A story written for my teacher, good enough to post on fictonpress, 'cause my account needs it.

Let us talk about Eileen Hayes; she is one of the most noticeable students in her 6th grade class. One reason being is that in a room full of brown-haired and blonde-haired children she is the only one with wine-red hair and vibrant emerald eyes, and, you can call her many things outside of her name.

'Ginger!'

'Tall freak!'

'Weirdo!'

'Spider-legged jerk!'

Obviously, to the naked eye, the eleven year old had no abnormalities let alone deformities, in a way that could be irony, for in modern terms Eileen's parents were 'little-people.' as she continued to age; their offspring grew to be tall; tall enough to rival with a few fellow boy classmates in height.

She was not like the other giddy girls in her class—well, giddy and excitable when she wished to be yes, but as they preferred to isolate themselves from the male children and their filthy shenanigans; talking and speaking of more feminine things. Eileen dove right into the male's tomfoolery as if she too was of their gender.

In addition, as a rival she was in height, a rival she was in strength.

This made her like a useful tool in sports, however, when suffering a loss in any game {especially baseball} she would slam the bat down; screeching in anger and attempting to pull the deep red strands from her head. If someone laughed, the child would lunge at him; and so, the teacher would leap to pry the two immediately.

The boys only wished for her presence during a few games; the girls were slightly intimidated or too uppity in mannerisms to want to be near her, so, despite being a good 'tool' in games, Eileen was virtually an outcast.

Now, let us talk about Mairi Ferguson: a female finally too old to refer to as a child, but instead a 'young adult.' Instead of auburn-like-hair and vibrant green eyes, Mairi was born with tawny hair, and at one time vibrant cerulean eyes. Unfortunately now, those bright eyes had been 'foggy;' unable to see the beauty of the world among her.

'She's so…dull.'

'I guess her dog led her to the wrong side of the bed.'

'I wish she'd smile more.'

'She's ALWAYS criticizing!'

Minus the company of her guide dog, she had no friends, and lived alone. Living alone she felt established her independence although she had been handicapped, and keeping a healthy distance from her colleagues helped her study; she full-heartedly believed, thus Mairi only had the briefest conversations with the men and women who attended her community college.

Within the cul-de-sac she resided in, the very same one Eileen's parents also had, the little children spoke of her as though she was a witch. Unless she was going to school, she never left her monotonous painted home, they also assumed due to her lack of vision; she stole eyes. Therefore, due to her handicap and chosen self-isolation, Mairi was an outcast.

Definitely, Eileen and Mairi would never intermingle, especially with their age gap.

The moment the sound of breaking glass was audible was the very same moment Ryella and Eileen fled the scene. The shorter blond girl had retreated far off elsewhere, while the redhead immediately ran home.

In her opinion, her bedroom was the safest spot to be, so, instantly she was there: trying to appear so though she had done nothing. Now upon her messy bed, she needed to act as though she was doing something more than just staring at her wall thus she blindly reached for the nearest book, a dictionary of all things.

Literally not judging a book by its cover {or how a good 'cover-up' should have looked} the child pretended to be enlightened by words—words that had been upside-down.

'She's blind…!' The child's conscience told her for reassurance whilst her bottom lip continued to quiver. 'SHE'S BLIND. There's NO way she could have seen me at her window!'

"Eileen?" her mother's inquisitive eyes stared to her, "…honey?"

"WH-WHAT?!" If she had been some cartoon character, Eileen's heart would have burst out of fear—alternatively, she would have shot through the roof. But instead, the eleven year olds body trashed quite hard; so hard that the dictionary she wield fell from her hands—doing a few spirals in the air before falling into her pale palms once again. "H-hi mommy!" she stammered.

The inquisitive look altered into one of concern on Mrs. Hayes, her tiny fingers lingered upon the white paint of the doorway; "Sweetie, what are you doing?"

"Studying!"

"In the dark…?" Eileen literally smacked her forehead; she should have thought about opening the blinds! "…from an upside down…dictionary?" Mrs. Hayes still continued to sound concerned rather than a skeptic.

"I said READING mom!" The redhead bluntly lied, poking out her lips.

"Oh…" could have sworn she heard 'studying.' "Well…while I was in the kitchen and I heard this noise outside, and wondered if you had gotten hurt! But, I see you're in here… reading!" upon saying reading, the short woman's tone held an clear amount to pride to see her offspring focus upon academics rather than those dirty sports.

"Yeah!"

"I'll just go finish cooking then…" she waddled away from the doorway, "Dinner'll be done in a few!"

"Kay!"

