Seeing Without Vision - Oneshot

Most of us are physically capable of seeing things. But very few pepole can actually see.

People ask me all the time if I miss seeing colors. They say a life in blackness sounds depressing, dull, boring. It’s not that bad. Everyone feels sorry for me, but they really don’t need to.

When Joe enters my room, I know it’s him before he speaks. I look up from the Braille book, smiling. I hear his footsteps cross the room and I feel the bed sink when he sits down next to me. I turn my head in his direction. “Hey.”

“Hey, Nicky.” He runs a hand through my hair, around the back of my head, and down my neck. I close the book, setting it aside, and run my hand over his chest, feeling the shirt and the tie he’s wearing. I take it in my hand, feeling the soft fabric. I can’t see it, but I know it’s blue.

I can sense it when he smiles. And I smile too. He wraps an arm around me and I lean into him.

Joey and I are closer than normal brothers. We do stuff that most brothers shouldn’t do. We love each other more than we should. We know people would hate us if they found out. So no one ever finds out. “How was your day?” he asks me kindly.

“It was good,” I smile. “How was yours?”

I feel his shoulders move up, then down, in a shrug. “It was average. I guess. I missed you.”

I giggle childishly. “I missed you too!”

What I like about Joe is that he doesn’t treat me any different. While everyone else tries to help me, and feels sorry for me, he treats me like a real person. He worries about me a lot, but he doesn’t judge me at all. My inability to see has never been an issue for him, and I love that. Everyone else pities me. But I’m really fine. I can find my way around on my own, and I know every inch of this town, especially the woods just beyond our house. I know every inch of those. I know secrets no one else does. But I want to share them, with Joey.

He bends down and kisses me sweetly on my lips, filling my stomach with warm butterflies.

I smile, and stand up off the bed. I head towards the door and then look back at Joe with my pale, sightless eyes.

“C’mere.”

“Where are you going?” Joe asks as he stands up, and I can sense his confusion.

“We,” I correct him. “You’ll see where we are going. I want to show you something.”

I head out the door., running my hand along the wall and finding the stairs. I grip the banister tightly, stepping down each step carefully. I know there’s fifteen steps, so I never trip on them. Joe seems worried about me, but he doesn’t try to help me. He follows close behind me as I walk over to the front door, feeling it and gripping the handle.

“Nick? Where are we going?” he asks again.

“Ourside,” I say simply. I don’t need anything to guide or help me when I’m outside in the open. I know exactly how to get to the woods, and when I get there I know where every tree, every rock, every stream is, Joe follows me outside with slow footsteps, and I can feel his hesitation. I want him to trust me.

“Joey,” I say, taking his hand and squeezing it. “Trust me. I know where I’m going.”

“Alright…”

I can’t see anything, obviously, but I know where we are. I walk along the sidewalk with Joe, walking twenty big paces before I listen for cars, then cross the street. The woods are right here, stretching on until they end a few hundred meters down.

“Why are we going towards the woods?”

“Because we’re going in them silly,” I tell him, smiling as I step carefully off the sidewalk and onto the grass, walking towards the trees. I keep one arm stretched out o feel where I’m going, and I sigh happily as I listen to the calling of the birds, rustling the leaves in the trees. I look towards Joe.

“Take your tie off.”

“…My tie?” he repeats, and I nod, reaching up to feel it. He unfastens the necktie, and I take it gently out of his hand. I press it over his eyes, and he gasps a little bit.

“Nick!”

“Trust me.”

I hear him swallow as I tie it behind his head. “Just listen, Joey. And feel. Take everything in. Listen to the trees, the wind, the birds… just relax.”

I feel his arm muscles relax, and I assume he’s following my directions. I walk forward again, carefully, my fingers laced in his.

“See, Joey, sometimes, vision gets in the way. Sometimes you have to stop seeing to really [i]see[i].”

We are silent for a while, holding hands and just standing there, taking in the autumn air. “Have you ever been down here before?”

“Once or twice…” Joe mumbles. I nod, tugging gently on his arm before I walk forward. He follows my lead, staying close to me, our shoulders practically pressed up against each other. I know there’s a creek coming up, and sure enough, after several steps I feel a dip. Like I do every time, I dip my toe into the water, feeling how far down it might be.

“Stop,” I tell Joe. “We’re at a creek.”

“A creek?!”

I nod. “Don’t take the tie off…” I crouch down, picking a stone up. I toss it gently into the water, hearing a splash. I pick up another, tossing it a bit harder, and I hear nothing.

As I already knew, the creek is about three and a half feet across.

“It’s a little less than four feet wide…” I say. “We have to jump.”

“Jump?” Joe sounds scared. “Four feet?! But I have to see to do that!”

I shake his head. “You can do more than you think you can. You just need to trust me.”

“Nick…”

I squeeze his hand, stepping back a few small steps, then leaping forward. I land safely on the other side, as I always do. Smiling, I get up and turn around. “Your turn, Joey! Don’t take the blindfold off! I’ll know if you do. Just jump!”

I hear Joe take a deep breath, and then I hear him scream as he jumps across the lake. And then I hear a thud as he lands neatly on the ground next to me, breathing heavily. I take his hands.

“You did it!”

“I jumped…?”

I nod. “You jumped, Joey!” I reach up and feel his face. The tie’s still around his eyes. I hug him tightly.

“Wow,” Joe mutters. I nod, smiling at him, taking his hand again. He doesn’t hesitate or pull back anymore as we walk along the grassy, dirty ground. A light breeze blows against our faces, making my curls bounce against my forehead. Something, an animal, scurries by us. A bird swoops down, close to our heads, calling as it does. Joe screams a little in surprise, and I just laugh and pull him forward.

We jump over another lake – a bigger one this time. And we jump together, laughing as we land on the bank. I stumble, and he helps me to my feet. I keep one arm stretched out to feel where I’m going, as we walk on.

“You do know how to get back home, right?”

I laugh, and tell him that yes, I do. I sigh happily as we come to the meadow near the end of the woods. I know it’s getting late, because it’s starting to get colder. Joey and I stand in the middle of the meadow, and I grip his hand.

“Listen to everything. Smell the air… feel the wind,” I smile, squeezing his hand. He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. I d the same, listening to the scurrying of small animals in the brush, the calling of birds, the wind in the trees.

“It’s getting late.”

“Yeah…” Joe whispers. “I think the sun is setting by now.”

I sit down on the grass, pulling Joe down with me. “What does the sunset look like?” I ask him, leaning back on him. “Take the tie off… tell me what it looks like.”

Joe wraps his arms around me. He takes the necktie from around his neck, placing it in my hands. He lets out a breath. “It’s mostly orange… some of the clouds are pink, or purple, and there’s still some blue and gray over to the left…”

I sigh happily, turning around so I’m sitting facing him. “Kiss me, Joey.”

Joe obliges, leaning down and pressing his soft lips to my chapped ones. I smile as he kisses me sweetly and gently, melting under his touch. We pull away, and I really wish I could see his face. I run my hand over his cheek, smiling a really huge smile.

“I love you, Nick,” Joe whispers. “…Thanks." 

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