(Violet's Pov)
I was currently laying in bed; Clementine was laying next to me. She said it would be easier for us to share a room. It was hard for me the first night back here. I had gone to my room but I woke up from a nightmare, I tried to get out the room apparently but ended up hitting into Ducky's bed making her squawk and I landed on my face. Clementine had run into the room to help me. I felt so bad that I woke her up.
"I can hear you thinking." I hear Clementine whisper and I moved my head a bit. She had her face on my neck and I gently move my hand and rubbed the back of her head gently. She was currently using my arm as a pillow.
"Is Ducky mad at me?" I asked.
"I don't think she is… she might not understand but when she sees you more, she might start to." She tells me and I nod a bit.
"…Are… are you doing anything today?" I asked her and she hums a bit as she moved closer to me.
"Just going to get something from the store." She says and I think a bit.
"Do you want to come with me?" She asked and I shake my head but then stopped and then nodded.
"I just… need something to cover my eye." I tell her.
"They gave you a patch." She says quietly.
"Oh right." I say quietly and she sits up a bit and looked to me a bit. I was so tired so I couldn't see what she looked like right now. Was she tired? Was she angry with me? I don't really know.
"Hey, are you sure you're, ok?" She asked and I feel her hand on my cheek and I tired to look at her and I feel the tears in my eyes.
"I hate this." I tell her.
"What?" She asked and I tried to place my hand on her cheek but I missed because my hand just hit air and I take a shaky breath.
"I… nothing I'm sorry." I tell her and I feel her rub my cheek gently with her thumb.
"It's not nothing." She says and I clear my throat.
"It's hard… I'm sorry." I tell her.
"Don't be sorry." She tells me and I nod. Though we both know I wasn't being truthful with that nod. How can she still love me? wouldn't she want someone who could look at her? Someone who doesn't need help to make sure they don't bump into things…. Someone that could actually work and provide for her.
"Get some sleep ok." She says and I nod and moved a bit in bed as I was laying on my side and she was laying her had on my arm again. She had fallen asleep but I couldn't sleep. I gently move some hair out of her face and I was glad I didn't poke her eye or anything. I moved a bit closer to her and pulled her to me and I closed my eyes to try and give myself some sleep. My dream wasn't so bad this time around and I felt my shoulder being shaken gently so I opened my eyes and turn to see a blurry outline of Clementine. I rubbed my eye a bit and then turn back to the bed.
"I made breakfast." She whispers.
"Hmm, I wanted to help." I mutter as I get up in bed.
"It's fine, plus you needed the sleep." She tells me as I get up and grab ahold of the bed. I look to where the closet should be and I walk to it as best as I could. Just because I can see somewhat good out of one eye doesn't mean I'm cured of blindness. I went to grab what looked like the door handle but missed since my perception is at it's worse. I feel Clementine behind me but she doesn't help me. which I am thankful for, I don't want her to think she has to help me all the time. Being tired made my eye worse, sometimes it wants to work other times it doesn't and everything is blurry even when Clem is right in front of me she was blurry.
"I can do this, I'm just tired." I mutter and I tried to grab the handle again and got it this time. I opened the door with a smile and looked at what Clementine deemed my section of the closet. I feel around the fabric a bit grabbed something super soft and I raise a brow at this. I don't remember owning something so soft. I grabbed it and felt it a bit and it was a shirt with long sleeves.
"Is this a shirt?" I asked Clem.
"It's a light sweater, Carley and I got it at the new clothing store a few months back." She explained and I looked to her a bit.
"So, I can wear it now?" I asked.
"It is a little warm out so no." She says and I nod and set it to the side and felt around a bit. I find a short-sleeved shirt and I set it to my right so I know I would wear it. I felt around for some pants and found a pair of jeans.
"Are these blue or black?" I asked as I tried to see the color.
"They're blue, actually they would go well with the blue shirt you grabbed." She tells me and I nod at this. I grabbed the two clothing items and then tried to find the dresser drawers. The fact that it's taking me so long just to find a simple outfit started to bother me but I was able to grab what I needed to get dressed for the day.
"I can change on my own, go eat." I tell her.
"Are you sure?" She asked and I nodded.
"Yeah." I say and I hear her leave and I felt around and got changed. When I get out the room after many attempts of trying to open the door I head to the kitchen. I hear Clementine giggle.
"What? I put the shirt on wrong?" I asked.
"It's on backwards." She says and I sighed a bit as I tried to fix it. There was a knock on the door and I turn my head to the noise but then I hear the door open. Clementine and I had just gotten my shirt on right and I look to her a bit as I tried to see her face.
"Hello Violet." I hear and I covered my one eye and faced away from whoever it was. I look to see Clementine's outline as she grabbed my hand gently and placed the patch in my hand. I put it on and look to her and she moved close enough so I can see her smile. I smiled a bit too.
