Henrietta walked upstairs to her classroom. Mom wanted to come with her but Mrs. Peerson stopped mom. According to her conception, Henrietta should learn to move by herself if she had the courage to attend highschool. Henrietta had started to understand how rude the woman was going to be with her.
The lad, who was named Michael, seemed sympathetic to her. Mrs. Peerson had given him the responsibility to make her reach to the classroom.
"Miss, are you blind?", Michael asked.
Henrietta fiercely wanted to protest calling her blind. But she heard to Michael's innocent voice which stopped her to do so. She knew it was the undeniable truth which she had to be asked thousand times with life. Michael was asking it with an empathetic voice, not in the sense to poke her.
She answered calmly, "Yes, please. I am visually impaired."
She didn't want to use the word 'blind'. Blinds are those persons who couldn't see though having eyes. But, Henrietta was not so. She could see, with her heart.
Michael gifted her a beautiful smile. It was a smile of sympathy surely. It wasn't silent. Micheal knew Henrietta wouldn't understand if he smiled silently. It was a gift for her. For the fisrt time, Henrietta didn't get disgusted for showing mercy to her. She felt nice.
By this time, they walked to the classroom. Henrietta could hear the voice of the teacher. It was chemistry class going on, she understood only listening to the speech.
Michael said,"Miss Henrietta, this is your class. I can't enter now. You may go ahead and introduce yourself. The teachers and students both are so helpful. You may have a great time here."
Henrietta smiled. She knew Michael could see that smile.
"Thank you, Michael."
"You're welcome. But wait! How do you know my name?"
"As I can't use my eyes, I use my ears so carefully that I hear everything. Mrs. Peerson addressed you by this name. That time it got recorded in my memory."
"You have a pretty cool memory. Well, see you. Till then, goodbye."
Henrietta bid him goodbye. But she didn't know if it was really a good bye. She again noticed that her heart was beating faster, heat was coming out of her ears, she was sweating though it was cold enough to freeze.
She knocked at the door. She wondered how irresponsible was Mrs. Peerson to leave a visually impaired girl to adjust with the class and peers.
A lady opened the door. Henrietta could understand the person as a woman by her sweet fragrance coming from her body.
"Grade 9. May I know who are you?"
Henrietta found her vocal cords shaking with fear.
"I am Henrietta Arther. I'm the newly admitted student in the class, please. "
"Oh, I am sorry. I couldn't recognize you for the white cane in your hand. They didn't inform me that the new student was blind."
Again that ominous word, 'blind'. What the hell people took time to understand or never understood that this was mourning for her.
Henrietta nodded.
"Please enter the classroom."
Henrietta entered the classroom and she figured out that everyone became silent seeing her walking with the white cane in her right hand. There was a pin drop silence.
"Well, Henrietta, I am your chemistry teacher, Mrs. Hudson. Students call me as Carley. And, this is your class and classmates. Class, this is your new friend, Henrietta Arther. Say her hello."
Nobody said hello. It seemed that they expected a healthy student as their new mate, not a blind girl.
Carley tried to handle the situation. 'They must be shy seeing a new friend. By the way, you may sit there and start class."
"Where would I sit, mam?"
Carley was shocked at her own stupidity. How stupid she was to indicate a chair to a visually impaired student by saying 'there'.
"Sorry, dear. You may sit.. here.", Carley said by making Henrietta sit on her respective chair. Carley held her hand with great affection .
Carley returned on the dias and started delivering speech again. It was a class on the structure of molecules and atoms. Henrietta understood those all easily.
It was exactly 10.00 am when the bell rang.
Carley arranged her books and pen. She bid goodbye to the class after saying them to finish the previous home task which was supposed to be submitted today.
After Carley left, all students gathered around Henrietta. They thought she couldn't understand this as she wasn't seeing a thing. But, Henrietta could.
She firstly decided to say nothing. But, then she changed her mind. She was feeling disgusted at the phenomenon of students staring at her with weirdly opened eyes and whispering about her.
"Hey, guys! Why are you surrounding me? Come closer. Let's talk."
It was a astonishment to them to see that Henrietta could understand this without seeing, only by feeling. They understood that visually impaired people were stronger than them in other things by manifolds.
YOU ARE READING
Unbroken
Teen Fiction#NoMoreBullying. Her eyes were impaired, but unlike most people she had never revelled in being able to see. She was never able to see, and you can't really miss what you never had. Unlike those blind animals people take pity on, people didn't take...
