Through Your Eyes

[Midnight Maiden]

Sometime shortly after 2:30 PM, a young woman walked into the high school band room, a hand-crafted dragon cane in hand. She kept it pointed in front of her, moving it around with precaution. However, she wasn't moving terribly cautiously; something that showed she knew this path well but was taking some extra precaution. She heard the snickers of some passing students, immediately recognizing the laugh that constantly was directed at people who were different; fellow outcasts.

Ignoring this cruel sound, Addalyn carried on, nonchalantly making her way through the halls till she finally reached her destination. She waited outside the door patiently, pale green eyes staring on unseeing. While the young woman lacked confidence, she refused to fall victim to the antics of the preps and jocks who thought they owned the school. Sure, she was only 5'6", but she stood tall as she could with her chin up and held high with pale freckles flickered across her face.

It had taken years of brutal treatment and being pushed around by bullies for Addalyn to finally harden her shell. She had always been rejected by 'normal' people, shunned for her lack of sight. And for that, she was also mistreated. Pushed around, called names, told she couldn't accomplish things, mocked.. You name it, and it'd been done. Now, she had grown accustomed to this and taught herself to ignore it.

While she had always been independent, the woman-in-the-making had used to accept help. But now, she couldn't trust people to help. After all those times of people offering to lead her, only to turn around and push her down..

She shook the thoughts and memories off, waves of platinum blonde hair rippling elegantly as she did so. Quietly, she entered the band room, making her way to her seat in the front row. The piano instructor had moved her there, after seeing her trip up(courtesy of her lovely classmates' feet) trying to get to her middle-row seat one too many times. But it wasn't as bad as her other classes.. After all, not many people had signed up for piano.

She did her best to ignore the boy behind her who was kicking her seat as she set her cane down, impatiently awaiting class to begin. Well.. Not like the day can get worse.

 

[Eeveon]

Thomas, as usual, was early to piano class. That was the reason he could watch all of the uniforms filtering into the large room, filled with pianos. A few minutes into watching students arrive, and an adjustment of his glasses later, everyone was seated at their pianos. The teacher took roll call of the class. as he called "Thomas Persie", Thomas indicated his existence with a raise of the hand and a meek, "Here." His eyes, behind the plastic and metal of his glasses, were drifting about as usual, not really focused on one specific thing. He wasn't scatterbrained, no. He was just an odd one. Shy, meek, and weak. An easy target for harassment, much like another person he knew.

To Thomas, Addalyn was somebody he saw similarities in. They both were constantly on the receiving end of harassment from their classmates. Even though they never really talk to each other outside of the occasional "Hello" or asking a question, Thomas liked her as a person. She never even made any remark about him. That was probably because most things that were said about him were from his appearance and, frankly, Addalyn lacked the ability to see why he was treated as such.

Thomas' appearance wasn't very appealing to most. He was underweight, his facial expression was awkward, he had weak features, and so on. Very unsavory to most. He did, though, have some redeeming factors. He was very intelligent, dedicating his time to education. He couldn't dedicate it to much else, anyways. He was also very compassionate to the ones that are kind to him. He would do anything for anyone that showed kindness.

Soon, the teacher started class, announcing they would continue to work on their newest song they were to play. Thomas pulled from his backpack a binder that was used to hold all of the materials for piano class. He took out the music sheet, looking it over. It was a fairly difficult song for most. For Thomas, though, it was easily graspable. Where he really shone was when he was playing piano. He hadn't been doing so for long, but it was almost a natural talent.

Unlike Thomas, Addalyn usually struggled when they learned a new song, not having braille music sheets for her. Something that Thomas noted. And, since the teacher can't afford to take the time to help her, she was left behind, to struggle with learning the song. Though, she didn't ask for help. Thomas understood, and felt the same. How could you trust someone, one that's beaten you down, to help? He just wished that he could help her. He wanted to see her succeed. Like Thomas, Addalyn's been pushed around and mistreated too many times, and she needed to rise up in success from accomplishing something.

 

[Midnight Maiden]

Quietly, Addalyn waited during the roll call, biting her lip out of habit. She shifted in her seat, twiddling her thumbs as she waited. Soon enough, the call came. "Addalyn Acker?" the teacher called, glancing around. Silently, her hand went up. "Here," she answered, quietly straightening up in her seat and fixing her cream-colored dress shirt.

