An Eye For An Eye

•Chapter 5•

I maneuvered my way towards the couch opposite from Beckett. The one near the fireplace. God, even after all these years, the furniture was still in the same place. I could picture the entire house clearly-- at least, the version that my 8 year old self remembered.

"Depends what you mean." I began. "You know about our dad, right?"

Beck was silent for a moment, and then, "Yeah. It's been all over the news. Casey hasn't talked much about it though. I'm sorry."

I shrugged. "It is what it is."

"You said that earlier too."

I shifted uncomfortably on the couch. "I've learned it makes life harder if I keep trying to figure out why bad things happen. They just do. Sometimes you don't get an answer."

"That's... Rough." Beck's shape morphed slightly. He was fidgeting. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. You don't have to be sorry, you didn't do anything. Like I said, it is what it is. It's actually not too bad. I get around pretty well, and Chief helps a lot."

"Accept when it's dark out."

I laughed a little, almost feeling like a little kid again. "Yeah, well, that's what Chief is supposed to help with. He does the hard stuff for me. When he decides he wants to listen, that is. He's usually pretty good about it, but he's still young."

"So, you said you've been this way since you were seven?" I could feel Beck's gaze on me. He was probably looking at my eyes; that's what most people did when I told them I was blind. Shelby had told me once that my eyes didn't focus entirely, so it always seemed like I was looking over the shoulder of the person I was talking to. That was a given though. It was just a fact of being blind; you couldn't look people in the eyes.

"'This way'?" I mocked him. "You mean blind?" I smiled a bit, hoping it would make Beck feel less awkward. "Yeah. It started getting blurry when I was 6, but it never really stopped getting worse until I was almost 8. I was legally blind by then, and glasses and contacts didn't help. My eyes were permanently damaged. Somehow. I don't know how."

"That's... Insane."

"Tell me about it."

Beck let out a deep breath. "So, you guys are selling the place, huh?"

I scanned the house with my eyes that refused to focus. I didn't need them to, though. I knew every inch of the place by heart. It was all one floor. To the left of the living room was the dinning room and door to the porch and backyard. To the right of that was the kitchen, and then beyond the kitchen were the bedrooms. Me and Casey had shared the first one on the left since we were so little back then, and our parents had taken the one at the very end of the hall that had its own bathroom. Mine and Casey's shared bathroom was right across the hall from our room.

I turned my attention back to Beck. "Yep. I guess we are."

"I was surprised when I heard, but I guess your dad needed the money for some reason. That's what Casey was telling me."

I gritted my teeth. I had been right, but I told myself I was wrong because I didn't want it to be true.

Dad was going to use the money from this place to settle out of court.

"As soon as Casey heard about your guys' dad... About the arrest and everything..." Beck rambled on. "He started packing a bag right away. He was going to leave that night, but the truck broke down. Took almost two weeks until they figured out what was wrong with it, and then they had to wait on parts to come in and all that so they could actually fix it."