His fingers were his eyes now, his only connection to the world it seemed. That and his hearing except for the fact that the astonishingly loud silence roared in his ears and masked the everyday noises, making them muffled and indistinguishable. But the awesome quiet was not the worst of it, no. The darkness that enveloped him was pitch black and lonely… loneliness had grown very familiar to him in the past months. Helpless, all he could do was sit and drown in the blankness of the covering that fell over his eyes and robbed him of the light. He dared not speak, to cry out from the prison he was held captive in for silence was his solace and he wallowed in it day after day until he could pity himself no more.
This was how the goddess found him, her soft hands taking his, her quiet voice breaking through the barrier his mind had created and coming in clear as day. She was beautiful, but he could no longer see her beauty or look into the deep brown eyes that used to dance in the light of the moon. He pined for the night, when she came to him in his dreams, floating on wisps of clouds like an angel. Her hand would brush his gently and he would turn slowly, taking in her very essence before touching her cheek. As glorious a vision as it was, a sense of guilt always clouded the dream for her eyes were always unsettling. They shined not with love, but with deep sadness. Awaking in a cold sweat, his thoughts screamed guilty accusations. He felt that he was causing her much pain and sorrow and yet he waited on pins and needles, praying that she not leave.
Fondly, he remembered how she had loved the snow, its pure white blanket covering the ground. Many times, he had taken her to the park to just sit and take in its beauty. It was there he had proposed to her, kneeling down on the cold ground with trembling hands and spilling words of love from his mouth like a waterfall. Holding his breath he had waited, watching her delicate breaths form smoke in the crisp air, as the tears rolled down her cheeks. And then she nodded, barely getting the answer out between joyous sobs. Grasping her hand in his, he gently pulled her glove down and tucked it into his pocket for safekeeping. Shivering, her warm skin touching his and sending chills up his spine that had nothing to do with the cold, he slipped on the ring. It fit beautifully and he spun her around in a tight embrace, kissing her softly as the snow fell around them. That had been four long months ago, before the wedding plans were put on hold, before the accident changed everything.
He could remember it all so very clearly but no amount of remembering would change what had been done. His heart was broken and his soul bruised. In time, he theorized, it would heal and his life would be almost whole again but no amount of medicine could fix the damage done to his body. He was past denial now, the four months of blackness could not be passed off as coincidence and he had stopped hoping for a miracle cure long ago. No, now he needed to learn to accept the darkness as part of his life, he needed to move on…
For Robert Chase was blind.