Chapter 1: A Picture Is Worth All Her Words

With a push from Janice, Claire started talking. “ My name is Claire. I am twelve years old. I was mute.” At least that’s what she tried to say. They were the first words she spoke in five years. She smoothed her yellow satin dress and sat down. She was asked to tell something about herself. “I have a cat named Waldo.” Except it didn’t sound like that. Her beloved counselor Janice gave her a reassuring pat on the back. The words escaping her mouth were all jumbled and morphed. A single, joyous tear slid down her cheek. She looked at her fellow kids with mental disorders, speech problems and other issues they all denied until now. One by one they all stood up out of their chairs arranged in a circle of their support group. It was like Claire opened a gate for them to share their hardships. Joe was Autistic. Phoebe was blind. Emma had ADHD. They all didn’t seem to notice that her words were not normal. The accepted her. That was something new for Claire.

Claire wasn’t always mute. She used to talk. Before her sickness, she was fine. They thought had a small case of strep throat, but it turned out to be severe, growing inflammation of her vocal chords. Her doctors worked day and night to fix Claire. By her seventh birthday, Claire was declared mute.

Claire’s parents didn’t believe her doctors. Her parents were so in denial their gorgeous, smart daughter would probably never talk again. They received multiple opinions from doctors nation wide. They all said the same thing: Claire was permanently mute.

They tried everything to fix her, or at least help. Medicine. Herbs. Sign language. Nothing seemed to do the trick. After a year of trying everything without success Claire was pulled from school, devastated. But, even when all seemed grim, her doctors had began to give up hope, and even her own father had began to crack, there was one person in Claire’s life that never gave up. Every night, her mother would kiss her forehead and tell her everything would be all right. Just she wait.