“…and you _totally_ wouldn’t believe it when I said—“

…

That’s when Will’s world went silent.

He gazed at the people around the table. Mr. Tee with his fancy moustache, throwing his head back into a laugh. Plumpy Mrs. Howl, parting her red lips, baring her teethy smile. An inaudible warm laughter, under the warm lights. Delectable food served in golden platter. The clinging and clanging of forks and spoons. Yet none of those voices reached Will.

His hearing aids battery died. And so did the voices along with it.

He looked at Avery, her head turned towards Milo, who was sharing his dramatic adventures at the end of the table. The glass in her hand twirled nonchalantly between her fingers.

She glanced back at Will. A split of a second. But it was enough. Her cheeks flushed red with mirth. A smile tugging across her lips; an expression not usually seen on his cousin’s face.

Alex sat on the other side of the table, his head thrown back into a laugh. His jet black hair shone under the dim golden lights

Will didn’t mean to. He really didn’t. But his heart sank watching him.

What was it that Alex said? Carbon Monoxide.

_It’s smells like air. You wouldn’t even realize you’re inhaling it! _He once told Will, _Buuut the more you inhale it, the more it suffocates you._

And that’s how he felt. Suffocated.

If_ _silence had a scent, it would smell like Carbon Monoxide.

Sure, it was his fault he didn’t charge them in the first place. But the thought wearing machines his entire life made him sometimes want to trade his life with Alex’s.

Avery nudged him out of his thoughts. Her lips moved. Will stared.

She curled her thumb and index and brought it close to her ear. The sign for: **_Hearing Aid_**

She touched her index fingers together and brushed the side of her palm against the other: The sign for: **_Battery Dead

_****_

_**Will nodded which made Avery make a face that Will knew clearly meant: _Told you to get them charged._

**_Come_** Avery signed with a sigh, **_Battery. Charge_**_. _

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