Cindy heard Lauren in the house and she immediately went downstairs to kick her out. She enjoyed it more when she saw that her blind friend was in the house too. It looked like he was talking to Kyle, probably about something stupid without importance. She kicked them both out.
Brett frowned upon it and Kyle left with him to go talk about something. She was left all alone again because Emileigh was gone. She had gone somewhere else too. Maybe it had been to look for a job.
Cindy was all alone in her house. This happened more and more often. She knew that everyone in the house were against the decision of treating Lauren like she was nothing to her. Even Brett was against that and he didn't know the whole story.
Cindy went to sit down on the couch like she usually did when she was alone. All of a sudden, her world went black. One second, everything was in front of her and the next second, everything was gone and she was left in pure darkness.
She blinked once, then twice, then thrice but nothing came back to her sight. She couldn't see anything. As hard as she tried, she couldn't see. She even tried rubbing her eyes and that didn't work.
Panic struck her. She got up and she walked around trying desperately to get her sight back. She bumped into the table and she cursed as she hit the table.
"What's going on?" she asked.
There was no answer on the other side.
"Hello!!!" she screamed louder but there was silence all around her. She was lost, confused and scared.
Suddenly, her quiet house turned into a party of voices. She couldn't tell exactly where she was. All she knew was that she was walking. She heard cars passing by and that's when it hit her. I'm in the street, she thought.
People passed all around her but she couldn't reach out. As she walked she noticed she had a cane in her hands and she could hear the whispers of some of the people on the streets.
"Look at her, acting like she's a normal person when she's not. What kind of monster does she think she is? All elegant, for what? She probably has nowhere to go."
Some people even bumped into her on purpose. There was no apology for what they had just done. It was as of she didn't even exist and that made her mad.
Without her realizing it, Cindy had ended up in a house. She knocked on the door looking for a friend. She guessed it was her friend's father who opened because it was a man's voice who was talking to her now.
"I'm looking for Sabrina." Cindy announced.
"Sure," Sabrina's father told her. "Come in and sit down while you wait for her. This is your house, too."
"Thanks, sir."
"No problem."
Cindy entered the house and waited until Sabrina came downstairs. When she did, they both were about to leave but Sabrina's mother came over to Sabrina and introduced herself. She said, "Hi I'm Lori, Sabrina's mother. Nice to meet you."
She then extended her hand towards Cindy. Cindy couldn't see where her hand was and so she had to reach out her hand and search for it. When she touched Lori's finger, Cindy took that as the sign to shake her hand.
Lori watched horrified as Cindy searched for her hand. Lori's hand was right in front of her. The only reason that existed for her not being able to locate Lori's hand was because she was blind.
"You're blind, aren't you?" Lori spat out.
"Yes, ma'am. But it's not that bad." Cindy answered.
"Get the hell out of my house!!"
"Excuse me?"
"Get. The. Hell. Out. Of. My. House."
"Mom," Sabrina intervened." you can't tell her to leave. She's my friend and I am going to hang out with her."
Lori turned to Sabrina. "You have nothing to do with this monster. She's blind, there is absolutely nothing she can do. She's a good for nothing. She doesn't deserve to be your friend or anything associated with you."
"Mom, please. Leave her alone."
"No. You're not going anywhere with her."
"She's my best friend, Mom. There's no way that you're going to stop me from hanging out with her and being my friend."
Before Cindy had time to react, Lori slapped Sabrina. Sabrina fell to the floor and she looked up at her mother and said, "I don't care what you do. She's my friend."
Sabrina got up and walked towards Cindy.
Before she knew it, time had fast forwarded to a week. Sabrina was in her house crying because her mother was treating her like she wasn't worth her time anymore. As she heard Sabrina cry, Cindy's heart broke.
"I just don't understand why my mom treats me like that, Cindy. I don't know what I did wrong." Sabrina said.
That's when something snapped inside her. It was at that precise moment that she realized this is what she had done to Landon and what she was doing to Lauren. She had kicked them both out of the house just a few minutes ago.
Lori's words had hurt her deep and she could never imagine how she could have said the same thing to another human being. Someone who probably needed more praise than anybody else.
"Shit." Cindy whispered. "How the hell am I supposed to fix this?"
Once she had her realization, everything went back to normal. The house appeared again and all was as quiet as it had been a few moments before the whole thing had started. It was her goal to go find Landon and Lauren and go apologize to them although she knew it wouldn't do any good. All of the damage was already done and she didn't think it would be easy for Lauren to forgive her.
~~~~~~~~~
She knocked on the door. She didn't know how she was going to be received since last time she'd been there she had been a total bitch. Again, she knocked on the door, a little louder this time.
As she was going to knock the third time, Laura opened the door. Laura was shocked to see her there, but she said nothing.
"Hi, Laura. Geez. I'm really sorry. I was blinded by something of the past. I can't even look at you in the face." Cindy said, lowering her eyes to the floor.
"It's alright. It's not me who you have to apologize to. There are two kids up there who need you to apologize to them. You are more than welcome to go up there and talk to them. Hopefully, you're not too late and Lauren still wants something to do with you.
Of course, Lauren is a good kid and I'm sure she's not going to do that because I know for a fact that she loves you I mean, there's no possible way that she doesn't love you. It might take time to forgive you for everything, but she's not going to hate you."
"Well thanks for those words. You're being honest and that's what I was looking for. Thanks."
