Dim-sighted

by Felicia Evreux

  – Okay – she sighed and relaxed, her brother smiled and hold her tighter

  Terrence managed to lay Aly in the back seat and hopped in the driver seat with Briar next to him.

  As soon as they headed to the hospital, Terrence took Aly in his arms again and there was a nurse waiting for them.

  They followed her until she crossed some gates.

  – Stay here – Terrence instructed –. Don't move, mom and dad will come out soon – just then Briar realised they were standing in front of their consulting room

  – Alright – she sat down –. But where are they taking her? You know that if something happens to her I die! – She exclaimed with watery eyes

  – I know

  – Then tell me what is going on

  – Somebody donated the funds and the equipment

  – What? – He didn’t want to give more information since it was something never done before in Australia. It was between him, and their parents

  – I have to go, stay here okay?

  As surprised as Briar was, she just managed to nod.

  Once she found herself alone in the hallway she sighed deeply, trying not to cry.

  She didn't know if they were happy tears or panic tears because she didn't know what was going to happen; she didn't know if the so-called donator was serious or it was a joke. She didn’t know if the removal would be performed here or in the United States, she didn't know if Aly's body would take the change well or if she was going to reject it, she didn't know if Aly’s amber eyes that she and Terrence loved so much were going to look any different.

  Everything about her sister's sight was uncertain and that scared her more than what she would like to admit.

  – Briar? – she was snapped out of her thoughts by a deep voice and two fingers tapping her shoulder, she hmm-ed and looked up to find Tobias

  – What are you doing here?

  – I brought the donator for Aly’s surgery – he announced –. His parents are with your dad

  – Why?

  – They're signing the authorisation

  – But what happened? Who's the donator?

  – Bastian and I had an accident and he didn't make it out – he explained it as an abstract and as soon as those words rolled out of his mouth, Briar's jaw dropped to the floor and then a single tear ran down her cheek

  – That can't be

  Her heart shattered, starting to imagine how Aly was going to react and it wasn’t going to be good.

  – It was my fault – he sobbed looking down and a tear hit the ground

  – What happened?

  – He fell off the motorcycle and I just couldn't ... – he broke off and Briar felt sorry for him so much she forced herself to forget what happened and hugged him, he was one of her best friends once and a close next-door neighbour and now he was in pain; in some way, she felt she owed him, a minute later he continued –. He didn't die right afterwards, he said he felt broken and when the ambulance came he told me that he wanted to use a big part of his college fund to bring a specialist in cataracts so Aly could get her sight back and then a broken rib torn his aorta

  37

  After the cataracts were removed and the artificial lenses were placed, Aly was taken to a room with gauzes and a blindfold in her eyes.

  Sleeping thanks to morphine to be able to deal with the post-intervention effects and so the specialist could follow how her body was reacting to the change.

  The nurse changed her gauzes and administrated eye drops regularly to avoid infection and reduce inflammation.

  Five days later, Aly was finally set to wake up. Mom, dad, Briar, Terrence, Rae, Finn and Jesse waited loyally to see the reveal.

  The cotton and gauzes were taken off along with the blindfold.

  – Open your eyes slowly – the specialist ordered as soon as they sat Aly down in the hospital bed

  Aly did what she was told, slowly, she grimaced as her eyes adjusted to the light.

  And at last, Aly's world ceased to be cloudy and based on her imagination.

  She could see everything, including the people in front of her bed.

  – How do you feel? – She heard a voice and smiled because she could finally see the owner of that voice well

  – Finn – she stood up slowly and then went to hug him –. I feel good

  – We're glad – Rae voiced and Aly turned to hug her

  – Thanks, Rae – she smiled at the sight of her green eyes, red hair and freckles and hugged her

  – Hey – Jesse greeted

  – Jesse – Aly smiles widely and embraced him

  – Babe – Terrence opened his arms and Aly ran straight to him

  – Where's Bastian? – Aly asked after hugging her parents, and everyone acted as if they didn't hear –. Why the sepulchral silence, what's going on?

  – He won't be able to come out

  – We had an accident, Aly – she heard and turned around

  – What are you talking about? – She recognised her voice not long afterwards –. Tobias

  – He donated the funds to your surgery but didn't make it out alive – he looked down

  – What? – Aly's world stopped and made her way to the bathroom –. I need a moment – she informed before closing the door

  Her family and friends didn’t try to stop her because they knew that she truly needed it.

  She lost the first person outside family that didn’t look at her with pity.

  She locked the door and she went down until sitting down on the floor with tears in her cheeks giving her back to the door.

  A while later, the saltwater stopped running down and she stood up and looked herself in the mirror.

