Blind
#2 of Writing group challenge
My writing group has weekly writing prompts that we can do to improve our skills. This week's being "It's been so long that I've forgotten what it was like."
Thanks again to those in the Writing Corner for helping with this story. (Interested in joining us? You can find it here: https://t.me/joinchat/CPoeZhclggenrOEh0yYwvg )
Learn more about Keratoconus here: https://www.keratoconus.org.au/about-kc/
Saying that your senses are heightened when you're blind is a misconception. It's more that you're forced to notice what has always been there but your other senses just drowned out. All it takes to perceive the world like a blind person is to take some time for yourself to listen _and _feel. Listen to the faint humming of the fridge in the kitchen, feel the texture of a book's cover, the smell of its paper.
Drake took this all in as he sat curled up in an armchair, eyes in a permanent squint and forced to press his nose against the page of his book in order to be able to make out the words on the page. But even then, the edges of the letters were blurred.
After a while he started getting a headache from straining his eyes for so long. He loved reading and read all the time when he was a kid. But now he could only read for a few minutes before he was forced to stop and put the book away to rest his eyes.
Drake sighed and got up from the chair, making his way to bed. A brown blob by the foot of the chair got up, wagging her tail as she eagerly followed her owner to bed. His mother got Drake the staffie/kelpie cross for emotional support when he was a kid soon after he had started losing his sight.
He watched his dog walk around on the spot before she slumped on her side at the foot of the bed. He had to admit, if it wasn't for the dog, he would've killed himself after his left cornea tore and worsened his sight more than it already was. He rubbed his eye at the memory of it, the pain was beyond compare.
He crawled into bed, getting a slight grumble from his dog when his feet nudged her from underneath the blankets. He wrapped himself up in his blankets and closed his eyes, waiting for over an hour for sleep to take him.
_Kids from his class ran by Drake, laughing and playing as he sat in a corner of the playground. It was his sixth birthday and he heard his family talking at the nearby picnic table. He looked at the slices of fairy bread. _
He happily took a bite of the sweet snack. He could see everything so clearly, the porousness of the bread, the streaks the knife made in the butter, and he could make out the individual hundreds and thousands sprinkled over the bread.
"Drake," said his mother, walking up to him, "Come open some presents."
"Okay," said Drake, still looking at his fairy bread.
He finished his bread and looked up at his mother's blurred face.
Drake jerked awake and stared at the clock on his bedside table. The numbers on the digital clock were too blurred to make out properly but the hour number looked thin so it was early in the morning. He laid there trying to remember.
A lump started to form in his throat and his sight blurred even more. He refused to breath or blink until he was forced to take a choked, sobbing gasp. He curled up into a ball, bringing his knees tight up against his chest.
His mattress creaked and shifted as his dog woke up and walked up to Drake. She nudged his head with her nose and let out small whimpers as tears streaked his face. He let out choked sobs as he tried to remember. But no matter how much he tried all he could remember was his mother's blurred face.
His dog whined louder and wormed herself up against Drake's chest and cuddled him as he sobbed into the night. Trying desperately to remember his mother's face.