Locked in the Room During an Allergy Attack Because I Couldn’t Speak Chapter 09

Locked in the Room During an Allergy Attack Because I Couldn’t Speak Chapter 09

A month later, I could finish a full sentence.

It still hurt if I talked too long. But I didn’t have to type every word anymore.

The rehab center asked if I’d volunteer as a peer guide. Talking to patients who’d just had vocal

cord surgery. The ones who couldn’t speak yet.

The first session, there were a dozen people in the small classroom.

I stood at the front. My palms were sweating.

The nurse nodded at me.

I turned on the mic.

My voice came through the speaker. Still a little raspy.

“Not being able to speak doesn’t mean you have nothing to say.”

After that first line, some people in the room looked up.

There was someone standing in the back row. Slade.

He was wearing a black coat. Holding a file folder.

This time, he didn’t interrupt.

He just stood there and listened until it was over.

After the session, a lot of family members came up to ask questions.

A little girl handed me her writing tablet.

The note said: [Ma’am, can I still sing?]

I crouched down and looked at her.

“It might take time. But you’ll get there.”

Her eyes went red.

Her mom’s did too.

I handed them the care instruction sheet.

When I turned around, Slade was at the door.

He didn’t try to stop me. He just held out the file folder.

“Tansy’s chat logs.”

“Her public apology. The project removal notice.”

I didn’t take it.

His hand stayed there for a moment. Then it dropped.

“I know this doesn’t fix anything.”

“I just wanted you to know. It’s handled.”

I looked at him.

He’d lost weight. Dark circles under his eyes.

That look he always had. The easy confidence. It was gone.

“Tierney.”

His voice shook.

“That night. When you were pounding on the door. heard you.”

“I heard you. I just thought… you’d be fine.”

I asked him, “What if I’d died in there?”

Slade’s face went white..

His mouth opened. Nothing came out.

I looked at him.

“You only feel guilty because I survived.”

The file slipped from his hands.

Papers scattered across the floor.

He bent to pick them up. His fingers were trembling

“No. Tierney. That’s not what this is.

“I can change.”

“From now on, whatever you say. I’ll listen.”

I shook my head. “Slade.”

He looked up.

I said it slowly. One word at a time.

“My voice isn’t here for your apology.”

He froze.

An offer from the Sunnymead rehab center came that afternoon.

They gave me a long–term volunteer peer guide position.

Just ten minutes a day. Not much.

Just enough to keep healing.

The day I left Frostwick, the nurse and the woman from the next bed came to see me off.

The woman pressed a thermos into my hands.

“Take better care of yourself from now on.”

I smiled and took it. “Thank you.”

Slade was waiting outside the station.

He wasn’t holding anything this time.

He just stood there. His eyes were red.

“Can I at least see you

I said, “No.”

off?”

“I came to Frostwick alone.”

“I can go to Sunnymead alone.”

His throat moved. His voice dropped to a tremor.

1 looked at him.

The boarding announcement came over the speakers.

People moved past us.

I said quietly, “Stop following me now.”

Tears fell down his face.

I pulled my suitcase and walked into the station.

This time, when the elevator doors started to close a girl I didn’t know reached out and held them

open.

She smiled. “Take your time.”

I stepped in and nodded at her.

Outside the window, Frostwick shrank into the distance.

I looked down and opened the orientation packet from the Sunnymead rehab center.

The first page had a title: [How to Find Your Voice Again]

I read it once.

My voice was still raspy.

But it was finally mine.