"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.
Landon looked at his dad and said, "It's a beautiful place daddy.'
Liam smiled before answering to the comment. "I know. This is where I used to come when I had problems. It's a great place to come and think. It's quiet and peaceful too. I wanted to show you this place because I wanted you to come to this place too. It helped me to come here. So I'm hoping it will bring peace to you too."
"I like it here. It's very pretty. Is this a secret place?"
"Well...kind of. Not many people know about it, but it can also be visited by other people, if they want to come here."
"Oh, okay. Then I will come here forever."
Liam chuckled this time and he looked at his son. Looking down at his son, Liam knew that what Landon said about coming here forever was true. It made him proud that already at a young age, Landon already knew how to keep his own word. Liam was already proud of the young man that Landon would become. And he was beyond happy. But then the accident happened and their world turned upside down.
Landon awoke from is thoughts. "Yes," he thought. "My life was turned upside down. I lost my father and my sight. I love my mother, don't get me wrong, but my Dad was like my best friend, my accomplice. He talked to me as if I were the only person who could understand him. Too bad I'll never get that experience ever again with him."
He looked back up and he started to count the steps. There were always for stairs, so that was cool. At the end of these steps, there stood a small tree. He took two steps to the right. From there he walked ten steps and then he turned to the right. He then walked up four steps and he turned to the left. He was barely using his cane. After his turn to the left he walked ten more steps. At the end of these steps there was a bench waiting for him. Behind this bench there was a bush that had pink flowers. He sat down and just stayed still. The pond was a few feet behind him. "God. What I would give to see that pond again. He turned around but there was nothing. There was still darkness. Every time he came here, he hoped that maybe a miracle would happen and he would get his sight back. "It's wishful thinking." he thought. "But I have to cling to something."
He turned back around and clutched his cane in his arms. Tears began to roll down his cheeks. He acted like he was tough, especially in front of his mother and his brother. He didn't want them to worry and what better way than to act like he was strong. Landon was never the one to cry in public and it was here where he let his true emotions come out. Here, in this sacred place, he let all of the tears run down his cheeks and he didn't have to worry about anyone seeing him. Here, in this place, Landon wasn't afraid to show his true feelings since no one was ever around. In a way this was better since no one could see his pain. Every time he turned to look somewhere, he knew that those people were staring back at him. He knew that their looks was not that of pity but of hate and judgments. They had no reason to feel that way towards him. Sure, he was blind but that didn't change anything. Landon was still human, he still had feelings. What hurt him the most was that all of these people never gave him a chance. They always saw him as the blind freak. They didn't know how much that hurt, they didn't know what it was like to feel like everyone was against you for something that you couldn't control. They didn't know what he felt. He wanted to scream, he wanted to scream in their faces that it was useless for him to try to fit in, that it was useless because nobody ever gave him a chance and he was tired of feeling so miserble. He wanted to shout it all to the world. But he couldn't. All he had left was this place: a sacred place his father had shown him when he was young and the only place he could turn to for comfort. Just being here made him feel better...more comfortable with everything. He couldn't really explain it. Maybe it was because his father had taken him here and he knew that somehow his father was always here waiting for him.
Behind him, he heard a branch break into two. It was the faintest of sounds and if you hadn't been listening to it carefully you would have missed it. But Landon heard it because he could. And immediately, he stood up and asked, "Who's there?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lauren had stumbled upon the most amazing place ever. She had had no idea that this normal park held something so intrinsically beautiful. She looked around and she was surrounded by flowers of all different colors and by butterlies and by the drooping branches of a tree. The rays of sunlight gave it an appearance of a scene out of Tarzan, when they're in the jungle. She spotted the small pond first and so she made her way over there. She noticed that there were benches where she could sit but there were a few more benches by the pond where she thought it would be more appropriate for her. At the same time that she was sitting down, she spotted a mother duck with her ducklings. The mother looked so proud as she held the lead in front of her babies. Lauren assumed that this was the first time that those little ducklings were swimming and it was amazing. She paid attention to tevery little detail, making sure that she wouldn't forget any of it. It would come in handy at some other time.
Thankfully, she had brought her easel and her painting materials with her. It was from this bench where she had the most amazing view. And there was a patch of tall grass around the pond, so she could not really see anything beyond this point. The ducklings were the first thing that Lauren painted. She loved the way their feathers looked like fur and she enjoyed painting the ducklings and the mother duck. The mother duck was of brown color with what seemed to be dots on her tail feathers. There was a look of proudness as she checked on her ducklings.