"Um… Carley?" I asked.
"Yes?" She asked and I sighed.
"Sorry trying to get use to hearing people, never had to pay attention to voices." I tell her.
"Oh, that's fine." She tells me and I nod.
"Anyway, Clementine are you heading to Grandma's house today?" She asked.
"Oh, I wasn't thinking about that." I hear them talk as I go to the table and feel around for the chair. I was able to move it and take a seat I then tried to grab my fork, I was glad to get it on the first try and I smiled. I ate my breakfast and I smiled at how good it tasted. Though then again, I haven't had a good meal since I left.
"Violet, would you like to come with me to Grandma Everetts?" I hear Clem ask and I look up a bit and nod.
"Does she have cookies?" I asked and I hear them both laugh.
"Do you want some?" Clem asked and I nod.
"Alright, tell Grandma we'll be there." Clem says and I finish my breakfast.
"I want to walk there." I tell her.
"Are you sure? We can take the car Lee won't mind." She tells me.
"I… I don't know I just want to walk." I tell her.
"Ok, do I need to get your-."
"No… no I can just hold onto you." I tell her.
"Alright, well after you finish your coffee we can go." She tells me and I nod and gently grabbed the cup with both hands.
"Oh, right I put your next appointment on the Calander, I have class that day or I could take you-."
"Don't miss class cause of me, I'll be fine." I tell her.
"At least let Lee take you." She says and I nod.
"Alright that's fine." I say and drink my coffee. No spills which I was happy for. When I was done she helped me out the house and we began walking. It was a nice warm day, but not too hot, Clementine was holding onto my arm like she usually did which felt nice. It was too nice if I had to be honest. I hear a bunch of noises around me and I would look in every direction. I knew we were in town I could see the buildings a bit and I move my hand to hold onto to Clementine's arm that was holding me.
"You ok?" She asked and I nodded.
"Don't want to accidentally run into traffic." I joke and she doesn't laugh.
"It's ok to laugh." I tell her.
"No… no it's not." She says and I felt bad.
"Well, if it isn't Clem and the dumb bitch." I hear and look around a bit.
"Fucking Gabe." Clem mutters and I nod. I feel Clem move a bit and I tried to face the direction she was.
"What gone blind too?" I hear and see someone.
"Gabe back off." Clementine says and I look down to her.
"What? I'm just speaking the truth." He says and I held onto Clem a little tighter.
"Can we just go?" I asked Clem.
"Yes, we can-." She says but I feel her being pulled from me and when she was, I fell to the ground and the force of the pull. I felt around the ground a bit as I hear Gabe laughing and I started to panic a bit.
"This is fucking funny." Gabe says.
"THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" I hear Clementine yell and I fell hands on me and I grabbed them and shoved them off me.
"GET AWAY!" I yelled.
"Vi, it's me." I hear Clem tell me and I shake my head.
"Didn't…. didn't know, sorry, I'm sorry." I tell her.
"It's fine." She says as she helped me up.
"Hey, let the cripple go, they should learn to be on their own." Gabe says.
"HEY WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!" I hear someone yell. God now even more people are getting involved, just my fucking luck.
"This bitch was hurting my friend." Gabe says.
"No, I wasn't." I say as I tried to find the other voice.
"Sir my partner here is blind-."
"She is not she's just faking it." Gabe says.
"Everyone just calm down." I hear another person say and I gripped Clementine's arm.
"Hey it's ok, just listen to me, ok?" She says and I nod as I tried to listen to just her.
"Aldon?" I hear and I shake my head a bit.
"Hey what the hell is going on here?" I hear someone say as I feel another set of arms on me and I shoved the person back.
"DON'T TOUCH ME GOD DAMN IT, STOP…. TOUCHING ME!" I yelled as I tried to move away.
"Hey, it's fine it's just me, I moved my other arm." Clem tells me and I hear arguing.
"BOY YOUR FATHER WOULD BEAT YOU TILL YOU'RE BLACK AND BLUE AFTER THIS STUPID SHIT YOU PULLED!" I hear a man yell. Why did it sound familiar.
"Who's that?" I asked as I tried to calm down.
"It's Kenny, do you remember him?" She asked.
"Just… Just the voice." I say and I can see her blurry outline nodding a bit.
"Ok." She says.
"GET HOME NOW!" Kenny yelled. I look around as best as I could. God I hated this, it's fucking ruining everything. God damn it why.
"Aldon?" I hear and I tried to look for Kenny.
"I can't… I'm sorry where?" I asked.
"Hey right in front of you ok…. I'm right in front of you." Kenny says and I nod.
"I need… I need to sit." I say as I go to the ground slowly.
"Ok, hold on." Clem says as she helped me sit down. I put my hands to my face and tried to take some breaths.
"Here drink this." I hear and I shake my head a bit.
