Once, there was a girl named Talia, born in Finland, into a world she would never see or hear due to a mysterious illness . Talia lived within the warmth of touch, the fragrance of blooming flowers, the vibrations of laughter. Her innocence was untouched by the turmoil surrounding her. She didn’t know of conflict, pain, or disappointment; her world was one of stillness and peace, where her heart was her only guide.
When Talia turned sixteen, her parents approached her with momentous news. Doctors had a way, they said, to grant her sight and hearing. Her parents, filled with dreams of a bright future for Talia, spoke of colors, melodies, and the joy of seeing and hearing for the first time. And though Talia couldn’t fully understand what was to come, she trusted her parents’ joy.
The operation was a success. After weeks in the hospital, Talia awoke to a world bathed in color and sounds that leapt from every corner. When she opened her eyes, she saw her mother’s face for the first time, framed with lines of worry and love. She had to close her eyes and touch her mother’s face to be sure it was really her. She saw her father’s gentle, tearful smile. Voices, clear and sharp, filled her ears, and laughter broke into her world with a sweetness that felt like sunshine.
They took her to the seaside to show her the ocean, where waves stretched out to the horizon like blue silk, foam gathering at her feet, and the sounds of rushing tides entered her ears. She marveled at the way the sunlight turned the waves into silver lines, the way the clouds drifted lazily across the sky. Flowers, vivid and radiant, colored her world in ways she had only known through fragrance. Her concept of reality had been shaped drastically.
But soon, other visions crept in. The news spoke of raging wars, the anger and fear in people’s voices so unfamiliar and jarring to her. She saw people hurt each other, speak words that cut deeper than any blade. Images of poverty, faces lined with despair, children in tattered clothes with vacant stares, children kidnapped and molested, jealous partners murdering their previous lovers. She could not understand the divide between so many people, couldn’t understand why, in a world with such beauty, there existed so much pain and cruelty.
She grew troubled, feeling a sorrow that settled into her like an ache she couldn’t shake. Days passed in a blur, and she began to wonder if there was ever a world as beautiful as the one she had lived in before — a world she could touch, but never truly see or hear.
One night, alone in her room, Talia stared at the dim glow of the moon outside her window and made her decision. The world she had opened her eyes and ears to was not one she could live in. The despair outweighed the beauty. She went to the bathroom, took a deep breath, and with a trembling hand, gouged her eyes out and pierced her eardrums, bringing darkness and silence back into her world.
Her parents found her helpless, bleeding from her eyes and ears, and terrified, but they could not convince her to change her mind. She had chosen to return to the place of innocence she had always known.
For the rest of her life, Talia lived quietly, away from the world, but closer to her heart. She found peace in the unbroken silence, the comforting shadows, and in her memory of the ocean, the only sight she had ever truly loved.
