[ WP ] Years after waking up deaf due to an unknown cause , you bump into someone that you can hear .

Ever since the shell in Iraq hit oh so close, I've `` heard'' only one thing. *It* sounds like an air conditioner humming somewhere in the distance. At first I found that comforting, later, maddening. I am driven to discover whatever *it* is. I've abandoned everything; my wife, my job, my wonderful home. Slowly, slowly the hum gets louder as I come closer. Today is the day, I *feel* it, or at least my auditory ossicles can. As I stand before the hospital door, preparing mentally. I notice a difference in the hum, it makes a pop noise and I hear the first voice in 14 years. 
 
 `` finally free'' 
 
 And with a crash a window smashes outward with a rolling ball of flame, almost like someone lit their oxygen tanks on fire. It seems like I was a tad late. All is silent.
