The Great Blinding

Part 1: Before

Her copper hair glimmered in the sun when she flipped her head around from the front seat, with a reassuring smile that made my insides calm. Not long after, I fell into a rocky sleep all the way to our new residence.

"Rhea," Phaedra said softly as the car came to a stop. How long had I been out? The sky was a shade of light blue fading into a deep purple, three hours maybe. "We're here Rhea. Come help me get the bags out of the car." I sluggishly fluttered my eyes open to properly take in my surroundings - an old, ransacked building with overgrown weeds in every crack and crevice. No cars were whizzing past like the busy roads in the center of Skylos. That made it eerily silent, which was something that I would not be getting used to. I looked at the fort of concrete ahead of me, it looked simple, actually. Small holes cut for windows sprawled across the front face of the building and a decently sized front door to the complex. I hauled myself out of the car to grab the bags for my sister, tripping over my feet in the process and stumbled right into another young woman my age. Her smooth ebony hair was shining in what was left of the sun on the horizon which made it to look like a dark, chocolaty brown, like her gorgeous eyes. They were pools of honey and gold which complemented her near-white skin. Her slim nose was slightly crooked with a bulb-like tip that tied in all of her features.

"I'm so sorry," I exclaimed as I pried myself off the girl, she chuckled and helped me up. "We've been sitting in the car for a couple of hours and I haven't walked in a while, I'm sorry again. Rhea, Rhea Vallis." I put out my hand for her to shake.

"Very formal, are we?" she looked over my shoulder towards my sisters, I swiveled my head around to look at them as they were walking into the doorway with half of the bags, me with the other half. Turning my head back to the girl, she firmly grasped my hand but instantly let go.

The world went dark again. Screams were emitting from every corner of the city, cars crashing and chaos wrecking through more and more every second. The shrieking from my sisters emerged from the building,

"Rhea, Rhea, where are you?" They shouted but I couldn't utter a word. My knees buckled out from underneath me, bags dropping from my grasp and I went crashing towards the floor. Pain ripped through my face, exploding at each pore. I felt around for something to help me up, but it was like I was stranded on an island. My face was swelling already, I reached my hand up to touch the gashes only to feel warm, thick liquid. My blood. Two strong hands grabbed me by the arm and hauled me back up to my feet which were surprisingly holding me up.

"I'm Bia." She whispered before pushing me towards the car, panic filling my senses. I tried to get out of her grasp, but she kept her grip, "I'm not going to hurt you Rhea. Stop having such a scared look on your face" My heart stopped, she could see. She could see. While all of us have a black screen in front of our eyes. Only just realizing what she said, I could hear her footsteps hurried towards the car and she pulled my arms up onto the roof to sturdy me. She pulled my head close to her mouth as she let out a hushed whisper, "Don't say anything about this or I will find you," I felt her head swivel around, as if looking to see if anyone saw her. Which is stupid because no one else could see, but she came close to my ear again and said, "Next time will be forever so prepare, but don't worry, Rhea, you'll be free soon." Then she turned around and let go. That was the first and last time I'd ever seen her.

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My legs were heavy, tucked away in the sheets of my bed. The previous night, the three of us trekked toward the center of Skylos to see if there was anyone that could supply resources to us, we went everywhere, called out in every alley to see if there were any stragglers. It appears that the city went mute as well as blind, which is odd, because just the other day I heard screams from the left side of the center. They were screams that belonged to a girl, the horrific sound brought up memories of Bia, how is she coping with the effects of the Blinding? Where has she gone to maintain her sanity? But that is something that we shouldn't worry about, she could see. She had the ability to take precaution into what she was doing by using her sight, instead of her other four useless senses.

There has been a weird, sticky sound coming from my room each night. I try to ignore it but it's like there is a painter who sits there and completes portraits of me at midnight. The sound has been coming more frequently, I have been trying to keep it to myself but I'm sure that Phaedra and Selene can hear it from their bedroom. Occasionally, I would quietly shift out of my bed and move around the walls of the room to see if I can find the source for the noise. But, to no avail. Sounds like this are the ones that make me wish that I had my sight again, to satisfy my curiosity. Whenever I have brought up the sound, the girls brush it off as something on the outside of my wall, like water dripping down the pipe. They clearly don't see the fault in their reason - it hasn't rained in months.