When Eyes Fall

Chapter 2

Well, day one actually wasn't so bad. Raymond was slightly relieved when he left the building. That is, until he was knocked over by a stranger. He scraped his knee quite painfully. He reached to hold it after sitting down, praying to God that no one walks into him. If they do, he's a goner.

Julia stops quickly before walking into him. Could this place get any stranger? I guess not. It takes her a moment to realize that something is wrong. At first it looked like he was just tying his shoe. She kneels down next to him and he looks up, though his eyes are closed.

"Are you okay? What happened?" At the site of his blood stained hand, Julia's concern seems to increase greatly.

"How bad is it?" He moves his hand out of the way, hoping that she's at an angle where she can see. This question takes Julia off guard.

"I don't understand the question?" She looks at him completely confused, though his eyes are still closed.

"I... Can't see." Raymond hesitates, slightly embarrassed at his weakness. If he could get into her thoughts, however, he would know just how strong she believes the blind to be.

"Oh! I wondered why you weren't opening your eyes. It looks pretty bad. Do you mind if I help you to the nurse?" Raymond was confused at her kind words. Most people at least question his disability before changing the subject. However, he is most definitely not complaining.

"Please do. I need ice. This is killer." She nods fervently, then quickly replies with a simple 'of course'. She gets up and helps Raymond to his feet. It takes him a moment to balance evenly, but when he does they set off to find the nurse.

"Mrs. Daniels?" The kind old woman with snow white hair turns to face them. Julia doesn't quite understand why people think you have to be young to be beautiful. Mrs. Daniels is absolutely gorgeous.

"Yes, dear." Before she has a chance to respond, the little old nurse goes on. "Oh, my! How did this happen? Here, come sit." She softly pats on the hospital bed. When Raymond freezes up with nervousness, Julia guides him to the bed. After he sits, Mrs. Daniels looks at her with raised eyebrows. Julia smiles a little.

" Alright, let's see what I can manage here." Raymond flinches when the cold peroxide hits the cut. "Sorry, dear. I should have told you it was coming. It doesn't hurt too bad, does it?"

"No. Thank you for asking, though." She looks at him gleefully.

"You are very welcome." There is a long pause. "Are you our new honors student? I believe you must be." Raymond smiles at that. Julia does the same. He seems like the brainy type. She digs the brainy type.

"Yeah, that's me. How many people here know about me?" Way too many, that's for sure. Raymond is not nervous anymore, though everyone seems to know his name. Or maybe it's because most people tend to get distracted when they see rag doll eyes on a living person.

"Well, as a safety precaution I had no choice but to notify every teacher. The teachers here are very considerate, though. I'm sure they would not go around talking behind your back. The students here are a lot better with that than most schools too. No need to worry." Raymond takes her words into consideration. She seems so nice. He can't help but believe her. So he nods happily.

Just as Mrs. Daniels finishes bandaging his knee, Raymond's mother walks in. She sighs very loudly at the sight of her son in one piece. She had been waiting in the car for nearly twenty minutes after school let out and she was starting to get very jittery. That's why she came to the office looking for him.

"What happened to you?" Raymond blushes at the sound of his mother's voice. Julia giggles a little. Raymond blushes more. He tries to hide his face behind the sleeve of his jacket, but before he knows it he is laughing along with her. She has a beautiful laugh.

"I take it you made a friend." Abigail is very happy for her son. His first day must have gone very well. Even though it really does come as a surprise to her, she is quite thankful.

"Yeah, I guess I did." The smile on his face almost puts his mother in tears. She hasn't seen him this cheerful since his father passed away. That was eight years ago. After the incident he became a completely new person. Not the good kind of new either. He became much more depressed and isolated himself far more than ever before. He lost his friends because he avoided them. He tried to push Abby away as well, but she wasn't about to let that happen. She managed to turn at least that aspect of him around before it was too late.

"I hate to be a burden, but is there any way I can get a ride home? I missed the bus and I forgot that my father was working today." Julia knew she would miss the bus, but she was planning on calling her father to come get her. She's still adjusting to his new work hours. They are running far behind on bills, so he is working overtime now.

"I wouldn't mind driving you, if you know how to get there." Abigail is willing to do anything it takes to help Ray make some friends. Even if it is an amazingly kind girl. It may not seem like a bad thing, but to her it is questionable. In the big scheme of things she is just glad he is talking to someone his age and not hers.

"Thank you so much Mrs.- what is your name?" It was like a slap in the face when Julia finally realized she didn't even know the boy's name.

"Abigail Rickman. But you could call me Abby if you'd like." She smiles at the mother of this kind boy. She has definitely done a good job raising him.

"Mom, can we go? I have to get home so I can start this project..." Raymond pulls a folder out of his backpack, using the braille headings to determine the correct one.

"What is your project for? I haven't found a partner for my health project yet and I think we'd make a great team." Julia recognized him as the boy who sits behind her in health class. "Is that the one you need to work on?"

"Yeah, actually it is. I was going to do it solo, but since I can't really make a presentation I was going to have my mom write it down for me. In essay format. So, if you could be my partner it would be a huge help." Raymond feels a sudden surge of happiness. He doesn't know where it came from, but he is enjoying every second of it.

"You'd be a huge help for my project too. I already signed up to do my report on blindness. My little sister is blind, so i wanted to learn more about it." Raymond instantly feels sympathetic towards the youngster. It's not fun being a visually impaired child. You don't get to do all the fun things that other children do. Like hide and seek, or drawing with chalk. At least that explains her reaction to his being blind. She couldn't be human if she hadn't witnessed it before.

"Mom, can you take us to the library so we can work on it?" Ray asks hopefully. Abigail is slightly nervous. She doesn't want to say no, but she isn't quite sure if Abby's parents would be okay with it.

"Ray, I hate to say no, but I was actually just about to head back to work. I was going to take you with me so you could observe first hand what is involved in dating fossils. You've wanted to do this ever since you were a little boy." Raymond is overwhelmed by the excitement of his chance to meet a paleontologist that isn't his mother.

"Who do you work for?" Julia's question breaks the instantaneous silence. "My father is head of one of the excavation teams. He's been spending a lot of time at work preparing for the arrival of a new worker."

"Who's your father?" Raymond asks intriguingly.

"My father is Lenny Kravitz." As the words hit his ears, Raymond's feelings of disbelief and awe grow stronger and stronger.

Thanks for sticking with me to this point! I hope you are enjoying the story so far :D