Activation Day (eBook)

Jenni Rebecca (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025 | 1. Auflage
260 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
979-8-3178-0628-6 (ISBN)

Infos

'Activation Day' tells the story of Becca, a young woman who slowly loses her hearing-a terrifying and confusing experience that causes a host of tragic events as she struggles to keep her condition a secret from her coworkers, friends, and romantic partner. This forces her on an arduous journey to discover where she belongs when she is thrust between two worlds, the hearing world and the non-hearing world. She endures an emotional rollercoaster of anger, despair, betrayal, inner strength, love, and hope on her path to self-discovery. Things start looking up when she secretly wears devices to help her hear again, but betrayal sends everything crashing down around her. She finds herself having to live and work in an unfamiliar environment, one where many of the employees and residents are deaf or hearing impaired. Becca finds herself torn between the two worlds, one hearing and one non-hearing, feeling like she doesn't truly belong in either one. In trying to return to her old life, she resolves her internal conflict and learns that she can find happiness without choosing one world over another.

During her own arduous journey of hearing loss, Jenni Rebecca started writing her first book in her car while waiting for her daughter at soccer practices. Jenni is a cheerful individual with two children and a full-time technology job who is passionate about the premise of this story, being close to the topic as a bilateral cochlear implant recipient herself. In 'Activation Day,' Jenni touches on the social issues of the hearing world versus the non-hearing world to create an inspiring and insightful contemporary fiction narrative.

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When Becca Baum unexpectedly experiences a life-altering condition, she is forced on an arduous journey to discover where she belongs after she is thrust between two worlds-the hearing world and the non-hearing world. She endures an emotional rollercoaster of anger, despair, betrayal, inner strength, love, and hope on her path to self-discovery. As a vivacious, career-driven twenty-six-year-old woman, Becca exerts her energy to conceal her secret condition from her coworkers, friends, and romantic partner. Living a lie torments Becca as she works tirelessly to keep the life that she loves from changing. Before she can take action to improve her condition, she is exposed by her competitive co-worker as a promotion at work is at stake. Everything changes for Becca once she is separated from her cherished life in the hearing world and reluctantly starts a new job in the non-hearing world. She struggles to transition to an unfamiliar environment and is rejected by people in the community where she works. Becca eagerly learns how to adjust to a different lifestyle with the encouragement of a young man. Becca's growing desperation to discover which world she belongs to leads her to have surgery that may restore her hearing. Her quest continues to her activation day, the day when she will learn if the surgery allows her to hear again and reclaim her former life. After she believes that her long pursuit of finding where she belongs is over; she wakes from a medical slumber from her surgery to learn she was dreaming about the events that followed her imaginary activation day. Through her dream, Becca finds her true self and resolves her internal conflict. She learns that she can find happiness without choosing one world over another.

Textauszug

Chapter 2

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The sound of children giggling wakes me from my deep sleep. I am warm and the sun is shining on my face, which is one of my favorite things. The cheerful laughter of the children stops abruptly and is replaced by loud, shrieking sirens that whiz by me. I quickly leap out of the middle of the street from where I am standing and land on the front lawn of a house that looks familiar to me. Startled by this quick turn of events, I take a few deep breaths and compose myself enough to stand up. I look carefully at my surroundings and realize that I am in Glenwood, the small suburban borough where I grew up, standing in front of my childhood home.

With my feet still planted on the front lawn, I mumble softly to myself how it is not possible for me to be here right now because I was just in an operating room looking at the doctor’s friendly eyes and chapped lips . . . I think. My mind is a powerful tool to bring me back to a cherished time in my life when I was normal, and life was less complicated. I liked it here.

I have fond memories of growing up in Glenwood. A lot of kids lived near my house, so I usually had someone to play games outside with. I recall the good times while skateboarding down the gently sloped street I lived on and playing kickball on the plateau at the end of the street. I remember the excitement of walking to the center of town and spending my allowance money on candy in The Corner Store.

Next to The Corner Store was a dance studio where I took tap and jazz lessons. I do not think that I was particularly good at dancing, but I really enjoyed listening to the music while doing it. I miss the unique sound the metal on the bottom of my tap shoes made when they touched the wooden dance floor. I wish I could hear it again.

After my dance classes, I would wait outside on the bench in front of the studio for my mom to pick me up. The bench faced the train station across the street, where I had the perfect view to watch the trains go by while I waited. I recall the sound of the train’s horn startling me every time with its multiple loud, powerful blasts as it announced its arrival and departure. This is a sound I haven’t heard in a long time.

I loved dancing and music. I played the flute for eight years, and my seat was in the center of the orchestra. I enjoyed the thrill of the sounds surrounding me as my fingers flew over the keys to contribute to a symphonic masterpiece. I miss being able to revel in the exhilarating experience of listening to all the instruments harmonizing to create beautiful musical pieces.

Briskly I shake my head to snap myself out of the whimsical flashbacks, and I notice that I am still standing in the front yard of my childhood house, reminiscing. I look up to the top right side of the house at the window where my bedroom was and remember the many times that I would stare out, wondering what my life would be like when I grew up.

