Blinded By Life
Chapter 8

My explorations were slow and painful. Rowan wanted me to learn the layout of each room without using the wall for support. As I made my first round around the room, I took very small steps and held my hands out in front of me. Even so, I kept stubbing my toes on the legs of furniture. As I went I tried to paint a mental map of the room in my head. The phone rang in the kitchen and I heard Rowan pick it up as I, yet again, rammed my toe into the coffee table.

“Hello?” I heard Rowan ask the person on the receiving end of the telephone.

I stumbled as my foot found and tripped over the rug in the living room. I caught myself though when my hand brushed the couch’s arm and prevented myself from falling on my face. I silently cursed the rug that I could not see. I growled to myself for be so incompetent and stood up tally. I walked forward without arms extended and taking big steps. I didn’t care anymore; I had decided to confidently walk through the room without falling over and getting hurt.

“Holden, watch out!” Rowan paused his conversation and yelled from the kitchen.

I didn’t have time to react to whatever he was telling me to watch out for. I didn’t even know what I was supposed to be avoiding, so I kept walking. I found out though, in a very painful way, as I smacked into the glass doors on the back side of the house. I hadn’t even remembered that the wall was there, I was so focused on not getting dizzy or falling over that I had forgot that the small living room was surrounded by walls. Being unprepared to smack into something solid, and having hit my head hard and gotten dizzy, I fell back and onto the ground.

I groaned painfully and decided that I would just lay there for a while and recuperate. I listened in to Rowans conversation as my head began to throb painfully. If I listened very carefully, I could almost make out what the person on the other end of the line was saying.

“What happened?” I heard the faint voice from the phone. It was slightly squeaky and distorted because of the phone and the distance.

“Oh, that was my little brother; he ran into something.” Rowans voice was pointed towards me and coming closer.

“Oh yeah, you just got a brother didn’t you? What is he like? Is he completely anti-social or is he some loudmouth, arrogant brat?”

I frowned at the two options I could have possibly been classified in.

Rowan laughed, whether from my expression or what the person on the phone said, I couldn’t tell. I felt Rowan’s hand grab mine and pull me upward. I followed his lead and pushed myself up as well. He led me over to the couch and sat me down as he retreated to the kitchen. I heard the fridge open and I leaned my pounding head back on the couch, wishing the pain would go away as the large lump on my forehead throbbed with each beat of my heart.

“I don’t think he is either of those,” Rowan replied as I heard him digging around in something loud. “But he is definitely a stubborn kid.”

“Dude, me and the guys have decided to come over tonight. We want to meet your little brother and we want him to see how awesome his brother’s friends are.”

Rowan laughed lightly as he walked back into the living room and stood behind the couch. He placed something shockingly cold on my forehead. Out of reflex, my hand reached up to feel what could be so cold that it even hurt. My hand found Rowan’s holding a plastic Ziploc bag filled with ice and cold water. I relaxed as I realized the coldness was only numbing my skin. Rowan removed his hand, letting me hold the bag to my forehead.

“So, we’re planning on coming over around six and we’re bringing Chinese!” The voice on the phone exclaimed.

“Cool, we’ll be here.”

“Later.”

I heard the phone beep off as Rowan ended the call.

“Who was that?” I asked as I heard him walk towards the kitchen and place the phone on the dock.

“It was my friend, Owen. I haven’t talked to them since before you got here, so I let them come over.” He walked around the couch and plopped down next to me.

I lifted my head and scowled in Rowan’s general direction, “Why’d you do that? Do they even know yet?”

Rowan was silent and I wondered what he was doing. “No, I haven’t told them about you being blind,” He said solemnly. I had the feeling that he was staring intently at me, as if searching my soul.

“Good; don’t tell them. I don’t want them to know about me being blind.” I said as I rest my head back against the couch again.

“Why not?”

“Because…” I searched my mind for a good enough reason that would make Rowan keep my secret. “I don’t want them to look down on me or think less of me because I’m blind; I don’t want them to treat me differently. Do you promise?”

“Yeah, sure; I know my friends, and I don’t think that they’ll hold a different opinion of you just because you have a disability. But, they’re going to find out sooner or later, especially Steven, he’s a sharp one.”

