Always Only You (Rewriting)

03| Tribus

Life begins where fear ends.

-Osho

Leah's POV

"Ryan," he finally says after a moment of silence. I was taken aback to find out that Mr. Jones had left without telling me. I knew that his wife was sick, but I didn't expect her sickness to take a turn for the worse.

"My name is Leah," I extend my hand for a formal handshake.

Normally I don't talk to strangers, but I somehow feel drawn to him, like a bee to honey. As his cool hand wraps around mine, I find myself shuddering at the small static that formed as our skin touched.

The TV is on and judging by the sound of screams and cheers, I'm guessing it's a sports channel.

"So what sport are you watching?" I inquisitively ask, just to start a conversation. They say that you can guess a man's personality by the sport he watches. A person who enjoys watching cricket is said to be a gentleman, a person who enjoys wrestling is hot headed and a person who watches football is said to be aggressive.

"Boxing," is his curt reply, making no room for a further conversation. I guess he isn't much of a loquacious person. It makes me want to take it up as a challenge and make him talk more

So that's what I do. I spend a long time talking about the stars, my favourite soap operas that I used to watch on TV while he listened quietly and voicing out a few words here and there. I am normally quiet and reserved, so it takes time for me to warm up to someone easily so I'm quite surprised that I could yap so much. I hear him stifle a yawn and smile to myself, I must be tiring him and it's getting late.

"I'm sorry that I disturbed you, it was good talking to you," I thank him for putting up with my continuous chatter.

"It's fine," he says with a deep breath as he stands up.

"Can we continue this tomorrow?" I ask trying to keep my voice normal and silently pray that he doesn't reject me.

"Sure," he replies almost immediately. "I'd like that too," he softly mumbles as he holds my hands to help me out of the chair. I grin and stumble as I get on my feet since there are cramped up. His hands immediately fly out and hold my arms to steady me.

"Thank you," I whisper, breathless from just having his mere hands on me.

"It's late," he states, as he clears his throat awkwardly to break the silence and I straighten my clothes and try to act as natural as possible, pretending that his touch has no effect on me.

"What's the time?" I ask, hoping that I hadn't stayed over for long.

"10.30."

That is really late.

"I guess I should get going," I say, feeling a little flustered because I had stayed longer than I had intended to.

I walk towards the door. "Are you alright going home by yourself?" he asks, sounding a bit concerned for me. That little tiny gesture of worry makes me feel happy.

"I'm fine. I'll just catch a cab outside. See you then." I sling my bag over my shoulder.

"Bye. I'll see you tomorrow," he adds in a low voice, almost in a whisper making me freeze for a moment.

Now I've made up my mind, Mr. Jones or not, I'm still coming here. As I walk out, I take out my handy little stick from my bag. We blind people would be totally useless without one, wouldn't we?

I decide that I'll do without a cab for now and whistle as I walk, tapping my stick in a rhythmic motion. I don't know why, but I feel very happy today maybe it's because I made friends with someone my age.

I then start thinking about all my friends.

"Leah!! We did it! We are going to Russia," Patricia yells hysterically as she jumps up and down. Luke, Emily and I stare at her in shock before screaming and joining her little dance immediately.

Finally, we have a real big gig which will be life changing. We take out our phones and call the rest of our group members in excitement.

The four of us were hanging out at my place, watching a horror movie and Luke and I were going out at that time. We had just started dating and getting to know each other better. He was my first boyfriend so I was pretty shy and awkward around him alone. We had only held hands and hugged, but I was pretty sure that I was in love with him.

His bright green eyes sparkled as he held my hand, "Let's do our best together L."

But after the accident-

"What?" I croak, hoping I had just misheard what he had said.

"I'm breaking up with you Leah, I'm sorry but you're blind and I don't think I can support you. We only just started dating, so it wasn't serious. No hard feelings okay?" The words rolled off his tongue with ease and no pauses, making me wonder how many times he had rehearsed this dialogue before.

I chewed my cheek to stop the sob from erupting from the back of my throat. I couldn't cry now and show him how weak I am. I knew that he wasn't worth the tears. Deep down I realized that he was just using me and I just didn't want to acknowledge it. It's a good thing he said it and broke it all off. Who would want to date a blind girl?

The four of us used to have fun together, but after the breakup I heard that Luke started dating Emily as I dropped out of the Dance Academy. I knew she had a crush on him but I thought she was my friend. She never visited or called me even once after I became blind and that was fine by me.

I still miss Pat and the rest of the crew. We were like family, inseparable, but I didn't stay in touch with any of them.

I couldn't.

On cue I hear a taxi honking at a distance and stick my hand out to hail it. I don't have the strength to walk anymore.

"Where to, Miss?" The man enquires behind the wheel.

"Oak Street," I monotonously answer, not looking forward to going back to the empty dark and lonely place that I called home, which is more of a deep dark hole-a hole for me to hide in.