One
Diego
The day I lostmy sight was the best and worst day of my life.
Of all my regrets in life, losing my sight didn't even reach the top five.
I'd never been afraid of the dark, maybe because I knew real monsters could be anywhere and didn't need to hide in the shadows.
But mostly, mostly I liked the dark because ofhim. He'd always made the dark a safe, cozy space for me.
Side-stepping footsteps that had been on a collision course with me—seriously, sometimes seeing people acted blinder than I was—I continued down the sidewalk, enjoying the warmth of the sun against my skin. I liked being in bright places, because at least then I couldseewhere I was going,though all I actually saw was darker blobs moving all around me.
Sometimes, I got this feeling that I couldn't quite explain, like something was pulling at me, telling me to follow it so it could take me wherever it wanted to. A few times, listening to it had saved me from falling, getting into an accident, or just getting injured, and I liked to think of it as my guardian angel.
Most days, the feeling was just a soft hum at the back of my consciousness, but recently, it'd gotten stronger, more insistent.
I'd been ignoring it for a few weeks now, but I woke up feeling particularly adventurous today, so I'd decided to find out where it was trying to take me.
It led me towardSanctum of Geeks, a comic book store I visited frequently. While I couldn't actually read the comics, I'd become good friends with the man who ran the place, Liam. He was a sweet man, a bit of a gentle giant, and he always helped me purchase audiobooks on my phone because the app didn't work well with the voice commands. I burned through them pretty quickly since I had a lot of free time, but he was always happy to help me buy more, even though it didn't benefit him in any way.
Liam had recently found a boyfriend, a man who seemed to adore him, and while I was delighted for my friend, I also felt just a little envious of him.
The tug I'd been following led me past the comic book store, and I wondered if Liam was inside, if he'd seen me. When I didn't hear him call out, I guessed he hadn't.
I'd walked for a few minutes longer before the awareness started pulling me backward, and I realized I'd walked past the place it was trying to take me.
This was crazy, wasn't it? I could be imagining the whole thing, and it was going to lead me to nowhere. Or worse yet, it might lead me somewhere I could get stuck or hurt. Not that it had ever done that before...
I knew people said that losing one sense made the others better, but this tug I felt, it was nothing like that. It wasn't an instinct or some sixth sense. It didn't feel like a part of me, but it still felt like it was mine. I'd never told anyone about it, mostly because I'd assumed they'd think I was crazy.
I paused as the toe of my shoe hit something, and I realized there were stairs in front of me. I had to make a decision. Did I follow this strange feeling to wherever it was trying to lead me, or did I turn back around?
"A la mierda," I muttered to myself, then tapped my cane in front of me, checking the height and width of the stairs so I wouldn't trip. This area was shadowed, which meant I could see absolutely nothing.
I quickly climbed up the stairs, and I pressed my hands against the door since the porch wasn't too big. They were wide, wooden double doors, and felt old, with carved designs in the front that I would need more time than I was willing to spend standing here to figure out. There was also something else, a strange buzz that tingled between my skin and the wood, as if there was something there.
Shaking my head, I searched for the handle, and then pushed, blinking when the door opened far too easily for the heavy wood I'd thought it was. Maybe I was mistaken? It could be one of those fiber things that just felt like wood.
I stepped inside, and the buzz I'd felt before thickened considerably, pressing into me from all sides. But then I felt that thing, the feeling that had brought me here, and the buzz receded, as if it'd gotten whatever it was looking for.
There were no sounds around me except the clack-clack of my cane, my footsteps, and my own breathing. The world was rarely ever this silent, and even the door swinging shut behind me barely made a sound. What was this place?
The pull was still there, and I followed it down what felt like a hallway. There was some light here, but not enough for me to see.
I jerked to a halt when that feeling insisted, and reached out. My fingers brushed against a flat surface, but it didn't feel like a wall. I searched around, then found a plaque of some sorts. It had raised letters on it, and I ran my finger over them, mumbling the letters to myself until I'd spelled the whole thing out. Darkness.
Curious, I searched for the doorknob and turned it, pushing the door open. The tug I'd followed here felt excited, pulling me insistently through the doorway.
Hoping I wasn't walking right into a serial killer's lair but too curious not to, I stepped inside, and the door slid shut behind me. Searching with my cane, I found another a few feet in front of me. My brows furrowed. Why were there two doors with nothing between them?
I opened the second door and stepped through, my confusion mounting. This place wasn't silent like the hallway had been. Instead, I could hear faint piano music coming from somewhere, and the scent of grass and flowers seemed to fill the air. Where exactly was I?
"Uh, hello. I don't think I've seen you around before," a warm, cheerful voice said as he approached me, and something about his voice sounded strangely familiar.
The tug I'd followed was gone, as if it'd accomplished what it'd been trying to do for days now. Was this where it'd been leading me? To this man?
"Uh..."