I removed the plastic bag from my head ad squished it around in my hands, paying attention to how the water flowed around in the bag and sagged between my fingers.

“Get up and stop procrastinating; you need to learn how to navigate through the house by yourself and without using the walls as your guide. When you think you’ve got the layout down I’ve got something to give you, so hurry up.”

I stood up and threw the ice bag to Rowan. I smiled inwardly when I heard him catch it out of the air. I stepped around the coffee table and started my exploration, making a mental note not to run into the glass doors again.

Rowan had jumped in the shower real quick before his friends came over and had given me a small puzzle to work on. I didn’t really know what it was, except that, somehow, the two metal rings could separate. I didn’t know how, seeing as neither had an open end and each were strange shapes. Maybe the odd shapes somehow made it possible for the two to disconnect. I was determined to finish this puzzle though; I wouldn’t let it slow me down. In my conquest to defeat the metal puzzle, I heard the water from the shower turn off. A few minutes later, the door bell chimed.

“Can you get that?” Rowan yelled from the bathroom.

I paused in my mad puzzle mode, still holding the conundrum in my hands. I stayed where I was and breathed in a fresh breath of air, psyching myself out for meeting Rowan’s friends and readying myself to act sighted.

The doorbell rang again.

“Holden!” Rowan again shouted. He must have been naked, I guessed, or else he would have come and answer the door himself.

I pulled on the hat I had retrieved from my bedroom and made sure it was pulled low over my eyes; I hoped it would cast enough shade to make my misty eyes less noticeable. I stood and walked to the door, setting my puzzle on the couch. I pulled open the door and looked at where I knew the visitors would be.

“Hello?” I asked, my voice neutral.

“Yo, you must be the little man!” One said. He sounded a lot like the voice I had heard on the phone, but I wasn’t sure.

“Um, yeah.”

“So, can we come in?” He asked expectantly.

I nodded and stepped back, pulling the door further open. I smelled the hot fresh Chinese food as they entered and I felt my stomach growl softly.

“So what’s your name?” The same person asked. I shut the door, assuming everyone that was going to enter had entered.

“I’m Holden.”

“My name’s Owen,”

I held my hand out to shake, not knowing if his was already stretched out. He chuckled once, but grabbed my hand and shook it strongly.

“Introduce yourself Pee Wee, don’t be shy,” he spoke again.

Another guy cleared his throat and said one word, “Steven.” His low voice came from a ways above me and I surmised that he was a very tall guy.

I held out my hand, but did not feel his grasp mine. Instead the next person spoke, a girl with a deep yet, strangely attractive voice.

“My name’s Cameron, nice to meet ya.”

When I heard her voice, I turned in her direction and stuck out my hand. I was surprised, though, when instead of a hand, a large, steaming paper bag was set in my hand. I almost dropped it, but caught it just in time with my other hand. The sudden weight nearly threw me off balance and I just about fell over.

She laughed silently at my struggles.

“Hey guys!” Rowan called from the hallway.

Cameron grunted and Owen replied with a hearty hello.

“Mmm, I see you guys pulled through and actually did bring the food,” Rowan said as he came closer to his friends and greeted them individually.

I didn’t know where to ‘look’ so I tilted my head down, hoping it didn’t seem too weird.

“I can’t believe you went and found yourself a little brother,” Cameron said with that unique voice. I was sure I would hear no other person that had quite the same voice as hers. As she spoke, her voice seemed to move away from me. I heard Owen’s and Steven’s feet follow her voice and I looked in that direction, wondering what to do with the food.

“Holden, come on, let’s eat,” Rowan called, also farther away than where he had been; I followed his voice and the sound of the groups feet as they stepped onto the hard linoleum floor. I used the sounds and my rough mental map to walk in a semi-straight line and not run into things or fall over. When I entered the kitchen, I kept walking until my toe jammed into the leg of the table. I clenched my teeth, holding in shout of pain, and set the paper bag carefully on the table. I stood next to the table as I heard plates being retrieved out of the cabinet, chairs being pulled out, the paper bag be ripped open, and a pop when one of the small cardboard takeout containers were opened.