  "This is me," she thought watching the reflection of a brunette pale pretty girl with air dry tears in her rosy cheeks and her vibrant amber eyes holding water.

  She closed her eyes, sighed deeply and dried her cheeks with toilet paper trying to gain her composure.

  Love is about sacrifices, and even if she was dying inside, honour him was the least she could do and she was aimed to do it; daring to see all that she couldn't since she could recall. She promised him she was going to live, for the two of them.

  Death was the only thing in this world that didn’t have a solution and even if she still didn’t know the details of what happened, she hated that probably in a few days she was going to have to wear black on his behalf but on the other hand she was grateful because she was in his thoughts until his last moment.

  38

  Tobias drove the pick up straight to the dunes nervously with his hands sweating, because he knew that Anthony was following close to have his revenge.

  First, Anthony and his bullies headed to the dunes, and after telling Bastian that he had to pay for his betrayal and for giving them the back they started the whole thing as persecution, Anthony followed Bastian with a meat knife.

  Then, Felix and two other bullies ran into him also, to make him rush out of the dunes.

  Once in the driveway, Bastian crashed into a car hitting his ribs, then he fell. Tobias and Anthony found him lying in his back with his eyes opened.

  – What the bloody hell? – Tobias exclaimed after checking his pulse –. When we planned this you said you wanted to injure him, you didn't say anything about killing him

  – Collateral damages what’s done is done, make up a story so it'll look like an accident, quickly

  He called the ambulance and as they took him to the hospital, he called Bastian's parents to meet him there.

  Even if they didn’t spend so much time with their son as he knew they wanted to, it was going to hurt like hell.

  Then, he bit his lip trying to think about a believable story that could make Aly think he loved her so much until the end he wanted her to remember him as long as she lives.

  Tobias knew Bastian did love Aly, he fought so much for her it was obvious so it wasn’t entirely a lie. He tried to justify himself.

  He saw Bastian’s mom an
d his tough as stone dad crying and screaming heartbreakingly making his heart skip a beat several times.

  Bastian was barely 17 and it wasn’t fair that he died so young for a bully tosspot that wanted everything his way.

  It wasn’t fair that Tobias, being his long-time best friend was there with everything that happened and didn’t do anything, he didn’t try to stop Anthony since the beginning, he didn’t try to take his friend’s place because he was scared, and now Bastian was gone.

  It wasn’t fair.

  Then, he understood they couldn’t get away with it. It was murder, Bastian tried to defend himself and Anthony decided he deserved to be punished. Now the tables turned and Anthony and his gang of bullies deserved to be punished, including Tobias.

  Tobias understood he will be unable to live with the guilt of being implied in the murder of his best friend, so after the Brightons went home, he went to the police in order to surrender and to tell the truth.

  What happened was going to be in the news so he was resigned to the fact that Briar was never going to forgive him for hurting her and Aly was going to hate him for dragging Bastian to go out with him again, because he didn’t die instead of Bastian and at last, for lying to her.

  Using his cellphone as a proof, Tobias was processed for murder complicity and later, Anthony, Felix, Dalton, and Newton joined him.

  Justice had to be made and it was fair.

  They brought so much pain it was now their time to suffer and taste a spoon of their own chocolate.

  Just like that, Tobias was beginning to feel peace, paying for his mistakes.

  Epilogue

  The girl of the amber eyes could be found reading a manuscript sitting in front of her desk, her assistant Ebony left some papers next to her computer, and finally, she made the question she wanted to ask since she started to work for Aly

  – Who's this guy? Your husband, your brother… – she nodded at a picture in a silver frame

  – It's a long story

  – I've got time

  – He was a friend from senior secondary

  – But he's not your husband? You said you met him in senior secondary

  – I did but this is not him

  – Then who is he?

  – He's the reason why I can see you right now. His name was Bastian

  – What do you mean?

  – Cataracts developed in my eyes when I was 8 weeks old and glasses didn’t help. He died in an accident when I was 17 and he donated what I needed to get my sight back

  – How?

  – I remember that Tobias, a friend of Bastian was there in the hospital when they took me in and he said to my sister that they were in the ambulance when he told him to give my parents the authorisation to use his college fund so I could get my sight back, when they got to the hospital Tobias called Bastian's parents and they wanted to honour their son’s last wish – Aly decided not to say the fact it was all a lie –. And so they talked to my parents and then my parents called my brother and he brought a specialist from the United States to perform the removal, the first-ever made in Australia. I keep his picture because in the funeral I promised him and his parents that I will never forget what he did for me and I take his picture everywhere I go because he did for me something that no one really could; he cleared all the clouds I was so used to see and brought the sun back.