Chapter 1- Toph
People usually assume that I’m helpless because I’m blind. They think I can’t do anything for myself. I can hear it in their voices. That’s probably the main reason why I grew up so fast; is that I wanted to prove them wrong. I’m not helpless, I’m independent. I’ve shown them over and over again, but my parents don’t believe me. I’ve wandered the streets at night, going to clubs and bars, and getting into fights. I always win. I have a heightened sense of a sort. It’s not just hearing like most people would assume. But I can feel things. I see the vibrations everywhere. I’m always wearing headphones and listening to music. Most people would think that was weird; that a blind person was blinding her ears as well. But the vibrations are my senses. That’s all I need to rely on, really.
It’s funny, how people always talk about the darkness and how scary it is. “Stay out of the darkness, go to bed when it’s dark, you can do that in the morning because it’s too dark right now.” I’m constantly in the darkness. I’m not afraid of it because we’re friends. Sometimes I feel sorry for the darkness, because it’s always alone. Maybe that’s why I get along with it so well. I’m alone too.
~
I was lying on my bed, headphones off and my blanket over my head. My parents thought I had gone to sleep, but in reality, I was waiting for them to go to sleep. I felt the slight vibrations of their footsteps heading to bed down the hall. I heard a door close and then more vibrations. I waited for fifteen minutes, the chirps of the crickets outside my window beckoning me to join them. Silently, I got up and put on my clothes. I rummaged through my drawers, not really caring what I put on since I couldn’t see, anyway. One of my “friends” assured me that they were the most fashionable styles, whatever the styles were. She says most of my clothes are green because the color contrasts well with my skin and hair. I have no idea what this color green looks like. The only color I’ve been acquainted with is black, the color of darkness.
The route I took was familiar to me by then and I didn’t really have to pay attention to the vibrations anymore. I had to sneak out of my bedroom window and jump down from the second floor. I owned a dog in my house and he didn’t discriminate who he barked at. Sometimes I think my parents bought him just for that reason. I hit the grass with a silent thump and I ran into the cover of the small grove of trees in my backyard and headed towards the streets.
Since I lived just outside the city, it was a short walk to make it to a large nightclub downtown. The city was bustling, but I couldn’t hear anything over the sound of my headphones blasting out the soundtrack to the Matrix. The vibrations of the people and cars would have overwhelmed me a year ago, but I had learned to concentrate on what was important. I had these special combat boots with no soles, so that I could feel the vibrations more clearly. I turned into a back alley behind the nightclub, where there was a locked back entrance. Since I was so good at feeling things, I was an expert lock picker. I pulled out a piece of wire that I kept wrapped around my wrist and opened the door without a problem. I sauntered in the club and melded in with the crowd. I took my headphones off and made my way towards the stairs.
I sat comfortably in a chair, listening to what was going on around me. I drank from a bottle of water, pretending to be looking around the nightclub. “Look, that’s her!” I heard from behind me. There were three people standing a few feet away from me. They started walking towards me. Alarmed, I casually got up and started talking to a random stranger.
“Hey, excuse me, but are you the Blind Bandit?” A guy’s voice asked me. He was one of the three in the group that was following me. He was tall and had a Mohawk. How did he know my alias?
“Uh, the Blind what? I think you have me mistaken for someone else, sorry,” I replied as normally as I could. I tried to focus my eyes on something. My back was turned to them.
“No, I’m pretty sure you’re her. I’ve seen you before,” another voice piped in. From the vibrations, he was shorter than the first guy and was completely bald. “Look, my friends and I are making a group and we need your help. We were uh, we were wondering if you could teach us how to fight.”
I burst into laughter when I heard that. “Me? Teach you how to fight? This is a waste of my time. Goodbye.” I walked quickly into the crowd. I could tell they were confused. They had lost where I had gone. Why would anyone want me to teach them how to fight? That was stupid. Granted, I was the best street fighter in the city, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to teach anyone.
