The Leaking Heart

Chapter Six

It was around eight at night and the rain was pouring hard outside.
Jason was currently in his room listening to Amber- Found when suddenly his father came through his door.
He took off his big red headphones as his dad came to sit next to him on the bed.
"How you doing buddy?" He asked.
"Not good... I wish it would've been better." He answered with a sad look in his eyes.
"You know, sometimes, life drops a person on your path and gives you a choice. You can either leave that person behind and suffer alone while continuing on your journey. Or you can take that person along for the ride and make amazing memories together." He said and Jason sighed.
"What if that person already has memories with someone else and prefers that guy above you?" He asked as he looked down at the floor.
"If that were the truth, why would she come all the way here and wait in the rain?" His father asked, causing Jason to look up at him with a frown.
"What are you talking about?" He asked.
"Go outside and see for yourself."
Jason ran out of his room and yanked the front door open, only to see Lucy walking towards their porch.
"How long has she been out there?" He asked while looking at his mother.
"She walks very slow, but I'd say she's been walking for at least five minutes." She answered.
"That doesn't make any sense."
"It does when she walks like a snail dummy." Sally said and walked away.
Jason walked out to the porch, down the steps and into the rain.
"Lucy?" He said and she suddenly stopped.
"Jason?"
"Yeah... What are you doing here?" He asked.
"You wouldn't listen to me or let me explain. This was the only thing I could think of for you to listen to me." She said and tried to walk over to him, but her foot slipped.
Luckily Jason was close enough to grab her around the waist and prevent her from hitting the wet pavement.
Her face was so close to his and her dark glasses have fallen to the ground in the process.
Her eyes were closed tightly when she noticed that Jason had caught her.
"Open your eyes..." He whispered to her and she shook her head.
"I can't..."
He pulled her up and took a step back.
"Why did you come here?" He asked.
She strated fidgeting to find the letter she wrote and slowly pulled it out of her bag.
The paper was all wet and soggy as she gave it to Jason.
He carefully took it from her, afraid it'll tear.
"I wrote everything down for you to read." She said and he chuckled.
"Ancient much?" He replied causing her to laugh.
He picked up her glasses and gave it back to her, she gently put them on.
"Come inside, you're drenched." He said offering his arm out to her.
She smiled and took it while walking with him.
"Watch out, there's a step." He said.
"I know..."She chuckled.
"Please come in, Sally will give you something dry to wear." Petunia said and Lucy nodded.
"Thank you Petunia." She said with a snile and went with Jason's sister to get some dry clothes.
"What was she doing here?" His mother asked.
"She came to apologize." He added and went up to his room.
Jason took the letter and opened it, leaving it under a lamp to dry out.
A few minutes later, Lucy came through his door and walked over to him.
His sister's clothes were a little tight, but it showed off her figure.
"Not bad..." He commented and she laughed.
"Please I feel like a cake in a corset." Her words made him burst our in laughter.
"Please... Sit down." He offered and she slowly walked over to his bed.
Once she sat down, he took a seat next to her.
"Lucy..."
"Hmm?"
"Can I ask you for a favour?" He said.
"Sure you can... What is it?" She asked and his hands reached up to touch her glasses.
She gasped and stopped him from taking it off.
"No... Don't." She said.
"Please... I need to see your eyes." He said in a husky tone.
"No,you really don't. Trust me, they look awful."
"How would you know?"
"They were discribed to me and I feel naked without my glasses." She said as her head went down.
"Lucy... Listen to me... I don't care." He said as he lifted her chin up with his hand.
"Jason... You don't want to see this." She said.
His hand reached up to her face and cupped her cheek as he leaned in closer to her.
"I don't care about that, you'll always be my Lucy... No matter what you look like." He whispered to her.
She flushed and smiled sweetly as he pulled back.
Lucy nodded slowly and Jason gave a faint smike before taking off her glasses.
Her eyes were shut tightly as he looked at her.
There were big white scars around her eyes.
"Open them..." He said softly.
"Are you sure?" She asked.
"Yes"
Lucy opened them and Jason gasped once he saw her looking forward.
The cornea of the eye and the iris was a blueish/white color.
"What happened?" He asked and he blinked before turning away.
"I was little when it happened..." She said.
"When what happened?" He asked.
"Intraocular Metranoma, it developed when I was five."She answered.
"What's that?" He asked.