"It's just water." Clem says and I nod and hold my hand covering my bad eye out so I still couldn't see. I feel someone grab my hand gently and I flinched a bit.
"It's just me." Clem says and I nod as the bottle was in my hand and I gripped it. I sighed a bit and moved it to my lap still holding it so it didn't spill.
"Kenny by chance can you tell Javier what his nephew just did?" I hear Clem ask.
"Yeah… um… do you need anything?" I hear him ask and I shook my head.
"Just… quiet, I want quiet." I mutter.
"Ok, ok I'll take you to Grandmas she'll make sure it's real quiet for you." Clem says and I nod a bit. I moved the bottle and took a drink.
"Hey I'm going to help you up too." I hear Kenny say and I nod gently as him and Clem both helped me up. We finally get to Clem's grandmothers' home and she helped me inside.
"Oh, my lord what happened?" I hear her grandmother ask.
"Gabe is what happened." Clemetine tells her and they were about to sit me down on the couch but I stopped.
"My clothes are dirty." I mutter.
"I don't care sit yourself down and let me get a look at you." Her grandmother says and I nod as I take a seat and I feel her hands on me.
"Clem get my first aid kit and a warm wet towel." I hear her tell Clem. I hear footsteps leaving the room and I look to try and see her face.
"I'm sorry your couch." I mutter.
"I don't care, you should be worried about the dirt near your eye." She tells me and I nod a bit. They helped clean me up and I feel the dirt on my clothes and I tried to wipe it off.
"Now don't go doing that, I'll get you a nice set of clean clothes." Her grandmother says.
"No, no it's fine, I'm fine sorry." I tell her.
"Vi-."
"I said I'm fine… I'm sorry I'm fine I swear." I tell them.
"But… don't you think it would be nice to wear some clean clothes and take a short nap?" I hear her grandmother ask and I look to them a bit and I nod.
"Ok, I'll get you some clothes and you can take a nap while I'll get these clean, ok?" Clem asked and I nod. It took a while but I was in some clean clothes and I was sitting on the couch and I feel a blanket being handed to me and I take it.
"Are you sure you're, ok?" I hear Clementine ask and I nod.
"Yeah, I'm good… thanks and… I'm sorry if I hit you or anything." I tell her.
"It's fine, I get it, it's a scary thing." She tells me and I nod. I lay down on the couch and tried to get some sleep. The dream wasn't so bad, but it wasn't good either. I wake up to the smell of something good and I slowly get up and open my eye. I smiled a bit as I could see a little better. I moved the blanket and head into the kitchen grabbing the wall a bit so I don't bump into anything.
"Now we have the cookies going we can work on putting the icing on the cake." I hear.
"Oh, hello Violet." I hear and look to see Grandma Everett and I smile.
"Hello." I say and I see Clementine looking at me and I could see some flour on her cheek so I point to it. she wiped it off and then looked to me and smiled.
"Guessing your eye is doing a little better?" She asked and I nod.
"Yeah, not fully but yeah." I tell her as I come up to them.
"Want to help us with the cake?" She asked.
"What's the occasion?" I asked.
"Lee's birthday he doesn't know but we're having a surprise party here tonight, it slipped my mind having to help you." She says and I looked to her a bit sadden at this.
"Hey, there is no frowning in my kitchen, Clem get Violet an apron, you can help Clem with the cake." Her grandmother says and I nod and Clem hands me an apron and I put it on. I then go help Clementine as she hands me something called whipped cream.
"What the heck is this?" I asked.
"Try some." Her grandmother says and Clem handed me a spoon and got some whipped cream on it and handed the spoon to me. I took a bite and I looked to the both of them as they laughed.
"Home-made whipped cream, Lee doesn't like icing so this was the best option." Clem tells me and I nod.
"I have to agree with him on this." I say and they laughed again. Clem then handed me a spatula and I put the whipped cream all over the cake like they told me to. I tried to make sure I didn't spill any of it on the table and that the cake was fully covered in the whipped cream.
"Alright now Lee loves chocolate sprinkles." Grandma Everett says and I nod as Clementine hands me the sprinkles and I put it on the cake and smiled. I was able to help, this was good, this was progress for me. When we finished the cookies were done and then there was a knock on the door and Clementine grabbed my hand and took me to the door. she opens it and there was Carley as she had some gifts in her hands. I held my hands out and saw she was a little hesitant.
"I can see a bit better." I tell her and she nods as she hands me the gifts and Grandma Everett tells me to set them in the kitchen on the spare table and I do just that. When everything was set up Clementine took my hand and we went to the living room and Grandma Everett told me the lights would be turned off and I nod as she turns the switch to off. We were hiding behind the couch and I held Clementine's hand and then think as I whisper to her.
"There's no loud sounds?" I asked.
