Chapter 34 - Facing Down What Divides Us Part V

For the next three days they settled on a compromise that seemed to satisfy everyone. While she didn't allow him to re-enter the engine, Melanie continued teaching Layton, but now along with the other apprentices.

For their part Layton didn't think the group could have been happier to have their instructor back, much less for a whole day at a time. And not a single one dared to venture 'why'. As though even just the thought itself would have her suddenly disappearing again back into the engine.

And so each day Layton found himself shoved to the back of a group of eager students, all completely focused on learning whatever Melanie was going to teach that day.

For his part he simply stood and watched and listened, rarely offering a comment or answering a question. Instead he simply watched each of the apprentices once again vying with their fellow students for Melanie's attention.

But mostly he watched her. Just her expression was enough to make him smile. But her whole attitude changed each time she was in the presence of her students. He swore if this woman hadn't become an engineer she would have been a teacher. She was a complete natural at the profession and seemed to utterly enjoy it.

On the forth day Melanie woke up to something shining on her face. With a soft grumble of displeasure she rolled over in the bed and pulled the covers back up over her face to block out the light.

Reacting to her movements, Layton glance at her over his shoulder.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

Melanie grumbled a bit more under the covers before rolling back over to face him.

"You didn't close the curtains again." She complained in a mumbled, half asleep voice.

Layton fell back on the bed. "Sorry." He answered her, trying to work up the stamina to get out of his warm cocoon to go close the curtains.

Since her accident, he used the sun shining into their bedroom as a sort of natural alarm clock. And since it wasn't currently a problem for her being woken up by the light...Layton's brain suddenly focused a bit more on what she said. In a split second he shot up in the bed, turning to face her.

"What!?"

Remaining curled up on her side of the bed, Melanie simply pointed to the window, then gestured for him to go take care of the offending problem.

In response Layton grabbed her shoulder and rolled her over a little so he could see her face.

"How do you know the curtains are open!?" He stated in a barely contained excited tone.

Melanie was still trying to fight off sleep when Layton suddenly jumped from the bed and ran to the window, snapping the curtains closed and delivering the room back into near darkness.

"Layton...," a barely awake Melanie asked as she pulled up in the bed, "what are you doing?"

But Layton was already putting the pieces together. "Light!" He stated. "Castillio said light was your enemy!"

For several moments Melanie simply sat in the bed, trying to make sense of what her apparently currently insane roommate was saying. But as she slowly shook off sleep, she suddenly turned to him as he quickly sat down next to her on the bed.

He studied her face for a moment. Slowly hope was gaining ground in her feature as he watched her stare back at him.

"Tell me what you see?" He quietly told her.

But tears suddenly started to fill her eyes as she quickly looked around the room, that spark of hope drying up in her voice as she answered him.

"Nothing." She whispered. "I can't see anything. It was...it was just a dream, Layton. I thought..."

But Layton quickly laid a finger on her lips as he got up. "Close your eyes." He stated as he walked over to the window once more.

Melanie closed her eyes again.

"Are they closed?"

"Yes."

Slowly Layton pulled the curtain back a little, barely illuminating the room with daylight, but enough that it was visible.

"All right." He told her. "Now slooowwwly..., open your eyes just a little."

Melanie squeezed her eyes shut, then slowly squinted just a little so that she was looking through two small slits.

"Light!" She breathed the word as hope flooded back into her voice. "Layton! I can see it!"

Layton quickly closed the curtain again, just to make sure. "And now?"

Melanie nearly cried out as the light disappeared from her sight. "NO!" She yelled at him. "Open it again! I want to see it!"

But Layton was already back beside her, holding her by the shoulders. "Melanie, remember what Dr. Castillio said. Light is your enemy. We have to keep the room dark."

Melanie calmed down a good deal as she sat in the bed still, pulling the covers up to cover herself as she stared down at the bed.

"What...what if it isn't real, Layton?" She barely whispered in the semi- darkness. "What if...it's just a mistake? A fluke?"

"Then we'll just have to make sure." He replied. Getting back up he went to her dresser and pulled out some clothes and laid them on the bed near her. "Get dressed and we're off to the medical car. We'll let Dr. Catillio make the final call. All right?"

Tears still glistened in her eyes as she quickly nodded, reaching for the clothes and gathering them up.

"First one dressed gets to lead." He said as he got his own clothes from his dresser and headed for the bathroom to change.

Melanie couldn't help but give a small laugh at his comment. "It's going to take half the day if I win." She called back.

Layton quickly stuck his head around the doorway to the bedroom. "'IF' you win, lady." He stated. "Best get moving."

By the time Melanie had managed to get dressed she already knew Layton had won. She swore he had mixed up her clothes just to slow her down. But all in all she wasn't even remotely upset he won the race, since if he led them they would get to Dr. Castillio's exam room in the medical car that much quicker.

Layton carefully wrapped the bandaging back around her eyes for protection before they left the cabin. Not that it was an easy task. As excited as she was to get to the medical car, Melanie hardly stood still in front of him for more the a half a minute at a time. But he didn't chastise her even once for it, since her excitement was utterly contagious and he liked seeing the enthusiasm building her minute by minute.

Once on their way, Melanie was sure she had never held onto someone's hand so tight in her life, fearing losing hold of his hand would cost them time. Layton had refused her repeated requests to take the subtrain, stating he would carry her to the medical car before he would risk her slipping and falling down one of the ladder holes. And so nearly thirty agonizing minutes later, Melanie finally sat in the exam room while Dr. Castillio carefully unwrapped her eyes as Layton rambled on at a speed Melanie was sure the doctor could barely follow of all that happened that morning.

As Dr. Castillio took the last of the wrappings off and began to remove the gauze pads, he sternly warned her to keep her eyes shut until he told her to open them.