With a heavy sigh, Eileen tossed aside the book feeling much relief wash over her. Lucky for her, her mother had been quite gullible unless confronted with the truth, and, no one would know the truth about this situation.

Mairi was blind; all the handicapped woman would be aware of was that her window was broken. She would not know it was a kid, but perhaps a robber instead!

However, Eileen did not think of how dogs could pick up scents. Not until there had been a knock on the door.

"Oh, hello!" there was much surprise to see the handicapped woman upon her doorstep with her canine. "C-can I help you?"

"My dog led me here." Mairi flatly answered as within her twenty-year olds left palm her fingers constantly ran over something circular and white with a few redlines—a baseball.

"Doesn't you daughter like to play sports…?"

In mere seconds, Mrs. Hayes' had replaced pride with disappointed fury.

"Eileen Molly Hayes!"

The blond woman's voice had not been loud, but highly stern; sounding as a typical mother on the television set among Mairi—said woman sat across from Eileen in the Hayes' living room chair and as stoic as her expression was, she was smiling smugly from within. While the third female within the room tried not to look anywhere outside of the palms of her hands; in times of scolding Eileen's hands had been the most interesting thing to her for some reason.

"Just wait until your father gets home young lady! He'll have a strong talking with you! And at the top of it all…you…you lied to me!"

"Sorry mommy…"

"No!" she held up her index finger, "Don't say sorry to me! Say it to her!" that same index finger pointed to the 'other' redhead; hesitantly Eileen's eyes rolled over to her, at that moment a shudder ran down her spine. "I'm…sorry." Quickly, Eileen averted her vision to her palms.

"Louder young lady!"

"I'M SORRY!"

"Huh…well…you should tell that to my window." Mairi continued to hold a 'poker-face', although within; she was snickering, the child only made a puzzled expression at the statement.

"Wh…"

"I am just—"her nearly sobbing mother cut her off, "So sorry Ms. Ferguson!" Soon Eileen's brain drifted far from this situation, it sounded as though she was drowning, and her mother was upon land speaking. "I-if there is ANYTHING—"

'Ferguson? Pft. What kind of name is that? S'like…fungus!' Mairi sat unfazed in her seat, silently listening. 'How come she doesn't wear sunglasses? It's not like she can actually see…and that dog.'

Once noticing how someone other than its master was staring at him, the humongous canine released a low furious growl that caused Eileen to instantly stopped observing.

"Is there anything we can do?"

"No."

"No?"

"No." The slender woman arose from the seat, grabbing her snow-colored dog by the leash Mairi slowly exited. Still worried, Mrs. Hayes watched her walk down the circular wooden stones that led to the family's front door. "I'll…I'll try to repay for damages!"

And…that was that, Eileen supposed. Trying to be silent as a mouse, she arose from the tan sofa; attempting to escape the living room. Her mother had unfortunately noticed,

"Eileen!"

Frantically, the child waved her arms as if trying to signal something; "I said sorry mommy!"

"You hardly sounded sympathetic! That poor woman…blind, no one but that dog…she lives again." Again, Mrs. Hayes looked out the door and it was as though she was blind to how well Mairi walked down the curving sidewalk. "…and has to sleep all night with a dent in her window! Isn't that sad?" Eileen was not blind, seeing how independent the elder was, so, she shrugged her green-clad shoulders,

"I'unnooo…looks okay to—"

"Eileen!"

"It's SAD! But… she…can…patch it up?"

"I want you to walk her home and see if you help!"

"What?!" Eileen frowned, eyebrows flexing, "Mooommm she's creepy! The others said she has jars full of ey—"

"Right now young lady!"

Loudly scoffing, Eileen walked out the door unpleasantly knowing Mairi did not need her help. "HEY! Uh…" what was her last name again, "MRS. FERGUSON!"

"It's Ms. Not Mrs., I'm not married." From afar, Mairi calmly stated, not giving the fellow redhead a second glance, "Shouldn't you be studying?" by now, Eileen had caught up to her with 'long' strides from her spider-y legs.

"Is that a joke?!" Eileen immaturely snapped this followed a low snicker audible for the briefest of moments. Having no choice but to get over it, she pouted; putting her hands upon her hips. "Anyways, mom wanted me to help you fix your window!"

"Great." Mairi opened her door for herself and her dog. "Cause me more trouble."

Standing on the pavement to her front door, the child's eyes lit and she balled her firsts,

"Oh! So, I can go then?!"

"I don't think your mother would take you in just yet."

