Blind Love (Edited)

Chapter 8: A walk in the park

"I'll be back, Mom. I'm going to go to the park." Landon called as he started to walk out the door.  

"Shouldn't you wait until Lance gets back from the store? You know, so he could go with you?" Laura asked with concern on her face. 

"I'll be fine, Mom. Promise. The park isn't that far away. I'll be fine. Don't worry." He approached his Mom and reached out his hand to see where she was. His hands then rode up her arm and up her neck until he found her forehead. He planted a small kiss on her forehead and then he walked out. 

The first thing that he did when he was outside was smell the air. By smelling the air he could tell the weather. It was a good day to be outside. And today was definitely one of those days. On days like these, days that he went outside alone, Landon would take his cane with him. Other people referred to it as just a stick, but to Landon, it was the difference between getting hurt and being okay.  

He made his way towards the street. Before he even set foot on the street, he backed up. A car passed by. He heard it even before it came. "Phew,"he thought."At least Mom didn't see that. I'm pretty sure she would have gone ballistic." 

He then approached the street, this time, making sure to listen intently. When he was sure that no car was coming, Landon crossed the street. He didn't need any help to get around the city. As amazing as it seemed, the neighborhood hadn't changed much in thirteen years. He remembered every spot in the neighborhood. He remembered how to get around. Of course, his mother would not think the same thing, but he knew his way around.  

A few minutes later, Landon arrived at the entrance of the park. He closed his eyes and he could see the trees all around him, on each side. For sure, there was one tree in front of him, so he had to take three steps to the right. After he took these three steps, he went forward eighteen steps. Now here, another tree stood. Again another three steps to the right and from here, he would take twenty steps forward. At the end of these twenty steps, there was a hill. Behind this hill was his destination. 

Behind this hill was everything that made him never lose hope. It was they most beautiful part of the park which he knew not many people knew about. He was sure that barely anybody knew it was here. The truth was that it was hidden. He couldn't say that it wasn't because he would be lying, but if the people here never took the time to go beyond what they already knew was here, then they were missing a huge part of this neighborhood.  

He went up the hill and he went down to sit on the grass. The only reason that he knew this place was here was because of his dad. Thirteen years earlier, a few days before the car accident that would take Landon's father's life and Landon's sight, his father, Liam, took him to this place. He remembered every detail as if it had been only yesterday: 

"Where are you taking me, Daddy?" the four year old Landon said. 

"You'll see, Landon. Don't be impatient." Liam had told him. They kept walking for another few minutes and then Liam's voice was heard once again. "We're here buddy." 

Landon looked up and when he did, he saw the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. This place looked like it should belong in a movie or like it had come from a fantasy world. There were a few benches all around the small pond that was filled with ducklings and leading to the pond was a small stream with small waterfalls along the way. The trees all around were small and young with leaves as green as the grass and flowers of all sorts of colors. There were roses and daisies and other flowers of many different colors. There were purple, pink, yellow, orange, peachy color, white and yellow flowers. Those flowers decorated the benches. And in some cases there were a few bushes that had the flowers behind the bench. Most of the trees that were present here had droopy branches, so the sunlight would come in and poke through the branches. It seemed as if each ray of sunlight was separated from the rest. Every now and then a few butterflies would land on some of the plants that lived in this part of the park. There was even a sort of staircase so that one wouldn't fall down while trying to reach this place. It was beyond beautiful.