Lucia Winchester was always fine with being blind; she has been her entire life. I mean, you can't miss what you never had, right?
Her dads have forgotten about it once or twice when they rearranged the furniture, resulting in driving Lucia to the hospital for a broken toe.
But there are days when she can't take it anymore and just wants to rip everything to shreds.
Today was one of those days.
It started out like any other. Beating Dylan to the shower, choosing an outfit from the automated closet her father had built for her and eating a bowl of cocoa puffs before catching the bus for school.
She was pretty well liked at Sioux Falls High School, except for Zeke Tyler and his crew of miscreants. They constantly picked on her because of the fact that she had two dads. Which is pretty brave of them knowing that no one messed with a Winchester without having to pay for it.
The bell for first period rang and Lucia waited for the stampede of students to rush inside before Lucia sat down at her usual seat, front and center.
Zeke quietly moved Lucia's desk beforehand, so instead of sitting, she tumbled to the floor, books dropping everywhere.
"Shit, Winchester. Watch what you're doing. Oh, wait. You can't." His posse howled with laughter at the lame joke.
"Fuck off, Zeke." Lucia's best friend Gracie spat out, helping her friend up to her seat "You okay, Ci?" She whispered.
Lucia smiled and nodded "Yeah, I'm good. Thank you."
Mr. Daniels, their history teacher, hurried into the classroom, papers flying everywhere.
"Good morning, children." He said breathlessly as he scrambled to catch the loose sheets of paper fluttering about.
"Where were we in our lesson?"
Lucia raised her hand "We were talking about sexuality in history. Specifically about the rumors of Hitler being a closeted gay."
"Aw, Mr. D. That ain't fair! Winchester here has two flaming homos for dads and was brainwashing into believing that everyone should be gay." Zeke's nasally voice cut through the air.
Lucia's face flushed a deep red.
"Mr. Tyler, if I have to give you a detention this early in the morning, so be it. You will shut your mouth and open your textbook."
Hot tears prickled at the edges of Lucia's eyes "Mr. Daniels, may I be excused?" She mumbled.
"Of course."
Lucia extended her walking cane, carefully sweeping it back and forth before getting up. Zeke stretched and extended his leg just as Lucia walked towards him. Her knees hit the hard linoleum first then her face, landing on Zeke's shoe.
"Get off my foot, freak!" He kicked her off, shoe splitting open the center of her lip.
"TYLER. DEAN'S OFFICE. NOW." Mr. Daniels roared as he rushed over to Lucia. She hesitantly licked the wound, wincing at the pain and the metallic taste it left on her tongue.
"Watch your back, Zeke." Lucia growled, lifting herself off the floor.
Zeke laughed, it reminded her of an old radiator "What are you gonna do? Send your daddies to my house and smite me with glitter? You're weak, Winchester. Blind and pathetic. You and your daddies are gonna end up in hell." He grabbed his backpack and left the classroom.
The rest of the students sat in stunned silence, trying to process the scene that unfolded in front of them. Lucia couldn't take it anymore, Mr. Daniels held on to her, securing that she wouldn't fall.
"LET GO OF ME!" She yelled, shoving her teaching off.
She ran down the hallway until she could feel the breeze from the open doors. She fished her phone out of her pockets and pressed the fifth button down.
"Hello?" A man's voice picked up on the other line.
"Un-uncle Garth?" Lucia's voice trembled "Can you come get me?"
Lucia clung into Garth until they reached the front door. He politely knocked three times before Castiel answered.
"Hello, Gar-Lucia?" He did a double-take as his daughter bolted to her room and slammed the door shut.
"She called me crying from school to pick her up." Garth explained "Her lip's busted, Cas. I don't know if she's having trouble at school or anything…?"
Castiel stood aghast "She's never mentioned anything, but I'll check with Dean. Thank you for picking her up, Garth."
Garth smiled "Anytime, Cas."
As soon as Castiel shut the door, Dean popped out from the kitchen holding a banana "Was that Luci?" He pointed the banana towards his daughter's door.
Castiel nodded "Garth suspects Lucia might be the victim of bullying at school."
Dean's face slowly filled with rage.
"WHO DO I HAVE TO KILL?" Dean bellowed, bursting into Lucia's room.