From her kitchen window, on a stool, Mrs. Hayes could have intently been watching Eileen's actions. "Yeah…you're rig—"about to step in, the guide-dog released its second snarl to Eileen, making the child instantly intimidated.

"Down Killer." Mairi yanked at its leash two times before turning around so, Eileen's fear ceased, replaced with humorous feels.

"You named your dog Killer?!"

"What's so funny about that?" The brightness in Eileen's eyes died off, Mairi had not been creepy as rumors said, just incredibly dour. Growing impatient, she folded her arms,

"So do you want me to put ta—"

"Just sit down." Mairi's pale hands made contact with the sofa's material, "I can do everything myself."

"But mom says you—"

"I can't what?"

Metaphorically, Eileen bit her tongue, "N-never mind..." the older woman then nodded, disappearing into the nearby pattern-tiled kitchen. Out of place, Eileen stared around the home; wishing she had been in her own at this very moment. It had not been extraordinary or elegant just—average.

The full-looking couch against the center wall had slight rips upon it; the matching navy blue chairs in separate corners looked equally worn out. A lot of the furniture in this home must have been hand-me-downs.

Then, the sixth grader took notice of the pictures that hung about, other than what she guessed was Mairi's family; there had been gorgeous paintings of rivers; seagulls flying over them, a lone wooden stump sitting upon the setting horizon.

Close-minded, Eileen wondered why a blind woman would have pictures of such a theme; was it all a coincidence that they dealt with the life of sailing the sea? She could not have known what she was getting since she was unable to see, right?

"How old are you?"

Jumping out of her skin like a terrified feline again, the rambunctious child quickly replied to Mairi, "Ten! I-I mean…eleven!"

"I have a nephew your age." Slowly but steadily, the woman walked to her dented window; the slight breeze coming in had told her that this was the location, and, Eileen waddled to her, eyes full of curiosity,

"Is he blind too!?"

Realizing what she exclaimed, she covered her mouth afterward, hoping it would not be offensive. Obviously, it had been, for Mairi's tone held certain iciness to it,

"No." she then unrolled the duck tape; which made its natural obnoxious rip-like noise. "I wasn't born blind. I remember how things look." Far too long, the thick tape rolled down to the dark carpet, to their feet. Bewildered, Eileen pondered why Mairi would do such a thing, but responded to her words instead of asking another question.

"I didn't know that!"

"Well, I never told."

Eileen then bent down, wielding the tape in her hands; actually attempting to help.

"So…you like…water?" she dumbly tried to carry on the conversation,

"I'm terrified of it."

"So you don't bathe?!"

Mairi could not believe her ignorance, "No…bodies of water. Like an ocean." The child's lips opened in an 'ooh' manner. "When I was about your age, I wanted to be a sailor—"pause, she noticed that the mid-section of the silvery tape was not in the possession of her hands, "What're you doing?"

"Helping!"

"I told you to sit down." Mairi frowned while the child mischievously grinned.

"Well, mom's probably watching me from outside, so I better help!" Mairi heavily exhaled, not wanting to bicker, Eileen continued to smile; folding a bit of the tape; "I wanna be a baseball player when I'm a grown-up!"

"Oh I'm sure you would be great with that." Her grin became wider, believing this to be praise. "You'll toss balls at people's heads instead of the mitt."

"Wha?! Nuh-uh!"

And as the woman and the child had spent their time talking while 'fixing' the window. Eileen learnt new things from the young adult, and although Mairi would not openly say it; she too learned a few things from the burgundy haired child. Eventually the time had come to say goodbye.

"How'd you go blind?" With that last question, Eileen stood in the doorway; the setting sun reflected upon her red hair.

"Don't you have to go home?" Mairi raised an eyebrow whilst the younger girl wiggled a bit,

"C'mon tell me! My house is just right…there!"

"Another time."

"If I come back tomorrow will you tell?" she pouted. Mairi rolled her eyes, it took a few seconds but she finally gave a reply of;

"Maybe."

Joyously, the child pumped her fist in the air and let out an exclamation of glee; and soon enough she was gone. Juvenile as ever, she took the route by dashing through the blind woman's yard. Just by the sound of a foot smooshing against grass, Mairi had known the child had done wrong. However, as she did with most things; the young adult made no fuss about it; simply shutting her door.

Despite being a good 'tool' in games, Eileen was virtually an outcast.

Due to her handicap and chosen self-isolation, Mairi was an outcast.

Definitely, they would never intermingle, especially with their age gap. However, people always interact through unpredictable-yet-mundane events: from a simple bump on the sidewalk, to vandalizing your property unintentionally. In addition, with a word said to one another, relationships of an unknown kind can occur.