"It's a form of cancer in the eye... I was on chemo for two years and it went away,but my sight wasn't recovering. I've been in and out of ICU since I was five, operation after operation. Phthisis Bulbi is the result of it all." She said.
"Please explain." He said.
"Phthisis Bulbi is a shrunken, non-functional eye that results from severe ocular disease or damage. Since both happened to me..."She explained.
"But the cancer went away right? You're better?" He asked.
"Yes I am, but seven years ago a cataract developed in both my eyes, leading to a tumor in my brain. So, I went for chemo again and luckily it went away, but my eyes..." She said and turned to face him.
"The check up... You went to make sure everything was still alright!" He said as he walked over to her.
"Yeah and it is..." She said.
Jason suddenly took hold of her hands as he stood in front of her.
"Let me take you somewhere special." He said and she smiled while nodding.
Without another word, Lucy hugged him close to her and he held onto her tightly.
"I think we'll call your mom and ask her if you could spend the night." Jason suggested and she nodded against his chest.
Luckily Lucy's parents were understanding people and they loved to see her enjoy her life.
Jason and Lucy ended up on his bed, talking about authors, books and about how precious life is.
Lucy had spend the night and fell asleep in Jason's arms, on his chest.
His mother and father came through the door, tip toeing.
"Sshh... Be quiet..." Petunia whispered.
Jason's father held up a vintage Paraloid original 600, camera and took a photo of the two of them together.
The flash from the camera woke Jason up and he nearly fell out of bed, waking Lucy as well.
"What the hell are you guys doing?" He asked and they laughed.
"You need to capture every moment son." His dad said as he sat the photo down beside his bed.
"Breakfast is ready, so come downstairs." His mother said as the two of them left the room.
Jason picked up the photo and smiled as he looked at it.
"What was that?" Lucy asked.
"Just my parents being themselves." He said as he rolled his eyes.
"I heard that breakfast is ready, so let's go downstairs." She said and got out of bed.
She was busy taking out her stick, when his hand rested on hers.
"Let me be your guide today." He whispered in her ear as he stood next to her.
Lucy smiled as she turned to face him.
It looked like she was stafing right at him and his heart flipped inside his chest.
"Lucy... Are you looking at me?" He asked and she shook her head.
"I'm blind Jason..." She said before heading to the door, but stopped suddenly.
"You want to be my guide, so come on..." He smiled and rushed to her side.
"Don't forget your glasses." He said and placed them on her eyes.
"My Lady..." He offered his arm to her, which she gladly took while he led her down the stairs.
"Here comes the star couple now!" His father said.
"Dad! Please... We're not a couple..." He corrected.
"Pancakes?" His mother said and Jason took Lucy to the table, pulling out the chair for her.
"These smell good Petunia." She said.
"Help yourself." She said.
Jason knew she couldn't see anything and so he took care of it for her, putting some pancakes on her plate.
"Syrup?" He askes softly.
While he helped her, his parents just looked amazed and proud at the two of them.
"Mom, Dad... Can I take the car today?" He asked.
"Why?" His father asked.
"I want to take Lucy to the Poppy meadow." He said.
"Son, that's nearly a three hour ride." His father said.
"Yes, I'm well aware."
"As long as you fill up the tank then by all means take the car." His father agreed.
Jason smiled at his father and ate his breakfast.
Afterwards, he packed a few things for the road and his mother made them both a picnic basket.
Lucy wandered around and found Sally's room, she knocked while standing by the door.
"Oh hey, how are the clothes?" She asked.
"They're fine, thank you. I'll wash them and bring them back to you." Lucy smiled.
"Do you like my brother?" She asked directly.
"Why do you ask?"
"No reason, I just wondered since he likes you I thought you felt the same."
"I'll bring back your clothes." Lucy said before exiting the room.
She met Jason downstairs, ready to go.
"Thank you so much Petunia, Mr. Clifton." She said while giving each of them a hug and taking Jason's arm.
"Come back anytime." Petunia said.
Jason walked with Lucy on his arm to the family car.
He opened the door for her and she got in.
"I'm going to take you to your place first so that you can change and tell your parents were we're going." He said while getting in himself.
After Lucy changed into her own statnge looking clothes, wearing a white dress with yellow dots and blue loafers, Jason smiled as she came over to the car.
"Where exactly are tou guys going?" Allison asked.
"Just ourside of town, I'll send you a location when we get there." Jason smiled and they returned the kind gesture.
