Blurred Childhood

Discovery

I looked at the clock and saw it was 1:36 pm. I wonder what day it was. There was a calendar on my wall, and there was an X marked through what must've been past days, and the day that didn't have a balloon drawn on it. August 9th. The year of the calendar was 1983. Was that today?

I took the calendar and went to Terry's room. I knocked on the door, and he opened it.

"Is this today?" I asked, holding up the calendar. He looked at it for a minute, then took it and threw it into a trashcan by a desk.

"That thing is for last year," He said. "Get dressed. I'll take you out to buy a new one." He then shut the door on me. But that didn't matter. Wow, my brother that might have killed me... isn't really so bad.

I went to my room and took off the clothes I was originally wearing, then found a pair of shorts and a black T-shirt with two grey stripes on the top, and put those on. I rushed back to Terry's room and knocked on the door again. He opened it.

"You all ready?" He asked. I nodded. "Great. Wow, you really woke up fast. Just an hour ago you looked like you were gonna pass out." We made our way to the front door, but Mom stopped us.

"What do you think you're doing?" She asked Terry.

"Taking him to buy some stuff," Terry replied. "He's got some outdated-"

"No. No no," Mom interrupted. "You can go, but he's not going anywhere."

"Mom, I'm fine," I protested. "I feel fine."

"Just an hour ago you were-" Mom suddenly stopped and leaned in close to my face. "Since when were your eyes blue?"

"My eyes are blue?"

"Terrence, look at this."

Terry knelt down to my eye level as well, and his eyes widened.

"Holy shit," He whispered. "They are blue. Oh my God."

"Where did that come from?" Mom squeaked, confused. "Your eyes were always brown... William!" Dad rushed into the room.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"Look at his eyes," Mom said. Dad walked over and knelt down, looking at me intently. He cursed under his breath, then backed up. "Well?"

"His iris might've been stripped away after the bite. Did you see his eyes in the hospital?"

Mom looked ready to shoot back, but had to think for a minute. "No, I... I don't think so." Dad nodded.

"Don't worry about it," He said, then left. Mom followed him, and then Terry and I were alone again.

"So that means we can go?" Terry asked himself.

"I guess," I responded. Terry shrugged and took me outside, where I was blinded by sunlight. It was warm. Terry sighed in either joy or annoyance.

"See, it's always way too hot around here," Terry started, walking towards the sidewalk. I followed him. "Most people would opt to go everywhere in their cars that have air conditioning, but the house is always way too cold on its own, because air conditioning, and sometimes you just need some sun." I nodded in agreement and followed Terry through the neighborhood. There were a lot of kids out playing, parents watching, and some... were even staring at me. Terry must've noticed, because he pulled me closer to him and shot the parents dirty looks.

We made our way to the store quickly enough, where more people stared. Terry urged me to ignore it, and he took me to a display of calendars.

"Well, here they are," He said. "Get whatever you want."