She listened intently as the doctor walked across the room, hearing him flick the light switch to shut off the lights and then a few seconds later pull the curtains over the windows shut.

A soft voice spoke to her from the left side and she quickly turned to it.

"My father is going to check your eyes with a small, dim light, Ms. Cavill." She heard Rosa's voice explain for her. "It may take your eyes a few moments after you open them to find the light, but do not let it upset you if you don't see it right away. All right?"

Melanie nodded, "Thank you, Rosa."

"All right." She heard Dr. Castillio's voice in front of her. "Slowly open your eyes, A little at a time. Give them time to adjust."

Melanie did as she was told. She was grateful for Rosa's words since when she finally opened her eyes all the way, she only saw darkness still.

After a few minutes she heard Dr. Castillio's voice.

"Tell me what you see."

Melanie sat for a few minutes, staring ahead of her at the darkness.

"Nothing." She replied quietly. "I don't see anything."

But suddenly a small light appeared before her. It looked like a small circle that was blurred and far away, but she definitely saw it.

"And now?" Came the question from the darkness.

"A light." She answered in a breathless whisper. "I can see a small light."

"Put your hand out." He instructed her. "Point to the light."

Melanie did as she was told, pointing to the small dim light before her.

"Good. Now I want you to follow the light. Point to where it goes."

Slowly the light began to move. To Melanie there was nothing else in that room but her and that wonderful, miraculous small light. As it moved, she carefully kept her finger pointing to it. It went to one side for a few seconds, stopped, and then reversed course, finally rising up a few feet, then lowering to the ground until it came to rest in front of her again.

But then just as suddenly as it appeared, the light went out.

Melanie gave a small cry of despair when it vanished, but a hand quickly rested on her shoulder.

"It's all right, Ms. Cavill." Rosa's soft voice comforted her. "My father just turned off the light. And you did very well. You kept track of the light perfectly."

"We need to put the bandages back on, Ms. Cavill." Dr. Castillio told her. "It won't take very long."

Melanie sat as still as stone as Rosa carefully cleaned her eyes, then placed two fresh gauze pads over them and wrapped a fresh bandage around her head.

When she had finished, Melanie sat waiting to hear what the doctor had to say. With the building tension inside of her, it was all she could do to stay in the chair. But finally she heard a chair pulled up and someone seat themselves next to her, firmly taking hold of her hand.

"Calm down." Layton whispered to her. "You did great. Everyone in the room is very excited."

"Then why isn't anyone saying anything?" She replied in a quiet, cautious tone.

Layton gave a small laugh. "You're the most impatient person I have ever known. And for your information, Dr. Castillio is in the other room getting some medicine for you. He'll be back in a minute."

Melanie gave his hand a small squeeze in response.

After a few more minutes Melanie heard the door to the room open. She listened as another chair was wheeled across the floor and, by her estimates, stopped in front of her as someone took a seat in it.

"The test was very encouraging, Ms. Cavill." Dr. Castilllio's voice told her. "It showed you can clearly see light again, and as such, that your eyes are continuing to heal. But we need to exercise extreme caution here. Your eyes haven't seen light in several weeks. So they're going to be hyper-sensitive to it."

Melanie quickly nodded.

"The rules remain the same. Bandages off at night. On during the day. No direct exposure to any bright light. And continue to use the drops. That is very important. They keep the eyes lubricated and deliver medicine to them. So be sure to follow your regiment with them."

Melanie nodded again.

"Now the new rules." He added.

Melanie sat and listened intently to each instruction the doctor gave her, committing them nearly verbatim to memory. By the time they left the medical car she had repeated them back to him and promised to strictly follow each one.

Leading her back to the cabin, Layton gave her hand a small tug, as he leaned down closer to her.

"I have a surprise for you." He told her.

Melanie didn't even have time to ask what as Layton diverted them off the path back to the cabin and led her down a different corridor. Her grip on his hand tightened slightly, and he knew the reason was she didn't like moving in a direction she wasn't familiar with.

"Relax." He told her. "You'll like this surprise. I promise."

"Can't you just tell me what it is?"

"Where's the fun in that?" He asked. "And besides, if I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise any more. So you'll just have to trust me." He added off-handedly. But realizing suddenly what he said, he quickly turned back to her, ready to apologize for the slip. But instead he met a small smile in answer.

"You know I don't." She replied, but still with a touch of amusement in her tone.

Layton grinned back at her. "And I can live with that."

Melanie quietly shook her head a little, but the smile remained as she dutifully followed where he led her.

After a few minutes of walking, she began picking up sounds and smells that told her they were approaching the Market area. While not her favorite part of the train, she also didn't want to ruin whatever he had planned, and apparently being in the Market, or at least passing through it, was part of that plan.

After a few more minutes of walking, Layton directed her to the side and she soon found herself seated in a chair.

Cautiously Melanie looked around her.

"Where are we?" She asked.

"Well," Layton replied, "since you got hustled out of bed and dragged to the medical car so early, I happen to know for a fact you didn't have time for breakfast. So we're at that little bistro in the Market I took you to before your accident that you liked so well so we can have a nice, relaxed breakfast...or brunch now... where neither one of us has to cook or clean up."

A please smile crept across her lips as she stared in the direction of his voice. "And how did you manage to get a table here?" She asked. "You said last time you had to reserve it days in advanced."

She heard him lean forward a little in his chair. "You forget, Ms. Cavill. I'm the Chancellor of this train." He stated in a low, conspiratorial whisper, repeating her own words back to her from months ago. "There's nothing on this train I don't have access to."

Melanie gave a soft laugh that he echoed as she heard someone step up to their table and ask if he could take their order.