Ryan's P.O.V.

It's been a long time… Since I was last able to see, that is. It's been almost 2 years. The anniversary of when I lost my sight in that attack is in 2 weeks. No more sunsets, no more sightseeing, no more Felix… Not being able to see Felix was the worst thing to lose out of everything. I missed his handsome face and gorgeous blue eyes. Then again, maybe it was for the best. After all, how could he ever love me? He was with Marzia for a long time, but they mutually broke up after losing feelings for each other. High school relationships never last. I knew that I wouldn't ever be good enough for him though; after all, he was straight and I was gay.

I was shaken out of my stupor by the sound of a Skype call. I put on my mask, and then answered it by hitting "control" and "a" simultaneously, using the ridges on the "j" and "f" keys as a guide. "Hello?" I asked.

"Hey, bro, what's up?" the voice said. It was Felix, or as he was better known, Pewdiepie. My heart fluttered as I heard his voice.

"Nothing much, friend; what about you?" I asked. Excitement tinged his voice ever so slightly for some reason.

"Oh nothing really…" he said suspiciously.

"Pewds, you know that since I lost my sight that I'm even better at telling when you're lying, right?" I said teasingly.

"All right, all right, I'll tell you. I should probably tell you before I do it anyways… Well, I'm coming over to America to move there in 2 days! Actually, I was thinking about moving to Florida!" he exclaimed, no longer hiding his happiness. I smiled.

"That's great, Felix! Maybe we'll go to the same school!" I said, my grin growing, all though he couldn't see it from behind my mask. "Hey, do you want to stay at my place until you're completely moved in?" I asked. I knew he was living alone. His parents had tragically died when he was a child. His rich adoptive parents had always let him live alone ever since he was 16, giving him everything he ever wanted. Despite this, he was not spoiled, and I admired him for that. I also lived alone; my mother and little brother Nathan reluctantly let me leave when I was 16 as well. It was good for getting used to having to do everything without my sight.

"-an… Ryan, are you listening?" Felix asked.

"Huh?" I asked, blinking quickly. "Sorry, what did you say?"

"I said that that would be awesome!" he stated. "Hey, do you want to play a game?"

"Sure," I replied. "What do you want to play?"

"Hm… How about Nightjar?" he asked. I loved that game. It didn't require sight, just your ears.

We played that game for about 2 hours, switching between the two of us; Felix kept dying in the sewers because he kept being discovered by the alien. I made it about 2 levels above him, and he whined about how the game was obviously discriminate against Swedish gamers. I laughed as I heard his head hit his desk in frustration as he made one last futile attempt to beat the alien. I then heard him stir again as he looked up at me.

"You know, they probably won't let you wear your mask at school," he said. I froze. I had been homeschooled ever since my "accident" and had decided to finally go back to school again. Now I wasn't so sure. "Hey, Ryan… I'm sure we could work something out with them. They'll probably let you wear your mask because of your blindness," he said. This comforted me.

"Yeah… Either way, I need to go to a school anyways. My mother said that she was concerned about me only seeing the teacher and my family and that 'even that was a rare occurrence'," I said, using my hands to make air quotations. Felix laughed, but then got serious.

"Are you sure that you'd be ok with showing your face if it was required?" he asked. I nodded in response, knowing my words would betray me. "Hey, do you want to listen to some music?" he asked.

"Sure, I'd love to! You pick," I replied sincerely. He then put on some dubstep and I listened, taking it in as if it were air and picturing the lights of a rainbow colored sound wave go through my mind. It was especially interesting when the bass dropped and the colors went frantic in my mind, shooting all over the place with the different aspects of the music.

After a short while, probably 30 minutes or so, he turned off the music. "You get so tranquil when you listen to music," he stated, and I detected amusement in his voice.

"Yeah… It's nice to be able to forget about… you know," I said, trailing off. He shifted in his seat, seeming to not know what to say. "Hey, friend, don't be like that; it's all-"

"I wish that I could trade places with you; I wish that it had happened to me instead of you," he said, interrupting me. We were quiet for a moment before I spoke up.

"I've grown used to it," I said quietly, unsurely. "It's become a part of me now; I don't know what life would be like if I regained my sight." I secretly wished I could have my sight back, be able to see Felix again, but I knew that it was impossible.

"Ryan…," Felix started to say, but I cut him off.

"Hey, do you want to stay with me in Florida until you get everything settled at your house?" I said quickly. He stopped for a second, surprised that I had interrupted him.

"I'd love to Ryan," he said after a moment, and I could sense that he was smiling. We continued talking until Felix had to leave to sort out his moving issues. He asked me what school I was going to and my address and I told him. I had enrolled in Falimare Academy. Despite the name, the high school was public, not private. I had heard nice things about it from my mother and moved into its school district area.

The day for Felix's arrival came and I awoke to the same thing I had been waking up to for a good portion of the last 2 years: complete blackness. I sighed, and got up, reaching for my clothes with the tags that stood out so I could tell the inside from the outside. I felt for which part was right side up, and then smelled it to make sure that I had gotten my clothes from the clean pile. They were folded, but one could never be too careful. Once I had assured myself that everything had been acceptable, I put on my clothes and mask and headed out to buy some groceries, making sure to leave a note on the door if Felix came early. This was one of the rare times that I was glad that I lived in a loud and rowdy city; everything was in walking distance. I used my white cane to make sure that I was, in fact, on the sidewalk and not the road. Being hit by a car because I couldn't tell where the sidewalk was wasn't on my bucket list. I arrived at the grocery store where I inhaled the scent of citrus and a small bakery built into the store. I was sure that people were staring at me; after all, I was a blind teenager with a mask and a cane. I wasn't exactly a sight that someone saw every day.

I heard the giggling of girls and the shutter of a camera. I turned towards the noise and they squealed; I was now certain that they had, in fact, taken a picture of me. I despised people like them. Why couldn't they leave people like me alone? I sighed and then went back to my shopping. I grabbed some things that I needed: doughnuts, sodas, energy drinks, frozen pizzas, a few vegetables, and some pasta noodles. Just because my sight was lost didn't mean that my tastes were. I was about to take my things to the counter when I was stopped by a hand on my shoulder. It felt like a male's and it was gripping my shoulder pretty tightly. I then heard the girls again.

"My girl tells me you were messing with her," he said sternly. He didn't sound like the type to be reasonable. Well, I had to at least give it a shot or risk getting beaten half to death because I sure as hell wouldn't be able to get past him.

"No, I don't even know who 'your girl' is. I'm just trying to get my shopping done, so if you don't mind…?" I said. So much for that. He gripped my shoulder even tighter and I could feel it starting to bruise; he was probably a football player.

"You're not going anywhere. Now, let's see what's under that pretty little mask, shall we?" he said and I felt his free hand start to move my hair back as he gripped the edge of my poker face mask and start to pull it back.