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It was a warm and sunny morning. The Objects were seated at the kitchen table, some enjoying breakfast. Airy was lazily eating his favourite cereal, generously soaked in milk. As usual, he barely spoke unless the others asked him something. Conversing was difficult for him, as he struggled to know what to say and when. Observing the others was also a good pastime, at least according to the Lantern. Meanwhile, Bryce and Liam, sitting opposite, were chatting about everyday matters. Liam, like Airy, ate cereal, but his pace was slower due to frequent distractions from conversations with the Bottle and forgetting about his food. Bryce had finished eating and was sipping coffee from a dark blue mug. Amelia stood at the side of the table, chopping vegetables on a cutting board and adding them to a bowl to make a salad.
It hit him hard, out of nowhere. Maybe it was triggered by the repetitive tapping of a knife against a cutting board, or the voices of two chattering objects. All the kitchen sounds bleeding together into a cacophony. Airy hated this feeling, how instant it was, how it crashed into his peaceful life without asking. It wasn't the first time this happened, but he still didn't know what was happening, or what to call it, but the surrounding sounds seemed to become many times louder than they had been. It was like torture. A Lantern couldn't tell if the Backpack and a Bottle were actually talking over one another to get a word in or if his hearing had started to blending all the sounds together.
Something funny must’ve been said, because Liam laughed. It may have been a small sound, but to Airy in his current state, it felt deafening. The laughter seemed unusually high-pitched, which pushed him to the edge of irritation. He knew it was ridiculous. A Lantern hated the anger that simple joy stirred within him. He couldn't just tell his housemates to stop laughing when he was in this state, could he? It made no sense.
Suddenly, a truly loud crash echoed, even higher-pitched, making Liam's laughter sound like a kitten's purr. It made Airy flinch and look up at the noise. The spoon Liam was holding, ready to shove another spoonful of cereal into his mouth, dropped back into the bowl, clanging against the side as it fell. It seemed this hadn't just caught Airy's attention. Bryce also flinched before grumbling and reaching for a cloth next to the sink.
B-"Liaaam," - he grumbled, annoyed, wiping Backpack’s pocket where drops of spilled milk had landed.
L-"Heh-heh, my bad! It just slipped out of my hands," - Liam tried to excuse himself, still cheerful. Amelia giggled quietly, covering her mouth with her hand. For a second, Airy wanted to punch Liam. “How hard was it to just hold a damn spoon? It wasn't that much effort!” Immediately afterwards, Airy felt a pang of guilt. “It was too small a thing to get angry about. After all, I should be grateful Backpack even lets me live here, after everything that happened"
Amelia stopped chopping vegetables and watched Bryce wipe Liam clean, a soft chuckle escaping her lips. Afterwards, she picked up another vegetable, gripping more firmly this time, and continued to cut it into small pieces. The monotonous thumping against the board was grating on Airy’s ears. He had an unusual relationship with repetitive sounds. The ones Airy could control were fine - switch them off whenever he wanted. Like his favorite cassette: he could listen for hours, enjoying the tunes. But monotonous sounds Airy couldn’t switch off became intensely irritating. He couldn't explain the reason. All he wanted was to shut out the surrounding noise and sit in complete silence or listen to music. It always calmed Airy down during these episodes and brought his hearing back to normal. Amelia didn't allow eating outside the kitchen, so Airy was keen to finish his breakfast as soon as possible. Hmm, that music idea is not bad. Airy started humming his favorite tune, swaying a bit. This might actually help. Maybe he wouldn't even have to leave and answer unnecessary questions. “I’m wishing you all well. Mind at peace within your cell. Covers up I’ll cast you off-”
A-"Liam, can you wash the dishes please?" - she asked, watching Liam his cereal bowl in the sink. Airy's mind screamed, "No, no, no, no!" If a Backpack starts washing now, all that clanging..dishes, cutlery.. it'll be too much noise. He just can't handle it right now.
L-"Oh, yeah, sure. But let me have tea first. Then I'll wash everything together. Besides, Airy's still eating."
B-"Hey, Airy, hurry up." - Airy only now realised that he'd frozen for a while. A Soda Bottle got up and went for another cup of coffee. He touched Airy's shoulder to get his attention, since a Lantern looked lost in thought. Airy flinched at the sudden touch. Usually, touches weren't a big deal. Yeah, they were nice after all these years. But right now, physical contact was just another thing getting on his nerves. “Why'd he have to touch me? Just because I didn't react right away doesn't mean I'm deaf!” And again, Airy felt a sense of guilt. “No. Soda Bottle probably just wanted to make sure I was listening. This anger is pointless. I'm to blame for my condition. I should've just slept more.”
B-"Hey, relax. I just touched you." - Bryce was genuinely confused by Airy's unusual reaction. He didn't quite get what was going on with him.
