A Final Prank That Goes Up in Flames

For the 101st time, my boyfriend, Carl Hopper, plays a prank on me by hiding my hearing aid. He tells me, "The same old rules apply. If you can't guess where I hid it, you'll have to go through the night without being able to hear anything as a punishment." That night, a fire breaks out in the apartment building. Carl knocks a few times on my room door and urges me to hurry downstairs, then turns right around and shields my best friend, Joanna Kingston, out of the apartment. By the time I wake up, choking on the thick smoke, I'm already trapped in the blazing fire. I lean out the window, shouting for help, and just so happen to spot Carl in the crowd. He has Joanna huddled in his arms as he gently comforts her. Neither of them even remembers that I'm still inside the building. Before I suffocate to death, I suddenly recall how I stubbornly insisted on transferring into the Music Department previously, all so I could be with Carl. At the time, a frowning Carl said to me, "Rebecca Jink, have you forgotten that you're deaf?" When I next open my eyes, I realize that I've gone back to that day in my second year of university, when I was applying to transfer departments. Out of anger, Carl has hidden away my hearing aid once more. Bowing my head, I cancel my application to transfer departments. Now that I've gotten a second chance at life, I refuse to be the target of their pranks again.