Blind Love (Edited)

Chapter 11: Landon's Family

Landon was still on his bed with his face in his hands. Lance walked in and immediately saw Landon.

"Dude, are you okay?" Lance asked with concern in his voice.

Landon looked up, again finding darkness and said, "Nothing's wrong."

Lance, noticing that Landon was lying, said," Come on, man. I know you. You don't get like this for---" he stopped mid-sentence. Landon was confused and asked, "What? What's wrong?"

Lance had seen the canvas on the wall. He couldn't believe his eyes. On the wall was a canvas with Landon as the main subject. Everything, including Landon, was only painted in the colors gray and black. Then his eyes went straight to the only thing on the canvas that had color: Landon's eyes. They were the perfect color. It was as if he were looking into Landon's real eyes. She had gotten everything about his eyes right. All the emotion he saw in Landon's real eyes were captured perfectly in the canvas. In that moment, Lance realized that whoever painted the canvas was a great painter, because they captured every emotion that was present in real life on canvas. He couldn't believe it, yet he was seeing it right in front of him.

"What's wrong, Lance?" Landon's voice was more annoyed now.

Lance finally woke up from his deep thought and he asked, "Who gave you that?"

"Dude, you're asking a blind person to identify an object, real smart."

"Oh, sorry. It's just so amazing."

"I still don't know what you're talking about."

"The canvas," he said. "Who gave you the canvas?"

"Oh. The canvas. Lauren gave it to me. Can you describe it for me? What does it look like?"

"You."

"Lance, really." Landon was becoming more annoyed.

"I mean.....I mean, it's you."

"Me?"

"Yes. It's you. Everything about you and your surroundings are painted in black and gray. The only thing that has color are your eyes and trust me, they are the most real looking eyes I have ever seen. I mean, it's like looking into your own eyes. It's amazing. Lauren captured every emotion in your eyes. I mean, how did she do it? She is an amazing painter. It's amazing."

"I wish I could see it."

At these words, Lance looked at his brother. Lance felt a bit of remorse but he also felt all the pain that came with it. Ever since the accident and Landon's blindness, Laura began to take more care of Landon. Never once did it make Lance jealous, but every now and then, Lance wished that Landon hadn't turned blind. Laura never paid more attention to Landon than Lance. Lance had always wondered how she did that. He never once felt that his mother loved Landon more than him. And for that he was grateful. Lance loved his brother more than anything and he couldn't live without his family. It killed him that Landon couldn't see. He would have given anything to see his brother happy. He turned to Landon and said, "It's okay, Landon. Don't worry."

"Lance?" Landon asked.

"Yes?"

"Thank you. Thank you for being my brother, for never letting me down, for being there to pick me up when I fell hard. Thank you for not giving up on me. I don't know where I'd be if it weren't for you."

At these words, Lance's eyes filled with tears and he went over to his baby brother and wrapped his arms around him. Then he said, "I love you, too, kid."

They stayed in that embrace for a few minutes. Then their mother walked into the room and they made her join in the hug as well. They stayed in that three-way hug for another five good minutes. At the end of the hug, Lance was teary-eyed and Landon was close to tears. Laura couldn't hold in the tears and she was already crying. While they were hugging each other, Landon told them about all the times that he had faked to be strong but it was just a role. He told them that whenever he came home from school with no friends, he wanted to quit. He wanted to give up but then he looked at them, his family, and his strength was restored. And it worked for him every time.