“I’ll get you a plate,” Rowan said from beside me, I looked up in his direction, not hearing him step beside me.

“No, that’s okay, I’m not really hungry.” I said softly. I turned and walked cautiously out of the kitchen, trying not to stumble or reach out to a wall for support. I sat on the couch and picked up the small metal puzzle, beginning again my quest to solve it. I kept my ears open, listening to the conversation in the kitchen.

“See, look what you’ve gone and done; now the kid doesn’t like us,” Owen spoke loudly in a joking tone.

“Well, the punk can just suck it up and get over it; it’s the guy’s job to be a gentleman and take heavy things off a woman’s hands anyway,” Cameron said coolly.

Rowan didn’t comment on that subject, and I couldn’t even hear Steven, the topic was quickly changed by Cameron.

“So, did you finish editing the song?”

Rowan answered somewhat mumbled, he was probably talking with his mouth full again, “Yeah, I finished it a couple nights ago. I’ll show it to you after we eat.”

They followed their plans and I heard them follow Rowan out of the kitchen, pass me, and into Rowans bedroom. They had left the door open and a few seconds later I heard the song Rowan had shown me the previous night.

Someone sat down next to me and I spun my head toward the person, having not heard them walk over. He didn’t say anything, so I turned my head back down at my puzzle. I jingled with metal object frustrated and tried to force one of the shapes through the other to no avail.

“Can I see it?” The person next to me asked.

His voice was pretty low and his tone even. Steven was the name I immediately put with it. I held the puzzle towards him and he picked it up off of my hand. I heard a soft jingle sound as he solved it and then he was silent again. A moment later I felt two cool, metal objects be set in the palm of my hand. I frowned, looking straight ahead, and felt their shapes with my fingers. “How did you…” I asked, still studying the solved puzzle with my hands.

“You’re blind.”

I stopped examining the metal puzzle, berating myself for being so obvious that someone would figure out my secret so soon. He picked the puzzle up from my hand again and, after a few jingles and clanks, he set it in my hand again as it had been before he solved it. “No I’m not,” I said. Even to myself I sounded unconvincing.

The music stopped in Rowans room and I heard them digging around in something loudly. “They don’t know yet, but you should tell them sooner rather than later,” Steve spoke again in his monotone voice after a moment of silence.

I turned my head towards him and tried to stare him down with my unseeing eyes. Steven was a very quiet and neutral guy. Rowan had said that he was also very smart. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that he had figured me out so quickly, if Rowan’s word was anything to go by. “I don’t want to tell them,” I said softly.

Steven replied no more and I heard Rowan, Cameron and Owen come back to the living room. It sounded like they were carrying things, but I wasn’t sure what they were.

“Hey, Pee Wee, we’re gonna to have a jam session; here’s your bass.” Owen called. Steven stood tall and accepted the offered guitar, strapping it around his shoulder.

“I guess we can set up in front of the glass doors, that’s were there will be the most room.” Rowan spoke to my left, in the vicinity he had been talking about.

“I’ll move the couch to give us some more room.” Owen said as I heard his footsteps walk towards the end of the couch. In the back of my mind I remembered how hard it was to memorize the layout of the living room – it had taken me all day and I still struggled with it – and I didn’t want to have to relearn my way around.

“Don’t!” Rowan and I said almost at the same time.

Owen paused and I felt his eyes on me.

“Why not?” he asked, confused.

I opened my mouth to explain and cover up with a lie, but no believable excuse presented itself.

Steven spoke in his calm voice and I was relieved that I wouldn’t have to explain, but turned angry at him as he continued speaking. “If you move the furniture around, Holden won’t be able to find his way around the house since he’s blind.”

I scowled and turned my head away from the group, waiting for them to reject me.

“The punk’s blind and didn’t tell us?” Cameron spoke in her low, beautiful voice.

Owen continued where she left off, “Well, don’t expect us to be especially nice to you just ‘cause you can’t see.”

I went back to working on the puzzle in my hands.

“I think we can all squeeze into the empty area of the room,” Rowan finally said.

They set up a little longer and plugged in the speakers before one by one they joined into the steady strum Rowan created.

I listened to them as I worked on solving the puzzle, thinking to myself that their band sounded really good.