Blindening

Part 1 Blindening

Chapter 1

It was a gloomy morning when a group of college friends awoke in the aftermath of a late-night party. As they looked around the campfire, where they all fell asleep, they realized their friend Dani was missing. The group spread out, searching everywhere around the house and the rooms within, calling his name. As the group searched inside the house for Dani, they came across a stack of papers laid out neatly on the kitchen table. Settling into chairs around the table, the friends began to read the story laid out before them.

"This handwriting is Dani's, I'm sure of it," said Han.

"Are you sure, Han?" another friend asked. Han's hand was shaking as he held the notes. His eyes and voice were clearly strained. He tried mumbling something to his friends, but his voice kept cracking.

"It will be okay, Han. Let me read it out to everyone."

The stack of papers was large and written in the style of a diary or Dani's way of expressing emotions he wasn't ready to express to others. She began to read and cover Dani's notes:

The notes begin with Dani describing his life as a young boy. He was five years old and in kindergarten, where he met his best friend Nico. Nico's father worked with Dani's mother, which led to the boys being introduced. Nico and Dani shared many interests and passions, but the one that stood out was their love for sports, particularly basketball. The two friends lived two blocks away from each other, which allowed them to see each other quite often.

Across the kindergarten playground, Dani would often glimpse a girl named Diane, with brown curls and big hazel eyes. Nico would often tease Dani to go talk to her, pushing him playfully. But Dani's fear of rejection was persistent.

"Come on, the worst she will do is say no," said Nico as he tried pushing Dani to approach Diane.

"It's not the worst. What if she sees me as some creep?" Dani replied.

"Well, if she does, it'll be just one more person in this world who you'll forget about, so you're losing nothing. Come on!"

After a few more pushes from Nico, Dani finally gave in. He spent days thinking of the perfect way to meet her and the perfect words to use. The day soon came. In the kindergarten, he was playing football with Nico. Nico decided to intentionally hit Diane with the ball but made it seem like a mistake to Dani. Nico rushed to pick up the ball next to Diane and gave her a small note.

"I'm sorry for hitting you. My friend would really like to meet you; his name is Dani. We'll be here after we finish playing. He would like to get to know you but is shy."

After they finished playing, Nico took the ball and came to the spot where he gave the note to Diane. He told Dani he needed to go to the bathroom and that he'd be back soon. As he left, Dani turned around to find Diane standing behind him.

"Hey there, I heard you wanted to meet," said Diane with a big smile.

Dani, shocked by the situation, started running scenarios in his head about how this had happened. But before he could think of one, his thoughts were cut off.

"Are you okay? Earth to Dani."

"Yes, I am. I apologize—it's a pleasure to meet you," Dani stammered.

As the months passed, Dani gradually befriended Diane through playdates set up by their mothers. The three children became inseparable, with Dani developing an innocent childhood crush on Diane. He would pick dandelions on the playground and present them to her with smiles or spend hours working on crayon drawings of the three of them together, delivering them to Diane the next day at kindergarten. Dani's lack of drawing skills made the pictures seem funny to Nico, but Diane seemed to like them.