

No one tried to check if Tisha was alive or not; they just kept running with her, and by then an ambulance had arrived. She was laid on the ambulance stretcher as quickly as possible, and the ambulance sped off with its siren blaring.

Mom grabbed Dad's shirt and shook it, saying, “Will my Tisha survive? Will she survive?”

Dad said nothing. How could he say that no one survives being underwater for so long? And even if she did, what would that life mean? Who could imagine how terrifying it is for a person to live with a damaged brain after being deprived of oxygen?