Domestic by Daylight

Seeing Clearly

As the room became more clear, his fear began to grow, too. As his eyes adjusted to the light, he started to remember where he is - whose home he was in. To his surprise (once his grogginess was replaced with wide-awake fear) he wasn't bound to where he was resting.

Quickly, he shot up to find a way to escape. However, light-headedness washed over him and he fell back to his knees. He did his best to make out the distant shapes in the corner opposite him. The blind boy remembered corner to be the kitchen with the small table and chairs. But, there was that shape he feared so much. The terrifying shape that had possibly helped him some time ago.

He whimpered and winced as the scarred shape grew clearer and closer. Once again, he shot up and fell on top of the bed he was once resting against. When he ran out of space to "run" to, he cowardly pulled his legs to his chest and hid his face between his chest and knees.

The large, calloused hand that the shy, weak man had grown familiar with, pushed his knees slightly apart. The large hand was placed under his very small (in comparison) chin, gently pushing his head up so their eyes would meet. That same hand lightly grabbed the small man's thin arm - bringing it up and gently opening apart his pale hand. With the smaller man's palm now being held open - the larger man's hand resting underneath - the larger man brought around his other hand. The small man gasped and a small smile formed on his face as his once-lost glasses were softly placed into his hands.

"Well," the large man said. "Put them on. It'll only help you." His voice was deep and rough, but held a calm and caring tone. A tone that made the smaller man blush. After putting on his glasses, he asked:

"What's your name?" He paused, getting nervous again. "Wh-Why am I here?!" The large man stood up but didn't walk away.

"My name's Evan," he spoke. "And I mainly just wanted to give you your glasses back." He walked over to the door, the door the small man was too fearful to open, and opened it. From where the small man was sitting, he could only see a few stairs going up.

Up and out?... Or up into another trap?

"I'm not going to keep you here." Evan spoke again, interrupting the small man's thoughts. "You can leave any time you want." Evan walked back into the small kitchen area to continue what he was once doing.

The small man stood up and made the short distance to the opened door. He looked up the dirty stairs and slowly walked up them towards the surface. Once he made it all the way up, he was greeted by a forest surrounding him with a road not too far on his right. Knowing the road to be his only escape, he began to run towards it. Twigs snapping and leaves crunching under his feet reminded him of what he was running away from last night.

Reaching the road, he realized how familiar this road was. This was the same rad he took that very night.

---

He made his way down the road, running fast and not planning on stopping. His crying was loud but he didn't care. He had had enough.

In high school, he had only been tormented and teased. The bullying was relentless. He had no friends.

At his job, his boss treated him as less than human and his co-workers only walked all over him. He had no allies.

He was sick of all this and only wanted to get away. 

So he ran.

He ran into the woods only looking to get away from all of the pain and abuse he had been put through.

He had no one. No one would even know he was gone.

He continued running - even as a fiery rift opened in the sky, he didn't stop.

He ran towards it.

---

This was his way out - the very road that led him here was his only option to get out.

But he had nobody back there. However, he did have somebody in the woods. The only person who ever showed him compassion and actually helped him was Evan. Evan, who wanted him to escape from this killing game.

Calmly, he turned away from the road and walked back to the very place he just ran away from. At least, even in this sacrificial Hell, he might have found someone who cares about him.