Train// Zonah

7

"Zach, wake up," The teenager felt someone shaking him and her instantly recognised the voice belonging to his brother. He felt that it was early and he didn't want to face the day just yet.

"Go away," He mumbled, shuffling slightly in his bed.

"No, mom told me to go and get you. You know that you have school today." Ryan continued to shake his brother, refusing to let him sleep in. Zach sighed. He had completely forgotten that he had to start at a new school and secretly wished he could stay doing the online courses that he had been provided with.

"Okay, I'm coming." Zach said, opening his eyes to reveal a blurry haze of his surroundings. He lay there with his eyes open for a few minutes before standing up, and cautiously walked towards the outline of the stairs.

He took a deep breath before slowly placing a foot in the first one. He was grabbing the railing tightly, worked that his lack of sight would cause him to fall. His foot came in contact with the first step, and he continued to the next one.

One step.

Two steps.

Three steps.

Four steps.

Five.

He closed his eyes, finding it easier for some reason to make the descent. He made sure that with every step he took, his heel knocked against the back of the stairs which was one of the few tactics he had learned helped him get down easily. He continued counting.

Six steps.

Seven steps.

Eight steps.

Nine.

Getting more confident, he began to pick up the pace.

Ten.

Only six more steps. He opened his eyes again. He was lower down, and the drop below now looked is a scary than before. He could see outlines of the other four members of his family, and noticed how his mother seemed to be wearing a short he hadn't seen before.

Eleven.

Twelve.

Thirteen.

Fourteen.

Fifteen.

There was only one more step. He took it quicker than he had with the others, so very soon...

Sixteen.

He was down. Zach smiled. It had been a big struggle for him to conquer the stairs without his contact lenses or glasses (which he refused to wear, claiming he didn't like the feeling of them on his face and thinking that they didn't suit him) so he was proud of the achievement.

He blindly stumbled into the dining room where he sat down and called out for his mother to help him with his contact lenses. He found that they helped a lot, but he still found the outline of things to be slightly fuzzy. His optician wasn't giving him another prescription, claiming that it wouldn't help him any more. He was slightly annoyed by this fact, but he knew it would happen eventually.

He ate his breakfast in silence, not wanting to think about the events that were to come. He prayed and prayed that for some reason he didn't have to go today, and somehow his prayers were answered. He heard the phone reason and his mom speaking to someone down the line. 

"Kids, you've got a snow day." His mother finally revealed after putting down the phone. Zach hadn't realised that it had snowed. He suspected that Ryan and Reese hadn't either after he watched them run towards the window which was covered with a blind. The blind was lifted, revealing a blanket of snow, covering the garden.