"GET OUT!" She yelled, pulling the covers over her head.
Castiel glared at his husband "I said be subtle, not Amazonian." He sat down at the edge of the bed "Lucia, querida" He softly cooed "Honey, come out. We just want to talk."
Lucia hesitated before poking her head out of her mint green comforter.
"Would you like to talk about what happened at school?" Castiel questioned, soothingly.
"I tripped…"
"That's how you got that busted lip?" Dean grunted, still suspicious.
"I'm blind, Dad. I'm going to trip sometimes."
"Bullshit. You see things better than your brother and he has 20/20 vision. So, now are you going to tell us if you're being bullied?"
Lucia's rage sparked and she began to laugh "OF COURSE I'M BEING BULLIED. I'M A FUCKING WEAK AND PATHETIC INVALID WITH TWO DADS IN THE BIGGEST CLOSED-MINDED TOWN IN ALL OF SOUTH DAKOTA! I'm the laughingstock of the entire school! High school is hard enough, but God decided to make my life worse by taking away my sight! I'm constantly trying to not fall on my face half the time. I don't even know what anything looks like. I don't even know what my family looks like, let alone myself!"
Castiel wrapped his arms fiercely around his baby girl who, her tears soaking into his sweater clad shoulders.
"Hey." Dean knelt down in front of his daughter "Listen to me."
Lucia turned in her Dad's general direction. Her milky white eyes, tinged with red.
"You are not weak, do you understand me? You are not pathetic. You're strong and could probably kill a man in three seconds if you had to. Being blind does not define you; it's what you do about it. I didn't raise a girl that wallows in her misery. I taught you that no one can mess with you. So, fuck everyone who laughs because you're different or because you have two dads. They're probably closeted gays that are overcompensating." Lucia chuckled faintly "Now, are you gonna tell us who did this?"
"Zeke Tyler…" Lucia finally mumbled.
"Rose and John's boy?" Castiel raised an eyebrow.
"I always knew that son of a bitch was up to something. I'm calling his parents right now." Dean started to get up, but Lucia pulled him back.
"Please, Dad. I don't want you guys to fight my battles for me, alright?" She tried to look into her Dad's eyes, knowing she'll miss.
Dean sighed and wrapped his arms around her, reminiscing of time times when she was barely months old, curled up on his chest.
"Okay, baby. Okay." Dean kissed the top of her head.
Castiel slowly got up "I'll make us some tea." He said quietly with a small smile on his face.
"Cas? Get some ice for her lip first." Dean advised.
Castiel nodded and left them alone.
"Daddy?" Lucia mumbled "Can you sing me that song you used to when I was little?"
Dean chuckled "I can't believe you remember that. Hm, let's see." Dean searched for the lyrics in his mind "Cellophane flowers of yellow and green, towering over your head." Lucia nestled in closer, humming the melody " Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes and she's gone. Lucy in the sky with diamonds." Dean sang softly.
Once he got to the third verse, Lucia's breathing was heavy with sleep.
The next day, Lucia walked down the halls of Sioux Falls High School with her head held up high. She could feel the stares of her fellow classmates following her wherever she went.
"Miss Winchester?" Her principal Dr. Rivas, popped her head out of her office window "Could you come in here please?"
Lucia followed the sound of her principal's voice.
"Lucia, Mr. Tyler is here. Don't worry everything is fine." She said wehen she saw Lucia visibly stiffen.
"I wanted to know if there was something you wanted to say to Zeke before we transfer him out."
All Lucia wanted was to run out of the office and hide in the library.
She surprised herself by saying "Yes, I do." She cleared her throat "Zeke, I was want to thank you for reminding me that they're way better people in the world than you. People that actually care about me. Thank you for reminding me that being blind isn't who I am. Dr. Rivas?" She asked in the principal's general direction "Is it okay if I say something off the record?"
"Be my guest."
"Zeke Tyler, you can go fuck yourself. And if what you say is true, even though it isn't, my dads are gonna have a blast with you in Hell."
She spat out the finals words and marched out of the offices, relief filling her body.
The moral of this story?
Yes, Lucia Stevie Winchester is blind, but at the end of the day she's seen everything she needs to.