One of the things Addalyn hated the most in school was piano class. Which, contrasted with her love of playing piano. Without brail music sheets, she couldn't keep up with the class. She had long since memorized the piano layout and notes, but she couldn't read what she was supposed to play when she couldn't see it. So, there she sat in front of her piano, fingers hovering over the keys she'd become so familiar with.

As the teacher asked her and her fellow students to get out their music, Addie sighed softly, simply waiting. She had no music to get out, as the teacher had simply stopped giving it to her after she pointed out she had no way to read it. He always insisted she could have a friend or family member read it to her, but she had no friends. Her parents were simply too busy to help her, and she had no siblings.

All this meant was that Addalyn was practically self-taught. She would listen to the class play the music, and would repeat it as she heard. The only issue with this was that the class didn't exactly have a tendency to get the music right right away. This lead to Addalyn being left behind, forced to wait and listen to every detail and repeating it as best as she could.

It wasn't uncommon that Addie found herself wishing she could see. But then, she often pushed this thought away, reminding herself that being blind was something of a gift. She wasn't like the other kids; she didn't judge you on your appearance.. She judged you by your inner colors. Unlike the world of the seeing, Addalyn could see and fully admire the inner beauty of things without anything to cloud that judgement. She didn't care what clothes you wore, what color your eyes were... All she cared about was who you were inside.

But then, being blind had it's disadvantages. Addalyn would never be able to admire the beauty of nature. She'd never be able to see what the people she loved looked like. She wouldn't ever see what she looked like, nor would she know the image of words typed on the paper of books, or what her favorite movie looked like rather than just hearing it's sounds. But hey.. What could she do about it?

 

[Eeveon]

After everyone had prepared their things, the teacher told everyone to practice the song, for they would be tested on it as a major grade. Hearing this worried Thomas. Though, of course, not for his sake. For Addalyn's. She didn't deserve to fail a class and get kicked out of the academy just because no one would help her. He wanted to do something. Something he'd never really done before. Something possibly stupid. Something possibly dangerous for his health.

Thomas stood from his seat and walked towards where the teacher sat, faced away from the class, reading over classwork. "Um...sir?," he asked meekly. The teacher turned his way, looking at him, directly at him, with a little bit of surprise and shock. "What is it, Thomas?," he asked. Thomas cleared his throat nervously, before speaking. "I..I-I'd like t-to take the test early," he said. The teacher looked at him quizzically. Though, he sighed and nodded his head in agreement. "Alright, I'll let you take it." The teacher only let students help others once they passed the test, to encourage self-motivation.

Thomas was not ill-prepared in the slightest. He spent hours every night practicing the song on a portable keyboard. He was confident that he would pass, mostly. There was still his ever-lingering self-doubt of his, but that was just something about Thomas in general. He would walk around to the grand piano used for tests and sit down. The teacher told everyone to shut up, so he could accurately test Thomas. Thomas was nervous as all hell, with eyes on him. His breathing was heavy, heart pounding, knees like gelatin and eyes wanting to screw shut as he cried in fear, as he used to. He arranged the music sheets on the stand and brushed his fingers along the ivory keys. With a deep breath and something of a prayer for the Agnostic boy, he began playing.

The classroom majority watched as Thomas played the song, fingers dancing to the music they were playing, the ivory keys the dance floor, the music sheet their guide, the other hand their partner in the dance. Thomas's concentration went to the song, trying desperately to get it perfect. Not for his own sake. For Addalyn's. As he reached the crescendo of the piece, his fingers danced something furious. His desperate attempt could be read as a passionate performance given by the boy. As the song came to a close, and his fingers pressed the last keys, Thomas was out of breath. Hands leaving the keyboard, he noticed the sweat condensing on his forehead, the ache in his finger knuckles. The teacher would fill in blanks on a paper, before handing it to Thomas.

"Good job, Thomas. First perfect score of the class," the teacher said with a pat on the shoulder. Thomas smiled and nodded, before asking, "Would it be alright if I helped others practice?" The teacher once again gave him a quizzical look, and once again agreed. Thomas smiled and nodded once more, inhaling deeply, before walking to where Addalyn sat. He took the vacant seat beside her, asking, "Would you like any help, Addalyn?" This was the part that he was really worried about. What would she say? Would she reject him? He wanted so desperately to help her succeed. Not of pity, but of compassion for someone who walked a similar path that he did.