The Terrible Twelve

Chapter 1: The Blind Dragon

Viridian Tyler slid her delicate fingers along the wall of her house. As the toes of her Converses scoffed along the hardwood floors she wished, not for the first time, that she wasn't blind.

Viridian had been blind her whole life. She had been born that way and while most people would be over it by now, she was coming up on her 23rd birthday; she just wasn't letting it go. It just really kind of sucked.

Her whole life Viridian had been lectured about all of the things that she couldn't do and all of the things that she should stay away from and she was kind of tired of it. All she wanted was a chance to live her life on her own, which is why she moved to LA in the first place. This was a chance for her to do things her own way and show everybody else that she had been right her whole life. She just didn't want to screw it up.

And so far she hadn't. She'd gotten a steady job and a local optometrist within the first week. It was like everything was flowing very smoothly and she'd liked that. Things flowing smoothly she could handle, but now it just seemed boring. She considered inviting a family member out to live with her just because she was starting to get lonely.

Viridian didn't always socialize with others well. She wasn't very good at accepting pity on behalf of her vision and that's all people seemed to want to do. So she avoided them completely, or at least as much as she could. There was a woman, Mrs. Spencer, who came by Viridian's house every Tuesday after work to check up on her but that wasn't her own idea. It was her mother's and she didn't really like it either. It was just her mother's way of checking up on her on a regular basis without actually having to talk to her. But Viridian put up with it, because it really was hard to grocery shop without someone's help and her seeing eye dog, Phoenix, couldn't yell out whether or not her hand was on the right thing box of cereal.

But Mrs. Spencer wasn't coming by today and Viridian had to fend for herself which she did for most of the week, except Mondays and Tuesdays. Every Monday after work, especially when she'd had a really bad day, Viridian walked to a diner on the edge of her neighborhood that stayed open late. Viridian would walk Phoenix there, sit in the back, and listen to all of the chatter going on around her. She found it less lonely to listen to other people's conversations, but more satisfying then talking to people her self.

Moe's was the only place she really believed she could actually just sit and relax. She liked going out in public, she liked enjoying the beach or the park but it always got complicated when you threw in other people. In high school she had always been the odd ball out and she had gotten used to it and now it was ok. She was just fine with going to the bookstore by her self or listening to music in the park alone. All of those things normal people would see as boring or lonely, but too her they were ok.

Another thing that helped was music. Viridian had always been skilled at music; a fact that she attributed to her better than average hearing. She had excelled at piano but didn't really like how it felt on her fingers. She hated having to have someone placer her hands in the starting position of every song. She had tried the drums because she thought she might like the vibrations but her family had said it was too loud. So from there she tried the clarinet and the flute and finally settled on the cello.

She had always loved string instruments but the cello was her favorite. She spent most of her high school afternoons learning how to move the bow along the strings and make music of the notes that she read. The Cello had become her favorite instrument and she spent all of her free time perfecting her technique and sound. It had given her something to focus on while she overcame the loneliness.

Viridian had had a tough childhood but now wasn't the time to think about such things. Now all she wanted to do was cook her self some dinner and head to bed. It had been a long day and she had another long day tomorrow and someone would be there to pick her up bright and early tomorrow morning. The world moved on even if she didn't want it to.

Phoenix led her to her bedroom door and her fingers slid along the wall until she found the doorknob. Once she'd turned it, Phoenix pushed the door open the rest of the way. She grunted as her knee hit the edge of the bed.

"You do this every day." She mumbled, petting his head as she took off his harness. She threw it against the wall and was satisfied with the loud sound it made on the way down.

Viridian let loose a long sigh as she sat on the bed and untied both of her shoes before sliding them under the bed next to all of her other ones. She gently got up and undressed before walking into her closet and picking up her neatly folded pj's from last night. After pulling those on, she slid her fingers along the wall and made her to the kitchen, through the living room.

Each item in her kitchen was labeled with what it was and what it could be used for. She often forgot the words of things and couldn't remember them until an example of what it was used for was given to her. Everything was neatly organized and in place. Everything she used she cleaned and put away. She couldn't have a dirty kitchen or else it wouldn't really get cleaned until Mrs. Spencer came by and helped her. She could wipe down the counters but she usually missed things and it ended up on the floor, which was very difficult to clean.

She boiled water in a big pot before inching towards the cabinet and following the letters until they read 'pasta'. She pulled some out of the box and then replaced it. She broke it over the water and almost burned herself trying to make sure they fell in correctly.

She waited for it to boil and drained it in the sink with the attached strainer. Viridian walked to her pantry and got sauce before walking back and emptying the bottle onto the pot of spaghetti. She then let the sauce warm while she heated up some chicken slices she had made at the beginning of the week. Everything came together seamlessly just the way she liked it. When everything was done, she grabbed a drink from the fridge and made her way to her kitchen table. She reached above the chair that she always sat in and felt for the remote control Velcro-ed to the wall.

She turned the TV on and listened to the family sitcom that was playing while she ate. Most people thought it was weird that Viridian liked to listen to TV and even weirder that she had a TV in her house. It was just another thing that blind people weren't supposed to do.

She finished watching TV and eating dinner and put everything away before cleaning the kitchen the best she could. She turned the TV off and made sure she hadn't left any lights on before leaving and going back to her bedroom.

Shadow followed Viridian along the hallway and into her bedroom. Shadow, her cat, liked to sleep along Viridian's pillow as if she was guarding her during the night. Phoenix liked to reside at the foot of Viridian's bed until she shoved him off for taking up too much space. Either way, Viridian never went to sleep alone. She made sure all of the lights were off and the door closed and locked before climbing into bed and setting her alarm. Tomorrow was going to be quite a long day.

Picture: Viridian Tyler