Light in the Darkness
I woke up to see what I see every morning; the dark. When people say they're afraid of the dark, they have no idea what I go through every single day. To wake up and see the dark, praying you'll see the light. I got out of bed. My routines have been memorized. By the way, I'm Pala. My parents are from Iceland but moved here when I was 14. I'm 17 now and we never stay in the same spot for too long. Therefore, I got a traditional name. The name Pala means small, but the ironic part is that I am apparently very small. I have no idea what I look like except for the descriptions my friends and family have given me. They say I have blonde hair and freckles with bright blue eyes. I'm very pale, the normal Icelandic features. But I'm, wait for it, wait for it… blind! It doesn't faze me though; I go on with my day as any other person would. I just have a stick some days, a dog or a helper others. Today, I'm using a person and a stick so I can find my way around the new school. Forks high go Spartans! I guess…My parents moved here for a reason. A reason I'd rather not remember. The reason we're always on the move, trying to run from our memories. I shuddered at the thought. Feeling my clothes, trying to figure which is which article. I found a pair of skinny jeans and a shirt.
"Mom! Can you tell me what color shirt this is?" I called to my mom. I think it was my purple shirt with a comic book page on it.
"It's your purple one with the comic book thing on it."
So I was right! I slipped on my clothes and grabbed my walking stick. "Good morning Pala." My father said.
"Good morning." I replied. My mom sat down some bacon. Without my sight, all of my other senses were a lot stronger. I could smell the bacon, and hear my mother walking between the sink and fridge. She was nervous for me.
"Mom, I'll be fine. Don't worry about me." I reassured.
"Mothers just do that honey. No matter how much you say you aren't nervous, another scenario pops in my mind!" she said nervously. She tried to hide her accent but whenever she was nervous it came out. I just shook my head.
"What time is it?" I asked.
"Oh, we need to go. I'll drive you." My dad said. The chair screeched on the floor and he grabbed my stuff. We headed out the door to his car. The drive was fairly short to Forks high. I opened the door but my dad grabbed my wrist.
"Pala, don't worry about your…issue. You're just like everyone else. Just, a little different." He said. I looked in the direction of his voice.
"I know. It's never been a problem before dad. I'll be fine." With that I walked away with my stuff. An upside to being blind is, I can't tell if people are staring at me. I'm guessing they were though. A new girl with a stick that is clearly not from around here will definitely attract attention. I had a tour of the school yesterday so I remembered the way to the main office. My stick wacked around making sure I was going the right way. I pushed the door open and plastered a smile onto my face.
"Hello, I'm Pala Stefansson. As you can tell, I'm new and blind. Not a great combination. Can I have some one help me find my way around for the next couple weeks?" I asked. She gasped. I could tell some one else entered the office.
"Oh, well of course you can. He just stepped in. This is Ryan Hale, he will help you for as long as you need." She said sweetly. Her voice was shaky, she was old. I turned around to where Ryan was standing.
"Hello." I said politely.
His voice seemed relatively close to me. I hadn't heard his footsteps. "Hello, I'm Ryan. You are?"
"Pala." I smiled. His voice was sweet. It reminded me of a snowy day. Beautiful, but at the same time sharp and cool.
"What's your first class?" he asked. I ran my fingers over the bumps of brail.
"Biology." I said.
"That's what I have too." I heard a smile in his voice. He linked arms with me a lead me outside to the other buildings. "So you're blind?" he asked.
"Yes, I was born blind." I replied.
"You have an accent. Where are you from?"
"Originally, Iceland. But we moved here from Vermont." I replied. Why was I telling him all this? I haven't told this much to anyone I've met from all the times I've moved. He just had things feeling that pulled me in, compelling me to answer everything he asked.
"Iceland? Wow, why did you move?" he asked. I didn't want to tell him. I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head.
"I-I can't tell you…it's personal and I don't want to think about it." I stammered. My mind filled with horrible images.
I ran outside from him, tripping on a rock or something. My parents were gone. No one was here to help me. I was yanked up by him.
"Trying to run, eh?" he said. He pulled me into the house despite my screams.
"No! No! Please don't! No!" he ignored me and threw me on the ground. I hit my head pretty hard. Everything got twisted and I was dizzy. He got on top of me and ripped off my clothes. I tried throwing things but he stopped me. Whenever I fought back he would hit me…hard. There was blood on the floor. It felt like every part of me was in pain. The worst part was that he was enjoying it. I didn't even know who the man was. He got off of me and walked away. I curled up into a ball and whimpered to myself. Was he coming back, or was he gone? I dared to get up. My body hurt so badly that it hurt to move. I winced at every movement. Finally I grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around me. I checked every room to make sure he wasn't here. But soon enough I found him in my room. He saw me. I cursed to myself mentally. He pulled me to him leaving the blanket on the floor. I landed on the bed and he repeated what he had done earlier. But I complied this time not wanting to get hurt.
