Through The Eyes - short story

Today is the day! It’s finally here! Mama has been stressing all night about my corneal transplant. “What if you get an infection? What if it doesn’t work? What if the doctor messes up?” Liezel kept reminding her that everything would be all right and the operation would end well. He’s usually very good at calming people down, but when it comes to restoring my eyesight, nothing really can pacify her. Liezel held my left hand and led me to the car. We drove to the hospital and Mama’s hands were shaking as we reached. The nurses guided me to the surgery room and I don’t remember what happened after that.

I woke up with a medical blindfold covering my eyes, and my head was aching. According to what Liezel told me, I was unconscious for 2 days. The surgery took longer than expected, but went well! “Don’t take the blindfold off for another 24 hours,” the Doctor told me.

The next day, as I lay in my hospital bed, I couldn't wait to finally see the world around me. Liezel had brought me some audio books and music to pass the time, but all I wanted to do was take off the blindfold and see for myself. Finally, the moment arrived when the doctor came in to remove the blindfold. He gently took it off and I slowly opened my eyes.

At first, everything was a blur. The world was a mess of colours and shapes, and it took a few moments for my brain to process what I was seeing. Then, slowly but surely, the images began to come into focus. The room around me became clearer and clearer, and I could see the faces of Liezel and Mama smiling down at me.

Liezel and Mama have helped me adjust to my vision since the day it was restored. However, just a few days after the surgery, I had been seeing weird figures from across whatever room I was in. I don’t know if it was merely just my brain adapting to my vision but they surely didn’t seem like anything I had seen before I became blind.

A few weeks have passed since I’ve been seeing them. Shivers went down my spine every time I saw them. This had been going on for weeks now, and I was sure it wasn’t my mind tricking me anymore. I spoke to Liezel about it and he told me, “Your brain is probably still adapting to your vision.” I knew that wasn’t the case. “At least is there a way to find out who I got my corneas from?” I asked him. “I’m afraid you can’t. Doctors probably don’t share information like this to protect the privacy of the donor.”

I opened Mama’s laptop and opened Google only to realize I couldn’t read anything in English, as I only knew Braille10-year-old. I called Liezel to help, even though he thought I was overreacting. I asked him to Google “Recent paranormal activity and deaths in The Philippines.” He searched it up and said there was nothing eye-catching on the window. Until he clicked on images, and I saw a picture of a girl with short black hair, standing next to a black figure just like the ones I had been seeing. I yelled, “Click that one!” He opened the article and the headline read “10 year old girl in Manila claiming to have been seeing horrid black figures from across the room every time she was alone, passed away unexpectedly with no explanation.” Liezel’s voice was shaking as he read the article to me out loud.

That night, Liezel told me to sleep in his room in the extra bed as he was too afraid to let me be alone. However, I refused. I told him to let me be by myself and try to figure out what those figures wanted.

I was in my room, with a small lamp on, as I saw a figure waving to me. A slow, whispered voice coming from it said, “So you know?” I froze in terror, not knowing what to do or say. The figure continued to speak in a hushed tone, “I didn't mean to scare you. I just wanted to say thank you for taking care of my eyes. I'm the one who donated my corneas to you.” I was too stunned to speak, so she went on to explain.

“These figures would show up in my room every day, and nobody believed me when I told them about these creatures. They started appearing after I restored my vision, just like you. I was too much of a coward to do anything about them, until one day one of them told me I had the choice to join them. They told me it would be an amazing life, that we would get to roam wherever we wanted, and only certain people with our eyes could see us. Little did I know, all they told me were lies. I’m stuck alone in a cramped space with my only opportunities to leave being meeting people like you. They told me I could have a partner or friend to spend my life with, but nobody yet has reached out to me. I was informed to give you the option to join us, but my personal advice would be to decline it. You will still see us if you don’t join us, but if you do, you’ll see others like you.” I sat there for a while, shocked and confused. I thought about it for a good 5 minutes. I walked over to her, with a smile on my face. She asked, “What are you doing?”

“Let me join you,” I said, out of commiseration. I couldn’t stand to see her all alone in that empty space with nobody to hear her out. Liezel and Mama would understand. I took her hand. That's how I ended up here, in this room, with Sierra alongside me.

The End