Through Her Eyes | Book #1

prologue.

          Kathy has worn eye glasses ever since she can remember. When she was just a kid, she looked in the mirror and didn't particularly liked what she saw. She was a little chubby for her age and she didn't like that the eye glasses would hide the only feature of herself she didn't hate: her green eyes.

          Growing up with loving parents didn't unable her to feel insecure about herself. In fact, whenever she took notice of her mother's beautiful smile, captivating green eyes, thin figure and fiery red hair, she wished one day she'd grow up to be half the woman she was. Caring, thoughtful, always the owner of the best advice, Kathy's mother was the perfect wife. Her father's happiness in life, he'd always say, was mostly linked to the woman he had by his side, the one that provided him with support through every rough stage of his difficult path as a writer.

          Her mother liked to cook. Kathy remembers walking into the kitchen early Christmas' morning and the look of ultimate excitement on her mother's face as she focused on baking the cookies, the cakes, the desserts, setting up the table and filling the house with a scent so wonderful that would drive her father out of his office and into the kitchen, offering his wife a back hug to distract her from stealing some of the cookie dough, or at least attempting to.

          She remembers thinking to herself that she'd wish one day to find as much happiness in life as her parents had.

          Her mother liked to paint. And Kathy remembers so well the smell of paint invading her bedroom. She remembers waking up and running to the attic to see the rays of sun hitting her mother's face as she sat on the wooden stool in front of a canvas filled with the most beautiful colors she had ever seen. She'd greet her mother with the biggest of smiles and a quick reminder that she would be watching the morning cartoons and she'd be greeted with a kindness she had never seen anywhere else but in her house.

          Her parents weren't perfect though. They weren't the perfect couple, they made mistakes and they fought, but they managed to wake up every day with new found hope and love for each other. They were weird too, they liked things that other parents didn't. They liked the dark aspects of life, liked to wander about every little thing, a curiosity that other parents didn't understand, but that kids were fascinated by.

          They were the couple that other parents in the neighborhood would talk about behind their backs, the ones that appreciated life in a way others didn't fully comprehend.

          As she passed through adolescence, like any other teenager, she began wandering what she was doing with her life, who she really was, if she had any future, if she'd ever find someone to love. She began wandering about her appearance, about her sexual orientation, about life and the world. Life became hard to live, despite her parents' attempts to support her and bring back that positivity she had been known for.

          Adolescence was always a hard time. Especially for Kathy. She struggled with her identity. She felt as if there was a part of herself that was repressed, waiting to get out. She felt as if she knew that part of herself, she'd be able to figure out what path to lead next. At that moment in her life, she had no idea what to do, whom to be, what to do next.

          When she looked at the mirror, she wasn't sure what she saw. A girl with long red hair, green eyes that had lost its glow and pale skin with freckles. She didn't even wear makeup like the girls in the movies or the ones at her school.

          Her father had always said she looked beautiful and when she was a kid, she believed him. Now, as she was shoved against a locker on her way to English Literature, she wasn't too sure.

          Kathy had friends. Even if she was a loner, she had friends she cared about. She may be unstable, unaware of what path to choose next, but she had met some people along the way that had struck a chord in her heart. Those people helped her on her journey through life, as confusing as it became, and somehow stuck by her side through thick and thin.

          Ana, the quiet girl that Kathy had seen sitting on a library reading her favorite book, a curtain of black hair falling by the side of her head, blocking the sun from hitting her face, wearing a look of certain astonishment as she reached what Kathy had assumed to be the final chapter. She had been able to approach her, although hesitant, and ask her what she thought about the book. That's how her friendship had started.

           Zoey, that kind of girl that always had something to say, the energetic one that could bring sunshine during a rainy day. She was the beautiful blonde one that Kathy had only ever dreamed of befriending, yet the one that had first started a conversation with her one an autumn afternoon after she had found Kathy crying near the gym, refusing to take off her eye glasses despite the tears blurring the lenses and her vision. She had sympathized with her. For years she had been called dumb and easy, and yet she was one of the smartest students in that high school, focusing on studying and her friends rather than on boys.

          Kathy considered herself lucky, despite everything. She had loving parents, amazing friends, and she was a good student. And although she was constantly called 'four eyes' and 'googley eyed', she had grown used to wearing eye glasses. It became a part of her.

          "You can't leave the house without your eyes glasses, you know that."

          "You have really bad eyesight, you could end up getting hurt."

         "It's for your own good."

         She had made a routine to never leave the house without her eye glasses. Her parents had a weird obsession with always checking if she was wearing them. There had been a time she had thought to be a little overwhelming, but now she was used to it and realized that her parents were simply worrying about her.

          For years, Kathy had never once forgotten about her eye glasses. She had this fear of what would happen if she did, this vision in her mind that she could end up in a serious accident if she were to forget. Wherever Kathy was, her eye glasses were always with her. There were only very few occasions her parents allowed her to take off her glasses and even in pictures, there she was—the red-haired girl with the black eye glasses hiding the vibrant color of her eyes, next to her parents, next to her friends, standing alone, memories captured in photos that hid a thousand emotions behind them.

          Her eyes told stories her words couldn't but, unfortunately, they couldn't reach people behind the obstacle standing in their way. That was why she found refugee in writing. Like her own father, she was passionate about different worlds she read about, mythical creatures she could create with simply paper and pen.

          "Let your imagination run wild," was what her father had said the first time she had sat by his side at his desk and she allowed herself to start writing a story she hadn't even thought about. Her fingers had taken the pencil and had wrote about her wildest dreams. It was fun and exhilarating and she loved it. She had been writing ever since.

          Even if it was hard, Kathy lived her life that way, struggling with adolescence, friendship, love, family. It was never easy, but she liked her life and she liked the routines she had settled for herself every day. Even if she wasn't sure where it was going, what to do, she'd wake up, put on her glasses, grab her notebook and she would be ready to go by another day.

          Until one day, something went wrong. And that's exactly how her story started, with her taking the subway instead of the bus, with the butterfly effect of a grumpy middle-aged man late for his job interview and Kathy late for school after having missed the first bus. If she had gotten a few minutes earlier to the bus stop in front of her house, she wouldn't have to take the subway, and she most definitely wouldn't have been shoved by an angry and stressed out man as he entered the last subway on the way to the company he had applied for at least a month before.

          And that's how Kathy's eye glasses were knocked off her face and fell to the ground, shattered by the footsteps of people rushing to get to work.

          When she looked up, her life wouldn't be the same.

           She realized she could see things no one else could see.