"I'll cover your ears, AJ brough Poppers." She says and I nod as I feel her place one hand to my ear but not the other since I needed to know when to stand up. The door opened and Clem helps me stand up and when the light came on, she covered my other ears as everyone shouted and I see Lee looking around and I just wave. I saw the confetti spew from the popper Clem told me about and Lee looked to be laughing. Clem then let go of my ears and I look to her as she pats my shoulder and smiles and I nod.
"Alright everyone into the kitchen." I hear and Clementine grabbed my hand as she took me to the kitchen with everyone else. They all sang happy birthday to Lee and he blew out the candles.
"The cake looks great mom." Lee says.
"Well Clementine made the cake and Violet helped decorate it." She tells him.
"Oh, that's very nice, thank you two." He says and I nod. Clementine helped me take a seat since my leg started to hurt and Lee opened his gifts and I just held and looked around to try and see if I could get a look at everyone. Lee loved the gifts he got and the small party was going great. A few mor weeks would pass and it was summer time. I was getting better at doing things on my own and currently I was outside with Clementine and AJ as we were over y the pond. Ducky was running around with the other duck Clementine got them for a friend.
"Is it a girl duck or a guy duck?" I asked.
"Well, they said it was a girl." Clem says and I nod.
"Good, cause my little duck doesn't need to be having ducklings." I say and she laughed at this.
"What if she wants ducklings?" She asked.
"No, no ducklings." I say and laughed a bit.
"So, when are you going to talk to our mother?" She asked me and I shrugged.
"I don't think she would want to see me like this… I might even scare my little sister." I say as I put my hand to my patch and then sighed.
"You should try and talk to her." She says and I shrugged.
"I'll do it one day." I say as I tried to look to the ducks as they chased AJ.
"What about Jane and Molly?" She asked and I shrugged.
"Don't want their pity." I tell her.
"They won't pity you, Violet." She tells me and I just look at the running blurs.
"I'll do it when I feel ready." I tell her and then the blurs come over to us.
"Hey Violet can I see your eye?" AJ asked.
"AJ!" Clem yelled shocked.
"What? I'm just wondering." He says.
"That's a bit rude to ask AJ." She tells him.
"How is that rude?" He asked.
"It's fine… sure." I say and moved my hand to my patch and lifted it up. I could see him looking close to my eyes.
"Woah it looks like there's a mushroom cloud." He says.
"Wait what?" Clem asked and she turned my head to look at her and I laughed at this.
"… It kind of does." She says.
"Wicked." I laughed.
"So, are you blind forever?" He asked and I shrugged.
"If I start seeing again, I'll be fucking happy." I tell him.
"That doesn't answer my question." He says.
"AJ." Clem says.
"What?" He asked and I chuckled.
"I could be blind forever, at least in the one eye. The other eye though, it's blurry but sometimes it gets better, but I don't think I'll see like I use to." I explained to him.
"So, you might see again?" He asked and I shrugged.
"Maybe… the doctors were talking about replacing my eye with a cadaver's eye, but I said no." I tell him with a shiver.
"Why not?" AJ asked.
"It's weird having someone else's body part… you do know cadaver means a dead person, right?" I asked him.
"Oh gross, but if it helps you." He says and I chuckled.
"I don't want someone else's eye in my socket." I tell him.
"But if it helps you, wouldn't you want to see our faces again?" He asked and I noticed he took a seat.
"I…" I stopped and held my arm a bit.
"AJ, I think you should stop." Clem tells him gently and I feel her take my hand and I held hers tightly. He wasn't wrong though, I would love to see their faces, especially Clementine's. I mean I haven't forgotten it but it would be nice to see her fully. I then watch him get up and head to the house and I sighed a bit and rubbed my head with my free hand.
"I'm sorry he said that." Clem tells me and I shake my head.
"No, he is right, I would love to see your guy's faces again… it's just… I can't for the live of me have someone else's eye, it's just… weird." I tell her.
"I know." She says and I nod. I think for a bit and then take my free hand on pat my leg.
"You know what, we should go see my mom." I tell her and look to her.
"Really?" She asked and I nod.
"Yeah, she has to meet my wife anyway, I mean we didn't get married for nothing." I say as I pull her close to me as she laughed and I kissed her head.
"And maybe… maybe one day I'll get that surgery." I tell her and I feel her nod against me.
"Whenever you're ready." She says and I nod.
"We should go tonight." I say as she helped me up and she giggles.
"Now?" She asked and I nod.
"Yeah, why not? You don't have summer classes." I tell her.
"This is true." She says and I nod.
"Alright, I just need to tell Lee and the others." She tells me and I nod. We head over to the house but I picked up Ducky as she picked up the other duck. We haven't given it a name yet, I wanted to call it home wreaker but Clem thought I meant it breaks up families, when I meant that it like to tear up my bedding, I swear I make the bed so nice and then it comes in and ruins the whole bed by taking the blanket off and laying on the pillows. As if it owned the room. I feel Clementine grab my free hand and she takes me to the house and we tell Lee and Carley that we would be going to Texas for about a week maybe two so I could talk to my mother.
