Tinnitus...

Tom opened his eyes slowly. He was surrounded by white, breath-choking smoke. There were lights flickering all over the place. “What happened?” Tom murmured. He turned his head to his right and he saw his dad, bleeding and unconscious. At that point, paramedics arrived and took both of them to the hospital for medical attention. Tom lost his consciousness again…

Once again, Tom opened his eyes and realised that he was admitted to the hospital, laying on a stark-white bed sheet. Sitting next to Tom was his mum, who told him that he was travelling with his dad in that morning and they were involved in a car accident. As a result, Tom’s dad had injured his head badly and fell into a state of coma. Tom’s dad needs a miracle to wake up for coma. Unable to cope with the truth, Tom shed tears from his eyes, wondering how he can carry on with his life without his dad being around him. Tom was then discharged from the hospital two days after the accident.

*** ***

In a calm and quiet night, Tom, who was in his bedroom reading his favorite bedtime storybook noticed something unusual. He heard a continuous television stand-by sound in his right ear but there was no television placed in his room! That noise never stops ringing in his ear and he never experienced it in his 22 years long life! It caused Tom unable to fall asleep that night. The next morning, he woke up with two swollen, black eyes because he kept on hearing the noise in his ears through the night.

Tom went to see a doctor and was diagnosed to have tinnitus, a ringing or booming sensation in the ear caused by prolonged exposure in a noisy environment or ear infection. It must be a backwash by the loud crash of the accident a few days ago. The doctor told him that the noise will soon fades away, but now he has no choice but to live and tolerate with it. Tom took some medication and prays that the noise will go away soon. This was a huge problem for Tom because he’s a pianist and had to perform in a mini-concert after two days.

*** ***

Tom’s condition does not improve after two days and he was still hearing the noise in his ear. Worst of all, he had to perform on stage live with hundred of audiences watching his performance that night. “Why the noise hasn’t go away? Cut it off!” The noise was definitely getting onto his nerves and affected his concentration to perform. One of the audiences sitting in the hall was Tom’s mom. However, the sit beside Tom’s mom was empty because it was reserved for his dad. He knew that his dad, who was under comatose state will never make it to his performance and he was really upset about it.

He strived for his best and played his piano with full concentration and effort. Nothing can stop him at that moment, not even tinnitus. He knew that his dad would be very proud of him if he were in the hall enjoying his performance. After Tom’s performance, every audience gave him a standing ovation and his mom was grinning ear to ear upon his performance. Suddenly, Tom received a SMS message: “Tom, I’m very proud of you”…