River's POV

"How long are you going to keep up this silent treatment?" my father asks me. I hear him set a bowl down in front of me at the breakfast table but I am not hungry.

"I'm not giving you the silent treatment, Dad. I am just not feeling very talkative and my arm is bothering me."

"Well maybe you would be more carful if you didn't have girls climbing in and out of your window at all hours of the night," my father replies quickly.

"It was Misty, Dad," I reply and crack my knuckles at his content heckling over that.

"Stay away from Misty Clearwater. The last thing I need is Sam at my throat if you start fooling around with her," Dad mutters and I cringe at the thought. Everyone knows that Sam is a loose cannon when it comes to Misty.

"I have an exam, I have to go soon," I reply, with Penny going away to camp today Dad has to take me to the res school instead of Penny who has been a good little leader all year round.

"You have plenty of time, River. You and I still need to have a chat," He reminds me. Oh god, this is going to be awkward. Maybe I can weasel my way out of it by going to visit mom tonight. I still want to get to know Emma; I cannot believe I have a sister. Everyone has been telling me that she leached off of me and that is why I am blind but maybe it was just a coincidence that I was born weaker then her. Who knows… the point is that it was 15 years ago and things have changed and I want to know what happened between our families.

"Penny, don't give me that look, young lady. This is for your own good," I hear Rachel huff as she comes down the stairs with Penny.

"This has nothing to do with my own good, you're just embarrassed by me, admit it," Penny says and I hear a small silence fill the room. I wish I could see their faces so I would know what was going on better.

"This has nothing to do with embarrassment, this is about health and right now you are teetering between the overweight regiment and obesity. I don't want to have to be one of those mothers who are always worried about their children having insulin on them!"

"You don't want to be one of those mothers who have to buy a size year-10 for their 7 year old daughter," she snaps back.

"Penny, come on… she's trying to help," I try to offer some encouragement.

"By sending me to fat camp, right?" Penny's voice is strained.

"It's called exercise camp, Penny," Rachel huffs, "stop calling it that."

"Aren't you going to say anything, Dad?" Penny shouts.

"Penny, just… try to be a good girl and don't fight us. We're doing what is best for you," Paul said, it sounded like a line that Rachel has written for him to say.

"The bus is going to be here soon," Rachel said, "we have to go if we're going to make it down."

"River will take me," Penny said grabbing my arm and pulled me from the table. For a little seven year old the girl had some muscle on her meaty little arm.

"Uh… okay," I reply and am dragged outside, "steps," I remind her and she sighs leading me down the stairs carefully.

"They're so frustrating," she complains me, "it's like they're always trying to change me and mold me into something that I am not. River are you even paying attention?" she asks me.

"Are we going to the bus or are you leading me somewhere else?" I ask.

"Yeah right… if I skipped out on fat camp I would be grounded for life. The bus is picking me up at the res school."

"Penny, I love you, you're the coolest kid I know but your parents mean no harm by the this. They're trying to spare you from pain," I assure her and listen to her sigh.

"They're trying to spare themselves from embarrassment. If they were trying to spare me from pain they would tell me that I am beautiful no matter what others say and that it is what inside that matters," Penny said. She is wise.

"Penny, you are beautiful," I assure her.

"Says the blind boy," she mumbles and I chuckle at her.

"You sure don't make it easy for me to be nice to you, do you?" I smile.

"I'm sorry, River, I am just frustrated with them and feel like they don't think I deserve to be in this family because I happen to be a little bit bigger then the rest of the girls. You're the only one who seems to think that I'm special because you can't see what they all see. I wish you were by brother instead of my cousin," Penny said, her voice sounds like it is close to crying so I don't make her talk for the rest of the way until we get down to the bus area. I lean down and wrap my arms around her thick little frame.

"I am your brother," I assure her, "we grew up together so that makes me your brother and I will always have yours back no matter what," I assure her.

"Hey, Little Debbie!" I hear a family voice call from behind us and I groan with familiar anguish. Here we go again. Jesse that little son of a bitch, a day has not gone by when he has not open his mouth and yelled at Penny something about her weight. "I hear you're off to fat camp, bout time. Just don't break into the slop kitchen and eat everything up."

Penny stays hugging me and I hear her sob a little bit. Jesse has never made her cry before by teasing her but today Penny is feeling extra sensitive.

"Jesse, why don't you get a life you jackass," I snap at him and stand up straight.

"Hey, Patcheyes, I'm over here," he laughs from a different direction so I turn.

"You must really be a pathetic loser to pick on little girls," I shout at him, "you think this makes you cool or something?"

"What's the punk saying?" I hear another voice where Jesse is. It's one of his friends, Crowley.

"Forget it, River," Penny says, her voice shaky, "they're not even worth it."

"Why don't you listen to little Debbie," Jesse says with a smug voice, "speaking of… got you a little going away present," Jesse laughs and I hear a soft squishing noise and then something sticky hits me in the face. I quickly lift my hand up to wipe the residue away and I realize what it is. Little Debbie snack cakes

My blood begins to boil and my eyes ache and for a moment I see hot flashes of light. I turn to Penny and put my hand on her shoulder, right into a dab of cake and then I touch her hair and realize that she is covered in the chocolate deserts. I can hear her crying and I turn back to the direction Jesse is in. My blood boils hotter and my heart is pounding with anger. No one hurts my little cousin, not my little Penny. Another white flash makes my head pounds and I can make out Jesse's figure slightly. I remember the shapes of people from when I way around four, before I completely lost all sight.

Before I can even realize what I am doing I lunge at the bastard and knock him to the ground and start wailing on his face. One punch after another—each time smack him I see another flash of white light and it makes my head pound. As I throw my fists harder I begin to see a color mixed in with the white that I have never seen before.

Red… it must be… blood.

"River! River!" I hear my father's voice out of the blue and I am yanked off of Jesse in an instant. "What the hell is going on here? You can't just beat up people like that, River, you can be arrested."

"Yeah… why don't you file a report, Jesse? Tell everyone you got the shit beaten out of you by a blind kid, you pathetic piece of crap!" I yell at him.

"You're fucking crazy!" Jesse yells back at me with a nasally voice, good I must have busted his nose. I hear him run off.

"I don't care, Dad, he deserved it. Look what he did to Penny?" I tell him. Everything is black again not that I have calmed down and I feel Penny click to my side, hugging me around my waist. I try my best the scrape the cream filling and cake out of her hair.

I hear my dad groan, "Great… Sam is going to bite my head off," he mumbles. "Go back to the house, get cleaned up, Penny. I'll drive you to camp. River, we need to talk," he said sternly.

I don't even know what to say. Should I tell him about the light? Seeing Jesse's outline. Seeing red a color I have only heard about. Will I see? Does this mean it isn't hopeless?

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