With my head still tilted back from staring into my old bedroom window, I close my eyes, embracing these comforting recollections of my youth. My life was so happy and simple.

“Becca, Becca,” echoes softly from a soothing, deep voice.

It sounds so far away from me, and I am unable to speak or move. I faintly hear this echoing voice call again, “Becca,” then there is silence.

The momentary silence is broken by an irritating sound of a phone ringing that makes my body shake.

Woah! Did I just have a weird dream that I was in Glenwood? I must really be out of it for sure, I say out loud to myself.

I cower my head into my shoulders hoping that no one heard me say that, because I realize that I am sitting in my office at work. I am worried that I may have accidentally fallen asleep for a few minutes at my desk, which I have never done before.

Wide-eyed, I look around to gain clarity on what just happened to me. In a daze, I slowly roll my chair away from my desk to get a cup of coffee to snap myself out of this foggy state, but before I get up the phone rings again, making me spasm in my chair.

“Becca, are you going to answer that?” Lexa asks, standing over me and nudging me with her elbow.

Startled, I reply, “Ummm, yes, of course.”

I answer the phone nervously, “Hello, this is Becca Baum, how may I help you?”

Through the receiver of my ugly tan desk phone, I barely hear someone reply in a monotone serious voice, “Don’t be afraid; it is over now.”

Then there is a dial tone.

“Hello? Hello?” I repeat.

No one replies, and all I hear is the droning sound of the dial tone. Lexa smiles at me and walks away, waving slowly as she leaves.

I apprehensively scan the office after encountering that strange experience. It is abnormally quiet in the office; otherwise, nothing appears out of place to me. I see the same boring, light-gray fabric-covered cubicles that surround the outside of my office area and the drab, dark-blue textured carpet on the floor of Brunner Sound Corporation.

The Brunner Sound Corporation, BSC for short, employs almost six hundred employees and is in the town of Waldon, which is next to the town of Glenwood where I grew up. BSC makes quality sound equipment used in many devices like radios, televisions, car stereos, alarm clocks, and loudspeakers. The sound equipment is also widely used in large theaters and auditoriums.

BSC is a highly desired place to work. The company is a leader within the sound devices market and is recognized for its programs supporting employee training and career growth. I have developed my professional skills through the various programs offered at BSC over the past five years. I take immense pride in working for a company that builds innovative quality products and cares about its employees. A bonus for me is that my commute to the office is only twenty minutes since I live in the neighboring town of Yorktown.

The towns of Glenwood, Waldon, and Yorktown are deeply connected with each other, creating a strong community known over the years as the Glendor Community. If you live in any of these three towns, you are perceived as being privileged to be living with the elite members in this community. All the members in the community are healthy, intelligent, and committed to maintaining a flawless style of living.

My parents lived in Glenwood for thirty-two years until they retired and moved. I wanted to stay in the community and chose to live in Yorktown. I love my life here.

This month I celebrate working at BSC for five years. I began my career at BSC in the human resources department, and surprisingly, only seven months after I started, I was approached to apply for an open position in the services department. The role was customer service manager to lead one of the two customer service teams.

The manager role in the services department was an amazing opportunity for me to advance in my career within BSC, so I applied for the job. I fit all the job requirements and key attributes for the role, including the ability to communicate clearly, listen to others, and help resolve problems. When the job was offered to me, I jumped at the chance to move up within the organization and happily accepted the promotion.

I moved from my small cubicle workspace on the third floor down to an office with glass walls looking over the customer service call center on the second floor. The office setup was perfect for me because I like to be able to see everything around me. Earning the promotion made me reevaluate where I wanted my career path to progress, and I set a new goal toward becoming the director of services one day.

Over the past five years, my hard work has been recognized, and I have developed a solid reputation for being a top performer within the organization. Every day I give one hundred percent and work diligently to achieve my goals to ensure my career soars at BSC. My coworkers and management describe me as someone who will go far up the corporate ladder. This flatters me and keeps me motivated to succeed.

It is important to me that I maintain a credible image by looking and dressing professionally. Since I have curly, thick hair that doesn’t always cooperate, I wear my hair up in a neat bun almost every day. It is the nicest and easiest way I can wear my hair at work without exerting a lot of time and effort to tame my unruly hair to make it look decent.

I am lucky that I enjoy the work I do, and it is gratifying to me on many levels. Every day I make an honest effort to be pleasant to everyone around me and help others. I believe that being nice does matter and makes a difference.

My coworkers have become my close friends over the years. They are there for me when I need help or when I just need someone to talk to. It’s an amazing feeling to be a part of this special group of people. I am tormented by keeping my secret from them, but I can’t share it with anyone because I don’t want anything to change my amazing life.

Every Friday after work, my coworkers and I go to a restaurant bar in town named “The Place.” We have fun joking about the name of the bar because it is the place to be on Friday nights. The Place has...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 1.8.2025
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• ISBN-13: 979-8-3178-0628-6 / 9798317806286