The wind picked up, blowing the trees surrounded by a concrete ring at the base. It was Autumn, so the leaves were falling, dropping on hoodies, hair, floors, buildings, anything within the wind's reach.

I was walking down Central Avenue for a bite to eat. I just got out of school and I was hungry.

My hearing aid ran out of battery, so I couldn't hear what was going on around me. I was practically going in blind.

I find a nice little deli called Morgan's Diner and get my phone out. I have had to do this multiple times before, so this experience wasn't something new, just more of an inconvenience.

I start typing out what I want to say to the cashier, making sure I'm nice and thorough.

"Hello sir, thank you for coming to Morgan's Diner, what can I get for you?"

I turn my phone over explaining why and what I want.

[Hello, I can't hear, but I would like the Number 10 with no onions and with Black Forest Ham, Dr. Pepper for a drink please.]

while showing the message, I signal her with ASL to ensure her I'm not faking it.

She gives a weird stare at first, but gets rid of it seconds after, totalling up the cost and charging me.

I pay and wait, wondering around the restaurant till my number pops up on one of the screens, the ones above the register that show order numbers being made and ones that are ready.

Mine was ready within 10 minutes, so I grab the bag and my drink and walk out the place, feeling the wind graze my face.

Being deaf gives you a better appreciation for your other senses. Feeling becomes a remedy and seeing becomes a miracle. Even with the hearing aid, sound can still be inaudible. I don't even use it, the hearing aid, half of the time, only when I'm in public.

Not hearing isn't the worse thing in my life, I mean, I haven't been able to hear my whole life, it's normal, besides, there are other things to worry about.

School, that's a biggie. Jobs, those are gonna be a pain. Driving, hell, that's not gonna be fun. It's more of the future things I'm worried about rather than the things that have happened.

I turn a curb, remembering the right street to take that will lead me home.

If I had to guess how I would be described, the main word would be awkward. Life is hard to understand, at least, to me it is, and that thought process always leads me to situations I wish I could avoid.

I don't have many friends, that being because, it turns out, not many people in a public school understand ASL, so that's a bummer.

I come up to a train track, it divides the shopping and the living district. There is currently, or going to be, a train passing by, I can feel it.

I wait and sit down on the sidewalk, estimating it to be a 5 minute wait. I get my phone out and start playing, casually waiting. I also get my food and start eating, might as well.

The breeze blows again, colder than usual. Maybe a cold front was coming in? A car pulls up, blasting loud music.

I don't think much of it, though, the rumbling was growing more and more. I look up, seeing worried looks in people's faces.

It was an earthquake. I look around myself cautiously, as anything can fall on me and I won't even hear it.

The earthquake causes the railroad to break, making the train wreck of the tracks.

I get out of the way and start running, avoiding the crash if the train.

The good news was, the train only had two carts left, so not much damage was done, at least, where I was, the train was still moving, wrecking houses that bordered the tracks.

I see an opening for me to run across the tracks and speed my way through, tripping a couple of times because of the shaking.

I make my way home to see if anyone is hurt. While running, I don't notice that my hearing aid falls off, breaking as soon as it hits the pavement. I think it's just a piece of plastic, so I continue running, not wasting a second.