Darkness

Wine

Waking up in darkness was one of many things Avi had to get used to. His usual morning routine consisted of making a nice cup of either coffee or tea, usually tea if he had time to wake up properly, and then stepping out on the balcony to greet the new day by enjoying everything he had planted so far. Now it was just him, a glass of water and the couch he was sitting on. In the dark. There was no point in opening the blinds to let the sun in and after finishing his cup of water he slowly walked back to the kitchen to make himself something to eat. In search to find the the right cabinet where he kept his bowls he hit his fingers a few times on the handles before he finally felt something that resembled a bowl. The same happened when he was looking for his silverware. After pouring the milk with his pointer finger resting on the inside of the bowl to stop once it touched it he added the cereal he walked back to the couch, one of his hands against the wall again.

Much to his surprise he didn't struggle in the bathroom. His shampoo bottle was taller than the conditioner, the body wash bottle felt almost velvety and getting toothpaste on his toothbrush after the shower wasn't as hard as he had thought before.

Getting dressed, however, turned out to be more complicated than taking a shower. Avi first tried to remember the colors of the shirts he used to wear but due to the sheer amount of shirts he was lost and ended up wearing just sweatpants and whatever t-shirt was comfortable.

He ran into the furniture a lot as he was walking around in his apartment but it got better with every day. He soon had the layout of it memorized, knew how many steps he could make before colliding with the coffee table again. Loading and unloading the dishwasher needed time to get used to as well as things like turning on the washing machine and putting away his clothes.

Avi felt stupid for getting excited over these small accomplishments. Just two weeks ago he wouldn't have lost a single thought over turning on the dishwasher or making himself a cup of tea, now he had to find a way to pour hot water in a mug without burning his hands which was almost impossible.

His physical therapist rang the doorbell on his fourth day at home. Avi took some time to get through the living room and then opened the door, one hand resting on the doorknob and the other one on the doorframe.

"Hello?"

"Hi, are you Avriel Kaplan?"

"Yeah. Who are you?"

"I'm Kathy, your physical therapist."

"I thought someone would come and pick me up..didn't know we'd do this here..." he mumbled and felt overwhelmed.

"Well, there has been a change of plans and since we're just working on your shoulder we can do it here. If you're alright with that. It's just easier for both us, you don't have to go out and your apartment is on my way home and you're actually my last patient on Wednesdays."

"I-I...okay, yeah. Uh, you might want to turn on the lights, feel free to let some sun in, I- I don't mind" he stuttered and took a step back to let her in. "Sorry if it's a little m-messy.."

"Oh I don't mind." She sat down her bag.

Scott sighed and flopped down on his couch, held up his glass and waited for Mitch to fill it with the wine that the dark haired man had brought with him. He frowned when his friend stopped after 1/4 of a cup. "Hey. The glass isn't full yet."

Mitch eyed him and proceeded to pour. "You can't drown your worries in alcohol."

"Hearing that from your mouth has me shooketh, Mitchell." Scott took a sip. "How expensive was the bottle?"

"Oh, just a couple of bucks. The cheap one."

"Great, I'm getting hammered tonight."

"You've been drunk for the past five days, Scott. Get a grip."

"I don't know if you are aware of what happened?"

"Well, you only told me a quarter of it." Mitch sassed, poured himself some wine and leaned back. "So, Mama and Papa Kaplan were here?"

"Yeah, right where you're sitting. Shelly cried, Mike told me everything and then handed me the key to Avi's apartment. I couldn't say no! And Avi needs someone who's available to help, he's just- god, he probably feels like shit. I'm pretty sure he hasn't been outside once and I doubt that he cares about his blinds now that he can't see."

"Then why are you still on this couch and not over at his place?"

"Because I...I don't know what to say. How to approach him. It's scary."

Mitch glared at him. "People with disabilities aren't scary, Scott Richard!"

"I didn't say that!" he argued and took another gulp. "The situation is scary! I don't know if I'm supposed to act like everything is fine or if I should wrap him in bubble wrap, pack his things and force him to be my roommate so I can take care of him 24/7." Scott took a deep breath. "Yeah, that's that."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"I don't know if he would appreciate it. Just me showing up there playing babysitter is probably enough already." He ran his fingers through his hair, over the back of his head and then to his neck.

"Why don't you just ask him how he wants to be treated? That way he won't feel like you're pitying him or something and he can make a decision. Making decisions is important now that everything else is kind of out of control." Mitch reached for a few of the gluten free crackers and ate one.

The baritone sighed softly. "You're probably right. And Avi is a wonderful guy, I'm sure he'll guide me through whatever I'm supposed to do to help out. Shelly said he has precooked meals for eight days, tomorrow is day five. I'll stop by on-" he did the math, "on Monday."

"You have to be at the studio on Monday, Scott. We have Superfruit meetings."

"Fuck. See? I'm not organized enough to-"

Mitch roller his eyes and slapped his shoulder. "You're acting like you have to take care of a newborn, Jesus fucking Christ! It's just Avi! You like Avi!"

"I know. I know I am freaking out but...I care about him, Mitchy. A lot."