Out of the Darkness - A KathNiel Story

Chapter 4

Marlann guided Kath into the elevator, pushing the button to take them to the ground floor. "Can I ask you a personal question?" Marlann asked after a moment of silence between the two of them.

"I can't see anything at all," Kath answered.

"You knew I was gonna ask that?"

"It's what everybody asks first, it was an educated guess," Kath said, but there was a reassuring smile on her face - ensuring her that she wasn't offended. She'd been blind since the age of five, she had grown to not take questions about her disability personally - she knew people were bound to be curious.

"Y-You really can't see anything?" Marlann asked and Kath shook her head.

"I was in a car accident when I was five, my head smashed into the car door and it made small bones in the backs of my eyes fall onto the nerves, so that's left me with absolutely zero sights. Most people who are classified blind either have tunnel vision or can see shapes, shadows, light... I can't see anything. I'm in the very, very small percentage of blind people who have no sight at all." Kath explained, the casualness of it all shocking Marlann.

"Not to be stereotypical, but... you don't have a dog?" Marlann asked and Kath smiled sadly.

"I used to have one when I was seven. He was my best friend, called Pablo... he passed away last year and I'm now at the bottom of a very long waiting list to get a puppy assigned to me." Kath said.

"Shit, I'm sorry... I didn't mean to upset you or bother you by asking questions about it, you can tell me to shut up if you want." Marlann assured her and Kath let out a laugh.

"No, it's okay. Do you wear glasses?" Kath asked and Marlann's eyebrows creased.

"No, I don't."

"Okay," Kath said simply and Marlann let out a small laugh.

"Why?"

"Just trying to get to know you a little better, I guess... I can't see you, I can't remember what it's like to see - I'm just trying to get a feel of who you are." Kath tried to explain.

"You can trust me, you know," Marlann said softly and Kath's head hung almost instantly, a sad smile pulling at the corners of her lips.

"I've heard that before," Kath said quietly, Marlann feeling her getting closer to her as the doors opened but the people who were waiting to get in suddenly stopped trying to get in when they saw the white cane.

"This is our stop," Marlann said softly, guiding Kath forwards and towards the quad so they could head to the right building for their Music class.

"Tell me about your friends," Kath said, moving her white cane from side to side in front of her across the ground but Marlann was doing well in guiding her and others stayed out of the way to stop Kath from tripping over them.

"Well, there's only two of them and we've known each other since we were kids... there's DJ and he's doing a degree in Creative Writing - he's really good. He's been published in magazines a few times and he helped to run the newspaper in high school." Marlann said, shrugging her shoulders. "Stairs here," Marlann said, helping Kath to slowly make her way down the stone steps before they kept walking across the quad to the main Music building. "But my other best friend is actually my girlfriend," Marlann admitted, slightly nervous about her reaction.

"Why did you tense just then? Is she not nice to you?" Kath asked, her eyebrows creased together.

"No! No, she's amazing - she treats me like a queen. I just... I've had people not be so nice to me when they find out I'm gay." Marlann said.

"Well, I don't care if you're gay or not, I'm in no position to judge anybody. Tell me about her." Kath encouraged and Marlann cracked a smile.

"She's starting a placement next week in the hospital to become an ER doctor, she's sassy and sarcastic and has more confidence in her little finger than I have in my entire body and I'm the one doing Performing Arts," Marlann said, letting out a breathless laugh when Kath laughed. "We're here," Marlann said, knocking on the door of the classroom twice before opening the door and leading Kath inside but it was like she could feel Kath close into herself as they stood in the old classroom. It was a large room, completely soundproofed so that no other classes would disturb each other as they worked on their Music projects.

"Ah! Our new student!" The female teacher said with a smile and she walked to Kath, who held out her hand and the teacher shook her hand. "We're all working on our projects right now, so if Marlann could take you to a keyboard, I can come over and explain what we're doing." The teacher encouraged and Marlann did as she was told, but Kath stumbled against the edge of a table in her sudden nervousness.

Marlann's head snapped to a group of students who sniggered, glaring at them, but when she looked back at Kath, it was like she hadn't heard it at all.

But she had heard it, she'd just learned to ignore it - no matter how much it hurt.

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