"Alright, do you two need any money?" Carley asked.
"No, no I have enough with disability and such." I tell them.
"Are you sure?" Lee asked and I nodded. Lee told us that he would take us to the train station tonight so we could pack up and get the ducks ready to stay with AJ in his room. I did warn him about the nameless duck wanting to make a mess with taking blankets off the bed and such. We set the ducks down and Clementine and I head to our home and we get packing.
"Shit…" I mutter as I opened my pill bottle and counted how many I had left.
"Everything alright?" Clem asked as I counted my pills.
"Uh… I don't know if I counted right." I say as I hold my hand out and she counts for me.
"Oh, we might have to come home early." She tells me.
"You think if I called the doctors, they'd let the people in Texas know?" I asked.
"They might… we should call and ask." She says and I nod. They had to give me this seizure medication, I haven't had one in a while the last one was right after we had gotten home from Grandma Everetts house after Lee's party. Clementine was so scared that day and asked if there was anything to stop this and so they gave me this medication.
"I'll call them." I say and we head to the kitchen and she dialed the number for me and I held the phone to my ear. When I told them the situation, they said that they will call the VA down there for me to get me an extra bottle and I should pick it up in the morning. I thanked them and then hung up the call and stayed seated in the chair a bit and cracked my neck. Clementine helped me pack up my bag and I thought a bit.
"You think I should get mom something?" I asked.
"If you want." She tells me and I nod.
"Do you want to get her a gift?" She asked and I think.
"I think some treats would be great." I tell her.
"Alright, we can get some when we get into town." She tells me and I nod.
"Do you think you'll need your white cane?" Clem asked and I nod. As much as I hated it, it was going to have to be used in a newer area.
"Yeah, I'm going to need it while there… even though I hate it." I mutter the last part.
"It's not so bad, plus on days you don't want to use it, I can just help you." She tells me and I nod. Lee came over with the car and helped me with the bags. We set them in and I grabbed my cane. I was glad it was foldable so I put it in my pocket and helped Clementine in the car and she grabs my hand and helps me in as well. Lee then started to drive us to the train station.
"Are you sure you two will be fine?" He asked.
"Yes, dad we will be fine, if we have to come home early, I'll make sure to call." Clementine tells him.
"Alright I just want to make sure." He says and I nod.
"Thanks Mr. Everett." I say.
"Hey now, you're part of the family, call me Lee." He says and I nod at this.
"Thanks Lee." I say and we finally get to the train station. Clementine and I go and get tickets and I pay for them with Clem's help of course. I made sure we got first class; I didn't care but I just didn't want to be bothered for the night.
"Want to stop by the dinning cart? They're still serving dinner." She says and I nod.
"That would be great… can I have a beer?" I asked.
"How about tomorrow? You need to take your medicine." She tells me and I nod.
"Ok tomorrow." I say and we go take a seat in the dining cart I get my usual of a burger and fries but with a juice. Clementine ordered a burger as well and she got some fries as well even though I know she'll take some of mine. It wasn't long till we finished our food and then went to our cart to fall asleep. When we got to Texas I grabbed my bag and then opened my White cane we get off the platform and I could tell the sun was coming up too. We went and got a hotel.
"Alright, want to meet up with Jane and Molly?" Clem asked and I nod.
"Yeah." I say and I grabbed the cane and smirk.
"Hey want to play a little trick on them?" I asked as we walked to the bar.
"Depends, what kind of trick?" She asked as we walked. Clementine still held onto me, but I think it was for a sense of normality. She use to hold onto my arm like this even before I was blind, and even before she lost her leg. It felt nice if I have to be honest.
"Hmmm, maybe say I've gone completely sober?" I asked and she laughed.
"I don't think that's much of a trick but more like you can't mix it with your medicine." She says and I nod.
"Yeah but they don't know, could say it's the reason I went blind." I tell her and she smacks my hand.
"Don't go saying that." She tells me and I laughed at this.
"Alright, alright… hmm maybe no trick then." I say as we get to a door and I knock on it. I hear the door open.
"Holy shit, what the fuck happened to you?" I hear and laughed.
"I fought a bear." I tell whoever it was.
"Bullshit." Clem says and I laughed as we go into the bar.
"MOLLY COME HERE VIOLET FOUGHT A BEAR!" I hear Jane yell and then I hear some running and I suppose she sees me.
"Oh, that is a load of bullshit." Molly says and I laughed as Clementine helped me to the bar.
"Those are not from a bear." Molly says and I feel her touch my face.
"Nah, more of a chemical burn." I tell her and she let go of my face.
"Looks like it, the hell happened?" Jane asked.
"You hear about the bomb being dropped overseas?" I asked.
