This is my entry for this contest, there is 1,220 words in total.



When you’re born with nothing wrong, you expect that it’ll always be that way, so you assume that nothing bad will ever happen to you… I had thought the same thing, once. All that I can remember before waking up wherever I am, was that I was walking somewhere, heard some strange sound, turned around to see what it was, then… nothing.

I tried to see images from my memory, but they just became more distant and blurrier the harder I tried to recall them. After that failed attempt, I opened my eyes to get my bearings as to where I was, but the only change I noticed was that my eyelids were open now, but I was still enveloped by a harsh and unrelenting darkness.

As my senses returned to me, I felt that I was laying on some hard and jagged surface, something pattering onto my back, and a very familiar tune playing near me. I searched around with my hands looking for the source of the noise, my right hand closed around a rectangular object, it had a smooth feeling all around and was vibrating as the tune was playing. My hand slid across the surface and the tune stopped, replaced by a panicked voice coming through the strange rectangle.

“Paul! Are you there? Please answer!” the panicked voice shouted. “A-Are you okay? Who’s there? Who answered?”

When I realized that I was Paul and that the voice was asking me, I brought the speaking box to my ear and replied “I’m okay, just have no idea where I am.”

“You’re alive!” the voice shouted, making my ears ring.

“Agh!” I shouted, “Don’t do that, because now my ears are ringing.”

“Oh… sorry, but what can you see around you?” the voice asked.

“I… I don’t know…” I answered despondently.

“What do you mean?” the voice asked again.

“I only see darkness, I can’t differentiate anything around me.” I replied.

“I’m coming to you, you stay there, I’ll find you!” the voice shouted again as the phone I had by my ear beeped and went silent.

I put the phone down and searched myself, feeling a coarse fabric over my upper body with two holes on the front that were connected and some material covering my legs. I put the phone in the hole, feeling as if that was were it belonged, I put my hands on the ground and pushed myself onto my feet, nearly falling back onto my face. After I somewhat got my balance, I took one shaky step after the other, and not being able to see what was around me while away from the ground made me always feel off-balance and about to fall.

As I was stumbling about, I heard a car drive by me, then stop a bit ahead, they were talking in a hushed tone so I couldn’t pick up what they were saying.

“Hey,” I interjected, and when they stopped talking I asked, “who’s there? And what are you talking about?”

“We’re just talking to ourselves, nothing that you should bother yourself about.” one of the people in the car answered.

“Okay, but do you think you could take me somewhere?” I asked them.

“Yeah, sure, just walk over here and we'll give you a ride.” the other one stated.

“Do you think you can direct me to where you are?” I requested.

“Nah, we trust that you'll be able to find your way over here.” he said.

I nodded with determination and began my attempt to find the car, stumbling about aimlessly as I hear them snickering. I then starting heading towards the center of the laughter, but I slipped on something and smacked my nose onto the concrete. I put my right hand on the ground as I felt something warm dripping from my nose onto my hand.

But as I was getting ready to stand up, someone spoke up by me, “Take my hand, I'll lead you to the car.”

“Thanks.” I said as I put up my left hand searching around for the guy’s hand, I found it and grabbed it.

But as he was helping me up, he sweeped my legs out from under me and kicked me to the side, making me tumble off the concrete and onto the ground beside it. I rolled down the slope, hitting small plants, hard objects (possibly wood and rocks) and thorns as I rolled, finally coming to a stop after I'd been battered and cut, with bruises and cuts all over my body.

After I stopped rolling, I just laid on the ground moaning until I passed out.

When I woke up, I was laying on something soft with sirens blaring outside. I searched around with my hands, trying to figure out where exactly where I was, but every movement brought severe pain. A hand grabbed my arms, I recoiled away from it, shocking me from the sudden burst of pain, but then the hand grasped it again, holding it firm and preventing me from getting them free.

“What are you doing? Stay away from me!” I snapped at the hands.

“I'm an emergency response medic, you're bleeding from countless places and possibly a few broken bones.” the man stated.

“Makes sense why I'm in pain now.” I agreed.

“Any idea how you ended up like this?” he asked.

“Two guys were making fun of me, when I fell, one of them helped me up and kicked me off the side of the road.” I told him.

“What did they look like? Can you describe them to me?” he asked.

“I'm blind, so no, no I can't.” I replied.

“Oh… sorry, I didn't realize that.” he said.

“It's fine, it only recently happened.” I replied.

“I still should have figured that out.” he stated.

“Really, it’s fine.” I insisted.

The vehicle came to a stop and the hand let go of my arm, I heard doors open and slam shut close by, then a lock shift and doors open. I then felt what I was laying on lifted off the ground and set down again, then it started rolling and after a few minutes of rolling I was left alone to the darkness and silence.

After who knows how long, I heard someone walk into the room and heard a chair squeak as someone sat on it. They told me I needed to get x-rays, after that, I spent a week in the hospital (while my memories came back) , after which I left with several casts and crutches to help me walk. When I walked out, someone wrapped their arms around me and I felt my shoulder getting wet.

“I was originally going to visit you when you were in the hospital, but then I decided it would be better if I was the first person you saw when you got out.” the voice from the phone said.

“But… you weren’t the first person I saw when I got out, as I can’t see anymore…” I stated, solemnly.

“O-Oh… I thought that was only because you were disoriented.” she said, obviously hurt.

“It’s fine, I’m used to it now, let’s go home… I need to rest for a bit.” I replied reassuringly. But, truth be told, I don’t think I’ll ever be used to this.