Sightless

Dale Horvath

~ Twenty Years Ago ~

I was screaming. 

I could hear Mommy's boyfriend yelling at me above my head, but I couldn't listen to him past the pain and my own screams ringing in my head. 

I laid there, for a long time, screaming and sobbing as the pain grew. I could feel my face burning, no matter how hard I tried to wipe away the bleach I knew it wouldn't be gone until I could wash it off but I didn't remember where the sink was. And I didn't want to touch bleach ever again, even if it was just to reach in and pull up the drain. 

When arms wrapped around my body and lifted me, I started thrashing, trying to hurt Mommy's boyfriend as much as I could without hurting myself. And I still could hear nothing over my screams. But suddenly, a hand clamped over my mouth and I could hear something. 

"Calm down! I'm a paramedic, I'm bringing you to the hospital. Please calm down. Calm down." The person holding me was yelling over my muffled screams, but I could finally hear something else, and the man's soothing voice made me less anxious. 

"Where's Mommy!" I cried, as I finally stopped screaming and throwing my body around, and the large arms set me down on a mattress. I think it was a stretcher, like what Mommy said the bed on wheels was on Law and Order because I could tell I was moving. 

"She's... she's hurt really bad kid." The man said and I wanted to cry, but no tears were coming down my face and it made me even more upset. 

"Where's Mommy's boyfriend?" I asked softly, whimpering as the stretcher stopped for a second, and then jolted as it was pushed into something. I could tell because doors closed, and it sounded a lot quieter in here. 

"The man inside? He's being taken to talk to some police about what happened. They're going to want to talk to you too after we get you all fixed up, is that okay?" The man asked, a large hand wrapped around my forearm, and I nodded, not knowing what else to say. 

I wasn't usually allowed to talk to adults who weren't family. Mommy said that they would try to take me away if I talked to them, and I didn't want to leave Mommy. She needed me. 

"Can you tell me what happened?" The man asked again, and I nodded, hiccuping as the sobs finally stopped. 

"I was with Uncle David all week but he said he couldn't take care of me anymore so he dropped me back off with Mommy. I yelled for her but she wasn't answering so I went to my room. It was all packed up, do you know why it was all packed up? And then I went to her room and she was laying on the floor by the bleach and she was covered in water with some red stuff in it. And Mommy's boyfriend came in, and he got mad at me. He put the bleach in the sink, and then pushed me into it. And now... I can't see. Why can't I see?" I asked, the hiccups interrupted my story every few minutes, but I think he understood cause he didn't ask any questions. 

"The bleach honey. I think it hurt your eyes. Can you see this?" The man asked, and after a second of waiting for whatever it was he wanted me to see, I shook my head. 

"See what?" I heard him sigh, and then the hand on my arm left, and something started wiping at my face. 

"I'm so sorry. My name is Dale, Dale Horvath. And I promise I'll do whatever I can to help you okay?" I nodded and stuck my hand up like I had seen people do on Law and Order. 

"I'm Megaera. It's nice to meet you Mr. Horvath." I said clearly, trying to be grown-up, and push through my pain. His hand wrapped around mine, and he shook it and then laid it back down on my stomach. 

"Hello Megaera. Why don't you try to rest, we'll be at the hospital in a few minutes." I nodded, and tried to close my eyes, but even with them open I could still only see blackness. So I left them open, since that didn't hurt as much, and tried to think of anything except where my Mommy was, and where her mean boyfriend was, and wondering what the red streaks in the water was. 

A/N: Hey guys! Just wanted to say that I do know that in the comics Dale was a car salesman, but in my book, he is going to be EMT! Anyway, I hope you all are enjoying the book so far, and I hope you stick with it!