"Of course. And sorry if I was harsh sounding."
"It's alright. May I go up there?"
"Yes, go ahead."
With that, Cindy went upstairs and found Landon's room. She knocked on the door and Landon opened it.
"Mrs. Reyes," he said once the door had opened.
Cindy was impressed. She even lifted her hand and waved it in front of his eyes just to make sure he couldn't see. "Wow," she said,"that's pretty amazing. You knew who I was even before I said anything."
"You smell like expensive clothes, and all of those famous perfume brands."
"I work at a gallery that sells expensive clothes and all those famous brand perfumes."
"Guess a blind guy can do all those things."
Cindy winced. "I'm sorry Landon. I didn't realize how bad I was hurting you or my daughter. I was blinded by my past, the hurt I felt towards that situation. It was beyond stupid but I couldn't do anything to stop it. Will you please forgive me? I'll even get down on my knees," she said, as she began to kneel down.
Landon caught her arms and lifted her up. "You don't need to do that, ma'am. I understand. You'll need to save all that energy for your daughter. She's the one who you should be apologizing for everything that you've put her through."
"Is she in there?"
Landon nodded.
"May I go inside?"
"Go ahead, ma'am. And good luck."
"Thanks, Landon. I'm really sorry about everything. I was such a douche bag."
"Don't worry about it ma'am. Everything has already been forgotten."
"You're a good kid, Landon. I was way off track." Cindy said as she walked into Landon's room to find her daughter. She would ask her later about her staying in his room. Right now all Cindy wanted was to apologize to Lauren and hear that she forgave her.
As she walked in, Cindy got a good view of Lauren. She was sitting on the bed just staring out the window. Everything about her features suggested a calmness, a serenity that Cindy had never had.
"Lauren," she started.
Lauren looked at her straight away. "Mom?" her eyes had happiness in them but as soon as that happiness had come, it went away. Replacing that happiness was a coldness. "Mom." she said this time without any emotion.
"Sweetie, I'm so sorry. I was wrong. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Will you forgive me?"
"Forgive you? After all you did to me? I'm sorry, Mom, but I can't right now. I can't do it because I'm still mad at you. I'm still mad at how you treated me all because I wanted to defend Landon. Landon is a great guy, Mom. He's amazing. He's the only one who makes me feel like I belong here, like there's nothing wrong with me.
You, you've made me feel like I was the most horrible person on this planet, in this universe. You made me feel like I did the most horrible thing to you, when in reality, all I did was want to be friends with someone I knew was a good person despite his blindness. How did you think that made me feel, Mom? I'm sorry, but I need more time away from you. I have to cool down."
"Okay, baby. I'll give you time." and with that, she walked away. Cindy knew best that when Lauren made a decision there was nothing anyone could do to change her mind. She had tried many times but she had failed each time.
After Cindy had left, Landon went upstairs and walked into his room. He found Lauren crying. He made his way over to Lauren. He sat on the bed next to her and just waited. Lauren turned to him and hugged him. "She came," Lauren murmured in his shirt," but I can't forgive her just yet. I'm still mad about the whole thing."
Landon wrapped his arms around her waist. "Take your time. Don't worry about anything else. It doesn't take a day or half a day to forget everything, so don't try and rush everything. Take your time and look for her when you're ready."
"Thank you. I don't know what I'd do without you."
"Same here. That's what friends are for."
Lauren broke from the hug and looked at him. "Landon..."
"I'm here. I'll always be here when you need me. I promise. Maybe I won't be next to you but wherever I am, I want you to know that you can always count on me. You can call me, write to me, video chat with me, whatever you need to do. I'll always be here when you need any kind of support. Don't worry about that."
"How did you know I was going to say that?"
"I just said it. I don't really know. It was more of a feeling. I can't really explain it."
"You're good company. I like being here. I appreciate everything you've done for me. I know I can always count on you."
Landon smiled and his dimples showed again, making Lauren's heart shoot into overdrive. "What do you think happened that made tour mom realize her mistake?"
"I don't know. But whatever it was, I'm glad it happened."
"Yeah. Me too.".
"Did she apologize to you?"
"She did. I was surprised when I opened the door and realized it was her. I never expected her to come. It was a complete shocker. Then when she apologized, it was even more shocking because I just never thought it would happen. There's always something that you just don't expect."
"Yeah, but at least it happened. I'm happy that she finally realized that she was wrong."
"Yeah, but let's take your mind off things."
"I hear you like Bon Jovi."
She laughed. "Yes. I do."
"Well, then. I found something just laying around and I wondered who it belonged to. I never could find the rightful owner so I guess I can take it to someone I know will take good care of it."
"Okay."
He took out an album of Bon Jovi with all the photographs of the band members and handed it to her. "It's yours."
"No way," she squealed. She jumped up and down and she took it from his hand. All Lauren could do was admire it. Then she looked up and jumped in his arms.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you. So so so so much. I love you." she screamed.
"Of course, " Landon said as Lauren realized what she was doing.
She straightened up as soon as she could and then acted like nothing had happened. "Sorry about that. I was super excited. Nobody's ever done this for me. Thanks."
"You're welcome."
Oh my god, she thought. This feeling for him is getting stronger. What am I supposed to do now? What am I supposed to do? He's super sweet. What am I supposed to do?
'You let yourself go with the flow.' her heart responded. 'Just go with the flow.'