"Good girl. Just stat quiet and enjoy." He said seductively. But I didn't find it seductive at all. I found it disgusting and repulsive. He left for good after a few hours. Blood stained my sheets. It was hours until some one found me. The man has been stalking me ever since…
I snapped back into reality by Ryan saying my name over and over again. "Pala? What's wrong? Pala?" he said over and over again.
"Sorry, I was remembering…um…something." I said shakily. He realized I didn't want to talk about it so he just kept walking. I heard people whispering and gasping at the sight of me I guess. But I heard,
"Who's that with Ryan? He's never been with a girl at our school." And the frequent, "He is so gorgeous!" Ryan must be quite the looker.
"Can you tell me what you look like?" I asked. I always felt dumb asking that question. It was better than feeling their faces though. "Um, Yeah. Well, I have dark red, shoulder length hair, topaz color eyes that change with what color I'm wearing, I have very pale skin and I'm 6' 5." He said.
I couldn't get a good picture so I asked totally embarrassed, "Not to sound weird, but I want to know what you look like really badly. Can I feel your face?" I grimaced.
"Yeah, feel away." He said sarcastically. I turned to face him and raised my hand to his face. I gasped. His face was cold. I continued to feel his cold face. He was tense, skin smooth like butter though. I had a very good idea of what he looked like at that moment. Never before have I had such a clear picture of what some one looked like. A smile spread across my face.
"You're beautiful." I said.
"So are you." My smile grew wider. "Come one we need to get to biology." He pulled me along. The day went by and Ryan stayed at my side the whole time. He was a really good friend. I also liked him. When you're blind you have no other choice but to like some one for who they are, but from what I could tell of him, he was good looking and good at heart. We were going to lunch. I smelt chicken nuggets. He led me to the line and ordered for me.
"Do you want to sit with my family?" he asked. His family? Would they like me?
"Sure I'd love to." I replied politely. He sensed my unease.
"They'll love you Pala. You don't need to worry." He reassured walking me to a table and sitting me down. Was there even anybody sitting here? I couldn't hear a sound.
"Hi, I'm Alice. You must be Pala." said Alice. I nodded.
"Can everyone introduce themselves so I can recognize your voices? If anyone is even sitting here. I can't hear anything." I said.
"I'm Bella."
"Emmett here."
"Hello, I'm Jasper."
"Edward."
"It's Rosalie." She said coldly. Bitchy now are we? Edward laughed for some reason.
"Well I'm Pala, but you know that." I said awkwardly. They all laughed. It sounded like a symphony of bells.
"What did you mean you couldn't hear anything?" Ryan asked.
"Since I can't see all of my other senses are a lot more in tune and alert. I can smell, hear and feel things better. When I said I couldn't hear anything, no one was fidgeting, breathing, or moving for that matter. I thought no one was sitting here." I replied. I picked up a nugget and ate it. No one else was eating from what I could tell. All of them were talking about going away this weekend for hiking or something. Bella was sitting on the other side of me.
"What's it like to be blind?" she asked,
"It's hard and scary. I wake up every morning to darkness. When people say they're afraid of the dark, they haven't experienced what I have. It scares me every moment. If some one is sneaky enough, I can't know they're there. I have to always be alert." I said.
"I can't imagine what you go through." She said thoughtfully.
"The worst part is not knowing what the world looks like. People have described it, but I still cannot imagine what it looks like." She put an icy hand on mine. I flinched under her touch. It startled me a little, but it was. The bell rang and I got up. Ryan helped me up to lead me to the trash cans.
"I see Bella has taken a liking to you." He said.
"Yes, she is very sweet. Unlike Rosalie. Why was she so cold to me?" I asked.
"She didn't like you hanging out with me. Why? I'm not sure, but she was." He said. He led me to Spanish.
"I'll see you later Ryan." I said. I sat down and daydreamed. My thoughts were filled with Ryan. I really should have been paying attention; I have never taken Spanish before. None of the other schools I've been to offered it. Oh well. Ryan seems to like me a lot; I've never felt this way about a person before. Whenever I hear his voice, I get butterflies in my stomach. He always seems to take me by surprise. There is something strange about that family though. They don't eat, breathe all of the time, very stealthy, and are ice cold. Something strange about them, but what? They are obviously inhuman, but what could they be?