"YOU WERE IN THAT?!" They both yelled and I had to cover my ears a bit.
"Ouch, but I was miles away from the drop, thank fuck." I tell them as I moved my hands.
"So wait you're completely blind?" I hear Jane ask and I waved my hand in a so-so fashion.
"My one eye yes, my other eye it's blurry sometimes, one good time I could see Clementine." I tell them.
"Well shit, you want a drink?" Molly asked and I shake my head.
"Nah just a water." I tell her.
"What going sober on us?" Jane jokes and I shrugged.
"Can't mix it with her medication." Clem tells them for me and I hear a glass in front of me so I grabbed it and held it on the bar top.
"Medication? For your eye?" Jane asked.
"No, I have seizures, though to be fair it was a shock when it happened a while back, I thought it was a one-time thing but…. Nope." I say as I take a drink of the water.
"Shit, please tell me they're helping." Molly says and I nod.
"Oh yeah, the medicine helps a lot, though they don't know about giving me medicine for my PTSD, they don't want me to have a bad reaction." I explained.
"Shit… well at least your alive, wait what are you two doing here anyway?" Jane asked.
"Violet wants to… well see would be the wrong word." Clem says and I laughed at this.
"I wanted to visit mom…. And maybe see my sister." I tell them. We chatted for a bit and Clementine even shows them her fake leg. I took a drink of my water as Clementine actually placed it on the bar top and I chuckled.
"Holy shit girl, did that happen over there too?" Jane asked.
"Nope, happened back home, drunk driver hit me… and Violet just bought the car I was driving." She tells them and I pat her shoulder a bit.
"I can get a new one, it wasn't your fault." I tell her.
"Still… it was a good car." She says and I smiled and rubbed her back gently.
"So are those rings I see? You two finally engaged?" Molly asked.
"We are officially married… if anyone asks, we are Mr. and Mrs. Everett." Clem says and I nod.
"Shit, how'd you pull that off?" Jane asked.
"I knew someone who owed me big time majorly big time." I say as I put the glass to my mouth and drank more of the water.
"You know we have Pop." Jane says.
"Oooh what kind?" I asked.
"Coke." Molly says.
"I'll have a glass." I say and I hear another glass being placed in front of me. I finished my water first before I grabbed the class of soda and I take a drink. I ended up coughing a bit as some of it went up my nose. They all laughed and when I was done having my coughing fit, I couldn't help but laugh too.
"Damn." I say as I feel Clem wipe my face a bit and I grabbed the napkin and cleaned my face up.
"Well, if you plan on going to see your mom, we heard that she moved." Jane says.
"Moved?" I asked as I set the napkin on the table.
"Yeah, she left your dad, he's in jail right now." Molly says.
"The fuck did he do?" I asked.
"… It's best if your mom tells you, we only heard from the papers and they think he's innocent." Molly says and I nod a bit. Of course, they would, he knew people at the papers.
"We'll give you her new address." Jane says and I hear some papers shuffling.
"Is it bad that I kinda want to see your eye." Jane asked and I laughed.
"What's so funny?" Molly asked.
"Sorry, sorry, Clem's little brother asked to see my eye before… sure." I say as I lifted the patch up for her.
"Holy shit… that's kinda cool." Jane says and I laughed.
"He said it looked like a mushroom cloud." I tell them.
"Well, it does, how did it do that?" Molly asked. I shrugged at this.
"Beats me." I tell them and we chatted a bit longer. When we were done Clementine told me the address but it was unfamiliar to me.
"Shit we might have to get a taxi." I mutter.
"It's fine, I'll keep watch on the directions, but if it's too far out we might have to get another taxi." She tells me and I nod at this.
"Yeah, alright." I say as we get a taxi and they start driving. It wasn't a long ride at all, or at least from what Clementine says. We stop by the property and I grabbed my wallet and paid for the fair. When the taxi left, I opened up my cane and Clementine grabbed my arm and we walked up to the house. I felt around a bit with the cane and we had to go up some steps.
"Steps, my mortal enemy." I mutter and I hear Clementine giggle at this. She helped me up and then I hear her knock on the door a bit.
"Coming, coming." I hear and we wait a bit before I hear the door open.
"…Violet? Wait who's this?" I hear and tilt my head a bit confused.
"Uh… I don't know this person." Clementine tells me.
"Um… sorry I was looking for mom." I say to the person.
"Oh right, Lucy, your daughter is here." I hear the woman say and then I hear some footsteps come up t the door.
"I'm surprised she doesn't remember her own aunt." I hear the woman say with a laugh.
"I mean she hasn't seen you for years Vicky what do you expect." I hear and I couldn't help but smile at the voice.
"Hey mom… as for not seeing." I say and hold up my cane a bit.
"Oh, what happened to you?" I hear my mom ask worried and I feel hands on my face.
"It's not that bad." I tell her as I see her blurry face.
