Jan. 23, 2026 | Impact Stories | Deepa Thapa

Haunting Slippers

An eight-year-old hearing-impaired girl walks up to me, smiling, her hands gently speaking a language of silence. In the middle of our silent conversation, my eyes fall to her slippers and suddenly freeze.. The embossed smiley face on her left slipper is torn away, impossible to miss. That missing smile has been haunting me ever since.