Finding Everett | ✔️

Chapter One

Everett was happy, to a degree. It was no longer him against the world. It was just him and his music.

Trying to block out the painful memories, and doing so unsuccessfully, Everett exited his shower, grabbing a towel from a nearby stand and drying off, before counting his steps back to his bedroom. It was almost second nature, being able to count his steps while thinking of other things.

Everett had refused to use a white cane in any other environment than the one his school provided. At least there, he was safe from the scrutinizing stares of people his own age.

Letting out a small growl, Everett fumbled for his closet door a moment, before swinging it open.

Now came the fun part.

Taking a deep breath and concentrating, Everett ran his fingers very slowly over the various fabrics hung up in his closet. He passed his formal attire, the smooth suit jacket giving that away and swung right into his school clothes. He felt each shirt, trying to find the right one for today. He felt a collar and scowled. He wasn't in the mood to be choked by a polo today. So it went until he felt a regular T-Shirt and sighed in relief. He could tell by the wear in the article of clothing that this was his favorite v-neck. It was black, and from what he was told aside from that, it went great with the vest that hung further back in his closet.

Everett skipped through the hangers expertly until he felt the fabric of the vest and yanked it off it's hanger, slipping his arms through the holes. After pulling on a pair of jeans and feeling around for his shoes, Everett walked back to his bed and pulled the covers tight.

If there was one thing he was thankful, it was the fact that his family no longer babied him to the extent that they used to. They had helped him figure out how to do things like this on his own. Ninety percent of the time, he was sure the bed wasn't perfect or that his clothes weren't perfectly folded or maybe his outfit didn't completely match some days, but the fact that he was able to do things like this himself pleased him greatly. He enjoyed having some sense of independence.

Even though there were many at his school that were independant, both like him and even more so, he knew several others who were constantly pampered by their parents, taking full advantage of their disablity; their clothes were laid out every morning. Breakfast was served in bed. They weren't learning how to get out on their own. Of course, Everett understood that everyone approached the situation differently, but he just couldn't imagine being at the complete mercy of everyone else. It was bad enough as it was without having people hold your hand everywhere you went.

With a sigh, Everett grabbed his backpack and his folded cane before making his way to his bedroom door. His room was on the first level of the house. He had wanted a second story room, but that was where his parents drew the independence line.

It was okay if he wanted to do things on his own, but they were just terrified that he would try to take the stairs one day, mess up, and fall. They loved him too much to let anything bad happen to him, not if they could prevent it. In a way, it touched Everett. His parents cared for him and just wanted what was best. In other ways, it angered him even more, knowing just how pathetic he was.

Grumbling under his breath about nonsense, Everett easily walked the hallway that led to the kitchen. He could already hear his family bustling about; his mother was up, making breakfast as she always did.

His father was sipping coffee at the table, most likely reading the morning sports section of the newspaper. And then there was Jesse; loudly slurping his cereal like always. It made Everett cringe. Without his sense of sight, his sense of hearing shot through the roof and he heard things that no one else usually did. And one of the most annoying sounds was listening to his younger brother eat.