"Not bad? You're blind what happened?" She asked again and I chuckled.
"I'm not completely blind, I mean you're blurry but it's not that bad." I tell her.
"Come in, both of you." My mom says and I moved my cane around a bit and took a step up as we get into the house. I am sat down on what seemed to be a couch and I hold Clem's hand a bit.
"It must be so nice to have a friend help you." My aunt says and I look to her a bit.
"Oh yes, my wife is the best." I say to her.
"Wife?" She asked and I nod.
"You got married and didn't tell us?" She asked.
"Sorry it was just a simple courtroom wedding." Clementine says to her.
"You didn't call." I hear my mother say.
"Sorry, but I think if we did call it would have been dad to answer the phone." I tell her.
"That's fair, do you at least have pictures?" She asked.
"We have a few, Violet has one in her wallet." Clem says and I grabbed my wallet and handed it to her so she could grab the photo to show.
"Oh, my you two look so good, but a suit?" My aunt asked.
"Ah yeah, only men and women can get married so if anyone asks, it's Mr. and Mrs. Everett." I explained.
"Oh." I hear my mom say and I smiled a little to her.
"I'm sorry." I tell her.
"No, no do not be sorry it's understandable." She tells me and I hold Clem's hand and she handed me my wallet back.
"So, uh… is my sister here or?" I asked.
"Oh yes, she's here." My mom says and I see her blur get up and I looked to my aunt a bit.
"So… how did you." She tried to ask but stopped.
"It's a chemical burn." I tell her.
"Oh my, I'm sorry." She tells me and I shake my head.
"It's fine, don't be sorry." I tell her.
"And here she is." I hear my mom say and I see a blurry little person come up to me.
"Sissy." I hear and I moved my hand to try and put it on her shoulder but I guess I missed cause I hear a little girl giggle.
"That's my head silly." She says and I laughed.
"Sorry." I say and Clem helped move my hand and the little girl giggled.
"Sissy is funny." She says and I smile.
"So, she knows about me?" I asked.
"Of course, you are her older sister… I told her all about you." She says and I nod and I feel the little girl get up on the couch in between Clem and I.
"Oh, am I going to have to make sure you don't steal my husband?" Clem jokes and the little girl giggles and I look to see the blurry little girl hug Clementine.
"Sissy is a hus… hus…what's the word?" She tried to say the word but it must be hard.
"Husband." Clem says and then helps her say the word.
"So, you're her husband too?" The little girl asked and I bust out laughing.
"No, no Clem is my wife." I tell her.
"Oooooh… so she's sissy too?" The little girl asked and I nod.
"Well, this is rude of me, but what is your name?" I asked the little girl and she giggles.
"Kat." She says and I smiled.
"That's a cute name." Clementine says and then Kat and her would talk to each other.
"I think I have to worry about her taking you." I joked and we all laughed.
"So do you plan on starting a family of your own?" I hear my aunt ask.
"Not too soon, but we plan on adopting, unless Clementine here wants to go through the IVF." I explained.
"Oh, you want a child of your own?" My mom asked Clementine.
"I would, but I'm ok with adopting, my real parents are gone and Lee adopted me and my little brother, it would be nice to give another child a home." She explained.
"One child? I thought we were going to have an army of children?" I asked and she laughed.
"Oh, you want an army of kids?" Clem asked.
"Why not? It would be fun." I say and I feel her place her hand on my shoulder and I chuckled.
"So, you don't want a child of your own Violet?" My aunt asked and I shook my head.
"No, no the idea of me carrying a child makes me feel uncomfortable but like I said if Clementine wants one it's fine with me." I explained to them. They ended up dropping the topic and I would listen to Kat as she talked about anything and everything.
"What's that?" Kat asked and I feel a little hand touch my eyepatch.
"Oh, it's an eye patch…. My eye scares people so I have it covered." I explain to her. Though it was true it was more like I didn't want anyone asking to many questions.
"It's scary?" She asked and I nodded.
"Yeah, some people think it's cool but others don't think like that." I tell her.
"I wanna see." She says.
"Kat." My mom says and I smiled a bit.
"How about when you're older?" I asked.
"Ok." She says and then starts chatting away with Clementine. We talked a lot and I drank some tea with my mom. It was a nice day, it was peaceful. Though sadly I have to admit I wish I could see her, like really see her. I wish I never went blind but what's done is done. I can't change the past.
"So how exactly did you get the chemical burn?" My mom asked and I look to Clem and saw Kat laying on her lap.
"Is she sleeping?" I asked.
"Yes." Clem tells me and I look back to my mom and aunt.
"Did you hear about the bomb being dropped in Europe?" I asked.
"You were in the blast?" My aunt asked.
"Wait they set a bomb like that near you?" My mom asked worried and I waved my free hand.
