Justicia

1

I was sat in the waiting room of my ophthalmologist, a yearly occurrence that was honesty pointless. The incessant ticking of the clock on the wall behind me had me itching to move further away. I heard the door open and bang loudly against the wall before the wind it caused brushed over my skin.

The intense smell of cigarette smoke wafted my way as the two people walked heavy footed towards me. The plastic covered waiting room chairs crinkled as they sat down to my right. One must have been uncomfortable as they made a raucous, wriggling around, the metal legs of the chair scratching the linoleum flooring.

"Please, sit still would you." I said looking their way, irritated by the sounds.

A soft wind blew in my face and I rolled my eyes at them behind my dark sunglasses. "I may be blind but you don't need to wave your hand in my face to check, my hearing is perfect - just ask."

"Sorry." A man's voice said sounding sheepish.

Most people were embarrassed when I called them out, it's why I did it. I nodded at his apology and faced ahead of me again. The man who apologised talked to the other person who had come in with him and he was male too. They joked together until one took it too far and I heard some light punches before they laughed, clearly they were close.

I put my ear-pod in and used my phone to read me the time. I sighed when it told me my appointment should have started 25 minutes ago. I didn't want to stay here to hear the same thing as I did every year. I knew nothing had changed, I still couldn't see and I never would. I grabbed my bag I had stowed under my chair and rose up.

"Miss Dike, he'll be out any moment." Mrs Hopkins, the receptionist that had seen me here yearly since I was 9, said.

"It's fine, he's got another patient waiting." I said waving in the direction of the men who had sat beside me. "I'll see you next year, well...you know what I mean."

I despised the white cane I had folded up in my hoodie. It was like a beacon of my disability, if my strange eyes weren't already enough for my public show and tell. Instead, I preferred to use echolocation. Sometimes it wasn't an option, especially in noisy environments and that's why I avoided the city.

I had two metal pins in the soles of all of my shoes, so that every step I took clicked and allowed me to hear the reverberations. If I heard the echo vibration return quick, I knew there was an object in my way. If there was a loud enough noise I could almost see the vibrations create a picture of my surroundings. For walking though, the clicking steps and my normal senses were enough.

I made my way down the corridor and stopped to open the door. Footsteps were quickly coming at me from the other side so I stepped back just as the doors opened at me. I felt an arm brush past me and the person called loudly making me flinch.

"Angel, Coco, we gotta go." The man boomed and I turned my head away before I lost my hearing too.

"Seriously? I been waiting for week for this appointment." The one who had apologised to me said.

"Bishop needs everyone." I heard the loud man say as I continued on my way.

Their heavy boots catching up to me practically allowed me to see the whole corridor, not just the space in front of my feet. I heard people and a the rubber wheels of a wheelchair coming around the corner as the men levelled with me. They didn't slow down as they went to round the corner and I whipped my cane out. I flicked it to its full length and blocked the men with it.

"What the..." one started to complain until he saw the wheelchair that they would have crashed into.

The man sounded tall, not like the loud man who spoke at my ear height, this man at least a head above my height. I folded the cane and slipped it back in my hoodie before going in the opposite direction as they did. I left the front of the hospital and made my way down the street. As I waited for the light to change, to cross the road, a rumble echoed along the street. The sound bounced off the buildings that lined the narrow street and I saw there were no other vehicles coming and crossed the road.