Peripheral Vision | ✓ [NOW PUBLISHED AS HUNTINGTON AVENUE]

Chapter 23

C H A P T E R  T W E N T Y - T H R E E

Zach's P.O.V.

It took me quite a while, but I finally finished packing up my things so we could leave for the airport in a couple hours. For the entire day, all I wanted to do was sleep.

That's it.

I literally slept until noon for the first time since I was about nine, and I loved it.

Hayleigh practically jumped on me to get me up. She was sick of waiting for lunch, so she decided to basically crush me instead of letting me sleep. The anaesthetics from yesterday's operation, believe it or not, were still taking a little bit of effect, but they finally went away after a while.

Opening my eyes and actually seeing something other than blackness felt extremely weird, and I'll probably never get used to it. I let out a yawn which was sort of loud, and Hayleigh's voice quickly rose from across the hotel room.

"Are you still tired from sleeping about fourteen hours?" she asked. The look on her face made me burst out into laughter.

"That means I'll be awake on the plane so I can play tic tac toe for almost three hours," I joked while gazing into her glistening green eyes. It gave me shuddering chills, being able to actually see what's going on.

"Yay!" Hayleigh squealed while almost strangling me with a tight hug aimed for my neck.

I've never seen someone so excited for tic tac toe.

"Gentler next time?" I asked quietly while carefully loosening her grip. "I'm still a little sore from yesterday.."

"Sorry," Hayleigh lowered her voice apologetically. "Didn't realize it hurt that bad."

"It's okay, Hayleigh, you didn't know," I replied, setting a comforting hand on her shoulder. Just looking at Hayleigh will never get old.

There's a lot of things about me she doesn't know.

My parents for instance.

How certain people hate me in school is another thing.

I quickly waved that thought away, not wanting to put myself into a negative mood again. I ran my fingers through my hair as my eyes scanned the room. It's been so long since I've been able to do so, and I don't think I'll ever get used to it. I blinked slowly, still thinking this isn't real, but it is.

"You okay, Zach?" Hayleigh inquired, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Just a bit overwhelmed," I replied honestly while matching her gaze. She looked very confused, so I explained to her as well as I could. "Imagine having your eyes closed for ten years, and you've finally been able to open them up again. That's me."

Hayleigh didn't respond verbally. Instead, she squeezed me into a hug, making it even tighter than normal. I grunted a bit. She's much stronger than she looks.

"Hayleigh, please..," I retorted while gently returning the hug. "Not so tight..?"

"Sorry..," she apologized again genuinely.

"No, it's alright," I responded as I ran my fingers gently through her hair. "I'd rather have an extremely caring sister than-"

I stopped myself quickly, realizing my next words would be: being an orphan, like I was supposed to.

Hayleigh gave me a confused look, obviously becoming the inquisitive second grader she was. I let out a sigh, realizing I almost slipped. Hayleigh still doesn't know, and I don't want to upset her with the reality that I'm not a real part of the family.