Love Heals the Blind

Chapter 1

"There's nothing you can do?"

"Nothing. I'm sorry."

Brielle concentrated on her mother's hand, firmly wrapped around her own. She had nice fingers, long, skinny, delicate. Her wedding ring was beautiful too... or at least that's what Brielle remembered. She tuned out the sound of the grim optometrist's voice and let her mind wander. She was rarely surprised when the doctors told her that her eyes could never be fixed.

"Let's go," her father suggested in a low voice. "Thank you for your time." Brielle automatically stood up, slightly disoriented, and allowed her mother to guide her to the door.

"That's okay," her mother said, determined. "We can't let this stop us. I know the name of a good doctor in New York, maybe we should make an appointment to fly out next week." Brielle fought to tune out the voice of her mother too. She just wanted to go home.

"Bree, honey, come here for a moment." Her mother called from the kitchen. Brielle froze with one foot on the stair and cursed silently under her breath. She shuffled into the kitchen, trailing a hand on the wall to help guide her. She could hear her father's slow, heavy tapping on the floor and her mother nervously swirling her coffee cup. Damn. This must be serious.

She slipped into the seat in front of them and tried to keep a straight face, waiting in suspense. After a few moments of silence, her father spoke up.

"Brielle, it's about time that we got serious."

"Serious with what?"

"Life," he said simply. "These last few years have been very, very difficult for you. No matter how hard you try to hide it, we know that you've lost all your old friends. You can't keep up at school because you refuse to let anyone help you, and you never do anything for fun anymore."

Brielle kept a stony silence. She hated it when her parents tried to interfere in her life.

"If you're just going to lecture me, I’m leaving." She half-rose, but her mother broke in.

"Brielle, we didn't call you in to lecture you, we called you here to help you."

"You're not helping me by reminding me what my life used to be like!" Brielle slammed her fist onto the counter. "I know, okay? I know that my life sucks now, but there's nothing you or anyone else can do about it!"

"But there are things we can do," her mother intercepted. "Classes! Like, like painting class, remember how much you enjoyed painting when you were younger?"

Brielle snorted. "It's a little hard to enjoy painting when you can't see the canvas sitting in front of you."

"There are other things," her mother was getting desperate now. "What about sports?"

Brielle's mouth fell open. "Are you kidding me? Mom! How the hell do you expect me to play sports? I can't see a ball, I can't see any teammates,  I can't see what's going on!"

"Okay, well, that's not all," Brielle's mom kept going. "Brielle, there are thousands of people in the world that are blind like you. It's not the end of the world."

"Yeah?" Brielle breathed hard. "Well, before I got blind, my whole world was my art, my friends and sports. I don't have any of that now. I think I can say that the world has ended."

 "What about your family?" She felt a soft, cool hand touching her own. "We're still here, Bree." Brielle felt unexpected tears sparking in her eyes.

"Yeah. Right." Her voice was tight. "Whatever. I'm leaving." She got up, letting the chair scrape harshly against the floor. Ignoring the calls of her parents, she took off.