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2009: Toronto, Canada

Ethan Morgan stood there in the school, holding his books close to his chest and a plastic stick in his hands. He could hear everyone else walking around him as he felt his mother rub his shoulder soothingly.

"Sweetie, it's okay to be afraid." Samantha said as she directed Ethan's face to her, taking off his black frames around his eyes as she traced her fingers across his cheek.

"What if they don't like me...I..I can't see anyone." Ethan said, his eyes closed as he gripped his stick tightly.

"Sweetheart, it doesn't matter if you can't see anyone. When you can't use your eyes, you use your heart. See with that, feel with that, and you can go anywhere." Samantha said, placing her hand over Ethan's beating heart as Ethan nodded his head before a small smile cracked around his lips.

"I love you mom." Ethan whispered, his mother reaching up and wiping at her wet eyes as she tried to stifle back sobs.

"I love you too sweetie, more than anything in this world. Eyes or no eyes, your still my baby boy." Samantha said as she brought her son in for a hug, holding him against her bosom as she looked over at the high school principal who was waiting on them patiently.

"You'll be waiting for me after school?" Ethan asked, breaking away from his mother's hug as he looked up towards her face.

"Your dad and I will be here shortly after three. Now go and enjoy your first day of high school sweetie." Samantha said as Ethan nodded his head before the principal walked over to them, her heels clicking against the floor.

"We here at Toronto High welcome you Mr. Morgan. I'll be taking you to your first class, would you like to take my arm?" the woman said, reaching over and grasping Ethan's hand as he shook his head.

"I've got this, just...keep talking so I can follow your voice." Ethan said, the principal smiling as she waved at Samantha before her and Ethan began walking away. Samantha stood there, a smile on her lips as she brought a napkin to her eyes before turning around and walking out of the school.

A Few Months Later

Ethan waited outside the school as students walked past him, all chattering and talking amongst each other. He waited to hear his mother's voice like he usually did when she picked him up after school.

"Hey Ethan, your mom still hasn't shown up yet?" came a nearby voice as Ethan turned his head into the direction of the voice.

"Oh, hey Sarah. No, I haven't heard her yet. It's been almost fifteen minutes, she should be here by now." Ethan said, turning his head back into the direction of car doors closing as kids got picked up by their parents.

"Oh, well would you like me to wait with you? My mother is going to be a little late anyways." Sarah said back, Ethan nodding his head as a smile came to his lips.

"Thank you Sarah." Ethan said, sitting his cane down as he bent down and felt the ground before taking a seat. He could hear as Sarah joined him in sitting on the ground in front of the school, both of them just sitting there as other students passed them by.

"So Ethan...are you enjoying high school so far?" Sarah asked, Ethan thinking back to all the new voices he had heard and the smells of the cafeteria and classrooms.

"Yea, for the most part. I..uh..don't talk much to others though." Ethan stated, Sarah rubbing her arm nervously as she looked at his black frames around his eyes.

"Is it..because of the blindness?" Sarah asked, Ethan taking a minute to ponder over everything before turning his head to the side.

"I just sometimes think it would be better if I stuck to myself. I've...been blind almost my entire life, I don't remember much. I can remember vaguely what colors look like, what my mother's face looks like...what I look like. To me...the world is black, filled with emptiness surrounded by voices and smells. I can't tell if it's sunny or cloudy out, can't tell if it's day or night. The only way I can tell if I'm awake or just asleep, is by my thoughts running through my head when I wake up. That's how I know I've woken up, and it's not just a black dream, or nothing at all. I figure if people don't have to put up with me much, they don't have to pity me or feel sorry for me. People are afraid of the unknown, afraid of what they can't understand. People look at me, and they think 'How can someone live in a world where they can't see anything' or 'I can't imagine not being able to see anything anymore'. So by separating myself from them, they don't have to think those thoughts, don't have to imagine my life." Ethan said, the sound of students dissipating as silence began to fall over them both.

"I'm...sorry. I didn't mean to bring it up...I'm not like others. I have to wear hearing aids because my hearing isn't as great as most peoples, but I still try and make friends, be out there and associate with others. I don't ever feel like I have no help, I've had rainbows in my clouds. You need to prepare yourself to be a rainbow in someone else's cloud, somebody who may not look like you. Somebody who may not call God the same name you call God, if they call God at all. I may not eat the same dishes prepared the way you do, may not speak your language, may not dance the dances you do, but I can be a blessing to somebody. That's what I think, no matter how or what makes us different. Your blindness makes you unique, makes you appreciate more. You hear the birds a little better than I, hear the sound of the wind off the flowers a little better than I. You can smell the apple pie baking in the oven before I ever could, smell the scent of lilies better than I could, smell the cologne or perfume of somebody you love better than I could. You may be blind, but it's opened a whole new world of feeling for you. Don't see it as a negative, but as a small thing that makes you more unique that others in a way. It's not our differences that divide us Ethan, but our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences. Be happy with who you are, and who you'll become." Sarah said, Ethan looking down as he felt a hand take his and squeeze it before they both heard a car horn honking.

"Sweetie? Who's that with you?" came a unfamiliar woman's voice as Ethan looked in the direction of the sound.

"It's my new friend Ethan mom! Hey Ethan, being that your mother and father aren't here yet, would you like to come home with me? My mom can call them on her cell." Sarah said, Ethan taking a minute to think as he bit his lower lip.

"Yea, sure. It beats sitting out here alone." Ethan said with a small chuckle, standing up as Sarah helped him up before letting her direct him to her mother's car.

A Few Days Later

Ethan sat in his room on the edge of his bed, tears running down from his eyes as he sobbed heavily. He stood up as he tried to feel his way around his room, finally tripping over something as he fell onto the floor with a loud thud. Ethan balled his fists together as he screamed loudly before punching his fist into the hardwood floor multiple times. Ethan suddenly felt a pair of arms encircle him as they pulled him close, his crying intensifying as he tried to break from the grip only for the arms to hold onto him tighter. The scent of lilac perfume drifted into his nose before he finally dug his head into his grandmother's chest and sobbed. He clutched onto her silk shirt as she positioned her legs and held him, rocking him back and forth as she rubbed his back.

"They are gone! Just gone! I didn't even get to say goodbye!" Ethan screamed in between sobs as his grandmother leaned her head down into his, tears of her own running down her cheeks as she let a soft sob escape her lips.

"I know baby, oh God I know! I've got ya...grandma's here." the older woman said, rubbing Ethan's face with small hands lined with age.

"Why did he take them...why did God take them from me!?" he sobbed, his grandmother sobbing heavily by now as well.

"Sweetie, I don't know. God works in mysterious ways...but...wherever they are...I know they are looking out for us now." she said, Ethan finally calming down as his sobs began to quiet as he sniffled into his grandmother's shirt. Ethan felt his grandmother's body sway back and forth before he finally felt her withered hands grab his cheeks before leaning him back. He kept his eyes closed as she rubbed the tears away from his cheeks.

"Ethan, I can't bring them back and I'm so sorry. We've got to keep it together for your sister though, Jane is counting on us now! We've got to be there for each other...now more than ever sweetheart. I love you sweetie, and I love Jane too. Grandma's not going anywhere okay...help me through this too." his grandma said, Ethan nodding his head as he let a tear fall from one of his eyes once more. Both of them hugged as they cried a bit more into each others shoulders, the sound of rain hitting Ethan's bedroom window.

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