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One sudden horrific moment shifts the entire trajectory of Atlas and Errol's lives, handicapping both young men in ways they could never have expected. A sculptor without his sight, and a piani...
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"It's going to be okay," I heard a voice say between the jarring lights that flashed across my peripheral. Everything I saw was hazy, and all I felt was pain. The pain coursed through my body, paralyzing me from head to toe. I couldn't move any part of me, even if I tried.
One moment I was in a car with my mother, driving home from my last show of the year. I remembered that large ear to ear smile she gave me as she repositioned my award and flowers in her lap.
The next thing I remembered was flashing lights that passed overhead, as I was tunneled through an all white corridor. There were people all around me, telling me things.
"It's going to be okay."
"It's going to be okay."
Those words echoed through my ears with a voice that I at first couldn't recognize, but as the words grew louder, I realized it was my fathers...
And that was when I woke up. The sound of my bedside alarm quickly brought me back to reality, as I sat up with such swiftness, I stirred awake the person beside me.
"What is it?" A woman's voice mumbled, still riddled with exhaustion. My body was a wet clammy mess as I felt droplets of sweat drip past my stray hairs and on to my bare chest. The sheets felt soaked beneath my skin. There was barely any light shining through the glass stained bedroom windows, but I could just make out the silhouette of the woman in bed with me.
I didn't remember the night before, but judging by the massive headache I could already feel coming on, and the mysterious woman who had absolutely overstayed her welcome, I knew I had overdrank. A lot.
I felt the woman's hand gently rest on my arm, but I flinched at the contact almost immediately. I may have wanted company last night, but I sure as hell didn't want it this morning.
My body jerked more abruptly than I meant to, making the stranger pull away uncomfortably.
"I'm sorry to rush you like this," I spoke to her through the dim lighting, "but I need to get ready for my day." The light exposed some of her features, like the bright auburn hair that looked like a bird's nest now rested on top of her head. I didn't have any expectations for how anyone looked after a wild night of drinking and sex, but this particularly tangled mess was a new one for me.
What was her name? I wondered to myself. The pounding against my temples stunted all the thinking I was trying to do at six in the morning.
"Right, yeah I get it!" She replied in a rush, clearly a bit embarrassed by the whole situation as she got up and started to get her clothes together. I wondered how I had acted last night. I must've been doing a complete 180° from the person drunk me pretended to be then, and the person I was now.
It took a minute to stumble through the darker parts of my bedroom, tripping over discarded clothes and unpacked boxes, but I managed to find the light switch for the private bathroom. Those fluorescent bulbs wreaked havoc on my sensitive eyes, and yet I pushed through into the space. I needed a clearer image of myself.