Lauren couldn't help but smile to herself. She thought about all the times that her own mother had wore that look. One of those times was on they day of her sixth grade promotion. Her mother had worn a simple white skirt with a black see through top. Of course, her mother wore a tank top under the blouse but she looked great. She could never stop smiling. It was one of those days, when at the end of the day, her mother's cheeks really hurt and she couldn't as much even talk because that would hurt her too. Lauren realized that her mother was a bit strange but what could she do? Lauren loved her either way.
Another occasion was when Lauren's brother graduated from high school. Yeah, Lauren had a brother. He never came around much anymore. He had gone to the army and he had never fully recovered from the stress that the war had given him. He decided to take a break from everything. His solution was to never come back to the city or any place that was populated for that matter. Where he was going to stay, who knew? Lauren had played it off, pretending that it didn't bother her as much. But her brother had been her rock, more like her best friend. She had set her mind on looking for him one day, but as she got older, she realized that he had basically abandoned them. Not once did he ever try to write to them. So at that point, all she felt for him was anger.
Lauren went back to her painting. This time, she painted the pond. The water that surrounded the ducklings, was like a mirror. One could see the branches that hung above the pond and the tall grass reflected on the water. This was one of her favorite parts of painting. One of her favorite parts was to paint the reflections of anything on a water. She loved how in the end, the reflection looked almost identical to the ones in real life. It took Lauren an hour to finish the painting. When she looked at the finished product, she felt pride again. There were so many details in this one painting and she loved to work to get all those details correct. It was a greater satisfaction to look at her painting and compare it to the real life original and find that it was as similar as it could be. No feeling could ever replace that, and there were no words to explain it.
After she was done with the painting, Lauren walked around to see what other beauty was hidden here. She walked along the pond and there was more than met the eye. Behind the tall grass, there were so many flowers and benches. The sunlight came through the branches in individual rays and it was the most beautiful sight she had ever seen. The effect that the rays of sunlight and the flowers and the benches gave off made it seem that this place had been literally taken out of a fairytale. It was the most amazing sight she had ever seen and it was at moments like these when she wished that she had brought her camera. "This would have been an amazing picture," she thought. "Too bad. There's always next time, though."
Lauren went back to the spot where she had been working a few minutes before. She sat down on the grass and crossed her legs criss-cross apple sauce. This place gave off a peaceful vibe and she loved being here. She decided to lay down on the grass and the damp, cold feeling of the grass made her want to lay there forever. She was looking at the sky. It always amazed her how the sky never appeared to change color, not even once. Sure there are times when the sky had a pink or purple-ish color to it but that was because of the light. She just looked up at the sky and then she heard steps a few feet away. Her reaction was to sit up straight immediately. She looked around to see if she could see who it was that approached this beautiful, wonderful place. It was a failed attempt to see the person who had come and so she decided to walk around. She got up slowly and she went around the tall grass. As she approached one of the other benches, she saw the figure of a young man. All she could see was the back of his head and a little part of his back. He had his face buried in his hands and his shoulders were shaking slightly. "He's crying," she thought. "He's crying. But I can't just go up to him and ask him if he's okay...just like that. He's going to think it's weird. I think it's weird ! Just back away, Lauren. Back away. It's for the best."
She slowly took her left foot and placed it behind her. Then she took her right foot and did the same action. A few steps away, there was a dry twig that she had not seen and as she stepped with her left foot, the twig broke under the pressure. The young man that was sitting on the bench sat up straight almost immediately. He wiped his face and then he looked back.
"There was no way he could have heard that." she thought to herself, but there was nothing she could do to stop what would come next.
"Who's there?" a medium deep, but melancholic voice asked. His voice was loud enough for anyone to hear.
"Damn," she thought. "What am I supposed to do? I have to tell him something."
Lauren was looking straight at the young man and he hadn't budged. He was waiting for an answer and there was no way she could get out of this one. Lauren had held her breath and she knew she had to say something. "He already knows that there's someone here. What do I do? Do I tell him the truth? Do I tell him that I'm here? Gosh, Lauren. Why are you making a big deal out of this?"
Lauren stood there, but she couldn't move. Her breath was still held and the young man still hadn't moved. "What do I do?"