"Well, it was a mistake on the distance, we were miles out, the flash was terrible but with how big it was from what I was told the burning was from the heat of the chemicals used, I uh… I'm just glad I was the only one in my group to have this damage, and I'm thankful that I just went blind, many others weren't lucky." I tell them
"Oh my god." I hear my aunt say.
"Hey it's not that bad. The one eye is done for but they think they can replace this eye." I say pointing to my good eye.
"How would they do that?" My mom asked.
"Well… I'm not too… happy about the idea but they would give me someone else's eye… a donor eye I suppose would be the best way to say it… but I still haven't agreed to get the surgery done." I tell them.
"But you'll see again, right?" My mom asked.
"There could be a possibility that I could… go completely blind and I don't want to take that risk." I tell her.
"Oh, I didn't think about that." She says and I nod at this.
"I'm still thinking about it though, but right now I'm fine." I tell them and I feel Clem hold my hand tighter.
"So how long are you staying?" My mom asked.
"About two weeks, depending." I tell her.
"Oh, then how about we have a picnic tomorrow if the weather doesn't turn sour." My mom says and I nod.
"Sounds great." I say. It wasn't until around five when Clementine and I had left and we head to a small diner to get something to eat. In all honesty I was more thirsty than hungry so I just get a water.
"At least have something small to eat." Clem says and I feel her hand on top of mine.
"Nah I'm fine just not hungry." I tell her.
"Are you sure?" She asked and I nod.
"Are you upset?" She asked.
"No why would I be?" I asked.
"Was just wondering is all… I worry about you." She says and I nod and hold her hand more.
"I'm fine Clem. Thank you for asking though." I tell her.
"Well, we can order some food to take back to the hotel just in case." She tells me and I nod.
"Sounds like a good idea." I say and I think about what I wanted. We then ordered both our meals to go instead, but I still left a tip for the waitress. When we got to the hotel, I set my food in the fridge and then went to the bed and closed my eyes.
"Vi." I hear and I hummed a bit.
"Yeah?" I asked.
"Your medicine, we also need to go pick up your prescription." She tells me and I nod at this.
"Right, right." I mutter as I sit up and she handed me a glass of water and I take it then my pill and I shake my head a bit.
"Fucking hate this." I mutter and I feel her rub my back gently.
"I know." She says and I sighed.
"I mean… I have to take this for the rest of my damn life… how the fuck did… I don't know." I mutter.
"I don't know either, but if you're worried, we can get you an appointment." She tells me and I sighed but nodded.
"Yeah… yeah." I mutter and set the glass on the nightstand but I must have missed because I hear the glass break.
"God damn it." I say as I get up.
"I've got it." She tells me but I still get up and helped her as best as I could. When the glass was all picked up and swept, we got changed into our night clothes and I'm laying in the bed with her. I was on my side as I looked to Clementine as she looked to be sleeping.
"I see you staring." She tells me and I chuckled a bit. I moved my hand and placed it on her side a bit and she moves closer to me.
"…Do you think I should get the surgery?" I asked.
"It's your choice, I don't want you going completely blind but if there is a chance… maybe… but it's up to you." She tells me and I nod and moved to kiss her head gently.
"…Would you still be with me? completely blind?" I asked.
I was willing to do it before and still willing to do it now… plus you can't get rid of me that easily, last time I checked you said you hid our wedding certificate." She says and I groaned.
"Something about 'Good luck returning me without the receipt' does that ring a bell?" She asked and I groaned again.
"I was drunk." I mutter and she laughed at this.
"Oh, but you were adorable." She says and I kissed her cheek gently and moved so I could hear her heart beat. She rubs the back of my head gently and I sighed a bit.
"I love listening to your heart beat." I say quietly.
"Why is that?" She asked.
"… I haven't gone deaf… it reminds me that I'm with someone I care deeply about… it calms me down too… whenever I had nightmares and you placed my head to your chest and I hear your heart beating, it's just… soothing." I tell her as I listen to her heart beat more.
"Poetic." She says and I chuckled.
"Sappy." I say and she laughed.
"Charmer." She says.
"Your prince charming hu?" I asked and she laughed again.
"Of course." She says and we lay in silence.
"I miss shooting my rifle." I tell her honestly.
"You miss all that?" She asked.
"Not the war and stuff… I just miss being able to shoot my rifle… to see what I'm looking at through a scope you know." I tell her.
"I… I have to be honest but I don't miss it… to many bad memories… but I will be honest there were good ones… like when we were on our scouting missions… where we could talk to each other and no one to bother us, just you and I." She tells me and I nod and hold her hand gently.
"Thanks… for everything." I tell her.
"I should be thanking you." She says and I moved and she kissed me and I kissed her back. I feel her hand on my face and I smiled in the kiss. She didn't move her hand away but I can feel her tracing the scars and I tried to look at her. I wanted to cry at the fact that I couldn't see her beautiful face, and that I may never see it again.