He opened the door for Lucy and she got in and they drove off.
Jason stopped a few times for a breather before they took off again.
"Mind if I plug in some of my music?" Lucy asked and Jason took out the the auxiliary cable.
"Not at all, which song do you want to hear? " He asked and plugged her phone in.
She told him and he clicked on it as the song: Can't forget you by My Darkest Days started ro play.
"Oh my goodness, this sounds so unlike you." He commented.
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"Well, it's really depressing and you're like a little ray on sunshine." Jason said.
"Why thank you, but I have days where I get a little depressed." She said.
"I see and the band's name is My Darkest Days... Nice." Jason said casuing her to laugh.
"I have something a little more conservative if you would like?" She asked and he nodded his head.
"Try Quietdrive - Even when I'm gone."
"No... That sounds way more depressing." He commented with a slight laugh.
"Just try it."
"Alright." He agreed and clicked on the song.
The song had a pleasant melody and he enjoyed it more than he thought he would.
As the aong played out, tears rolled down Lucy's cheeks, but Jason didn't notice.
She took off her glasses and wiped her eyes.
"Can I ask you a question?"
"Shoot." He said.
"Why are you taking me to a flower meadow, when I won't even be able to admire the beauty of it?" She asked.
"Well, I'm actually taking you to meet my brother." He said.
"Your brother?"
"Yes, Christopher Clifton. He owns that meadow and has way too much money than he knows what to do with, so he buys whatever he wants." Jason explained.
"I see, and why haven't your parents mentioned him?" She asked.
"His name is not allowed to be spoken in our house."
"Why not?"
"My parents had a fight with him the day he left and they told him never to come back. Luckily they don't deprive me of my brotherly affection for him or forbid me to see him so that's a good thing." He said and she smiled.
They arrived at the meadow three hours later and Jason helped Lucy out of the car.
"Where are we going?" She asked.
There was a slight tremble of excitement in her voice as Jason guided her away from the car.
"Just a few more steps."He said.
Lucy gasped when she suddenly felt the flowers touching her legs.
She walked three steps with Jason before stopping and taking off her sunglasses.
"Jason..." She said and he looked over at her.
"How big is it?"
"It's a few acres with a tree in the middle of the field."
"How far is the tree from where we stand?"
"At least fifty meters." He guessed.
Lucy smiled as she walked a few steps on her own without her cane, feeling the flowers beneath her fingers.
"Dicribe to me what it looks like." She said and he came to stand next to her.
"It's like a field of red poppy flowers with noting in sight, but the tree and the sunset in the far east."
"What does the flowers look like as the sun shines on them?" She asked as she closed her eyes, while the wind blows through her hair.
"Well... It's really red."
"Oh come on Jason, you read old novels that are scary discriptive. You can do better than that." She urged and he took a deep breath.
"Ummm... Its like a fiery ocean of red poppies, glowing under the light of the orange sunset while the winds blows through the flaming waves of flowers."
Lucy openes her eyes and tears rolled from her face as she turned to look at him.
"Thank you Jason, I saw that." She smiled through her tears.
"Are you alright?" He asked.
"Yes, you discribed it well and for a moment it felt like I could see." She said with a sniff.
Jason smiled as he stepped closer to her and wiped her tears away with his thumb.
"I'd like to see you." She said.
"See me?" He questioned.
"Just stand still." She said and moved even closer towards him.
Jason smiled and closed his eyes.
She reached up with her hands and placed them on his face, feeling his features.
She gasped when she touched his lips and bis nose.
"What color is your hair?" She asked.
"Blonde."
"Eyes?"
"Blue."
Lucy gasped and laughed a little through her tears.
"You don't seem to look awful." She said causing him to laugh out loud.
"Best looking guy in school, according to the girls." He said.
"Damn... No wonder those girls were so mad at me." The two of them laughes together.
"Jason?" A deep voice asked and Lucy turned her head away to put on her glasses.
"Christopher how have you been?" He asked and took Lucy back to the car with him.
"Who's this?" Christopher asked.
"She's my friend, Lucy."He introduced.
"Nice to meet you." She said with a smile.
"Come inside when you're done here." He said before walking away.
"He doesn't seem to be warm and fuzzy." Lucy commented.
"Yeah... He's like that at first but deep down he has a big heart." Jason said.
Lucy and Jason had their little picnic and ate near the tree, between the flowers.