Bryce and Liam soon came back to the table, each holding mugs of steaming drinks. Liam popped open the sugar bowl, dug out a spoonful, and dumped it into his mug. Then he started stirring. The spoon kept hitting the ceramic, making this constant, annoying ringing.
Airy instinctively covered his ears. One part of him didn't want to cause a scene, the other half wished someone would get that this was bothering him. Though, knowing a Lantern wasn't exactly expressive, it would be difficult. He could just say it was annoying, but something held him back. Probably worry, they wouldn't take him seriously and would just say something like, "What's the big deal? It's not that loud." or a sarcastic "Should we all walk on eggshells around you?"
Unluckily or luckily, no one paid attention to Airy, just as he figured. The others were busy with their own stuff, talking about their plans. Why would they glance at a Lantern just because he covered his ears for a few seconds? Even if someone had seen it, they'd probably just assume he had a headache from the weather or a bad night's sleep.
Amelia stopped chopping the vegetables and moved them to a large bowl. A few got stuck, so the Candle tapped the board lightly to dislodge them. The tapping must have reminded her of something because she set the board down and started drumming out a rhythm with her fingers. After a bit of rhythmic tapping, Amelia turned to the others.
A-"Hey, can you guys guess this tune?" - she asked, tapping out the melody she'd been practicing a few seconds ago. “Seriously?! Now of all times? Couldn't they find a worse moment to play with sounds? No, I shouldn't complain. They're just trying to make breakfast more fun. And besides, I could've mentioned ages ago that I don't like it.”
L-"Hmm.. Play it again?"- he moved closer to Amelia's hands as she repeated it, as if I could see the name of the tune there. Bryce scratched the back of his head, confused.
B-"No idea. Liam, you know it?"
L-"Wait, I'm thinking.. One more time?"- he watched his friend's movements even more attentively.
Of course, there was a chance Liam didn't know the melody, but he wasn't about to admit it. Amelia had drawn their attention for a reason, so they should know it too. Airy watched their little game with a tired look. His energy slowly began to drain. Even the irritation was gone, leaving only a feeling of helplessness about the whole thing. He wanted to lie down somewhere and just fall asleep again. A Lantern would probably do that right after finished breakfast.
He liked living in the woods for a reason. Lantern could plan his day the way he wanted. If he wanted, he could do a ton of work and do several challenges. Or he could lie in the hut all day. Even though Airy stuck to a daily schedule that he'd worked out for himself. He liked the routine, it gave him a sense of control over his life. And the more detailed his plans for the day, the less anxiety he felt.
Airy remembered reading about the "54321" technique somewhere. It was meant for panic attacks, sure, but maybe it could help him too? First, he needed to find 5 objects he could see. Easy enough. Airy looked down at the table. There's a spoon, a bowl of his half-eaten cereal, maybe the table itself, and two mugs belonging to Bryce and Liam. Next, a bit harder. 4 things he could touch. Airy was sitting on the chair, so he was technically touching it. A Lantern was leaning on the table with both hands. He was also propping up his head, which had started to ache, with one hand. What else could he find-
L-"Wait wait! I think I got it! Is it a *name*?"
A-"Hm..Nope."-she said with a sly smile, dismissing the answer.-"Try again."
Airy tried to get back to the technique, but struggled to focus his thoughts. He was constantly distracted by Amelia's tapping on the table and Liam's bad guesses. "Why was Backpack even trying? Was it really this hard? Why couldn't he just give up if he didn't know the answer and end it? Why did they choose to play this dumb game? Why now?" Airy clenched his fists. He couldn't take this anymore.
Airy decided to give up. The sounds had won today. But he just hoped one day they'd stop getting under his skin so much. He quickly stood up to go to a bedroom away from the noise. A Lantern should have done this earlier. Why had he been sitting there? Airy could've gone to his room as soon as this hearing thing started, Or left and come back with headphones. He could've even asked them to be quiet. The answer, of course, was simple: he was worried they wouldn't take him seriously, or worse, they'd start making noise just to annoy him.
B-"Are you finished eating?" - No response. He asked again - "....Airy? - Airy was just standing there, leaning on the table with his hands, head down. He was trying to catch his breath, which had strangely become uneven, and it looked like the guy was about to burst into tears any second.
A-"Uhh..I... I'll eat.. in the bedroom." - he mumbled. A Lantern was about to leave the room, but someone's hand blocked his way.
B-"Hey, hold on a second! Eat here. We're all eating here." - Bryce exclaimed, making Lamp flinch. It was louder than usual. - "What's got you so jumpy? I didn't do anything."
A-"Uh.. I...I'll finish later. I want to sleep." - Answering like that, he left the kitchen for the sweet silence of the bedroom.
B-"What? But you just woke up!"
L-"Huh?" - He and Amelia paused their guessing game. They were so into it that we didn't even realize Airy left.
B-"Nah, it's nothing. Airy's being weird again, ignore it."