Being blind is like sitting in a dark room with no one else there with you. Except you can hear everyone. You can hear them in the light, laughing and soaking up the sun. Even though you can hear everyone around you, you still feel as if you are alone.
My name is Jezzarrah. I’m 18 years old. I live in Sydney with my mum, my twin brother Jayden and my little sister Alex. I’m blind. Though I haven’t always been blind. When I was 3 I was in a car accident with my father. He didn’t survive. I went out the windscreen and into the car in front of us, thousands of tiny shatters of glass went into my eyes and made me go blind. People have told me that my eyes are a gorgeous crystal blue colour, though I have no idea what blue looks like. I’ve forgotten what everything looks like. I have one friend, Sharlei, the only person not in my family that excepts me.
“okay guys, bed. Now.” My mothers faint voice yelled from upstairs.
“but we haven’t finished yet” Jayden screamed back, making me jump from his sudden loud voice. We had been doing our homework for English. A speech about ourselves.
“I don’t care. You won’t get up in the morning” mum closed the argument.
“come on Jezz, lets go” Jayden grabbed my arm and pulled my off my slumber on the couch. He had a firm grip on my forearm, leading me to the stairs.
“okay step up” he directed me.
“Jayden I know where the steps are. We’ve lived in this house our whole lives.” I rolled my eyes at what I hoped to be his face.
“just making sure” I heard the grin in his voice. I hate having to depend on other people. It makes me feel weak. We got into my room and Jayden lead me to my bed. I sat down while he went and got my pj’s.
“here you go. Need anything else?” He asked as he put my pj’s in my arms.
“no thanks I’m fine” I heard his footsteps go towards my door, then fade down the hallway. I fiddled around with my clothes and found the one that felt like a shirt and put it on, then my shorts.
I felt for the ends of my covers and gripped them so I wouldn’t loose them while getting into bed. I re-arranged my pillows and got comfortable.
I lay there for a while, just thinking. Thinking about how my life would have turned out if I wasn’t in that car. Would I have more friends? Would I be sporty? Would I have a boyfriend? I think about this every night, coming up with alternative lives for myself. But then I snap back into reality and get frustrated that I will never have any of those lives. I clear my mind from my fantasies and curl up in a ball and drift to sleep.
I wake up feeling stiff from sleeping in a ball last night. I rolled over to stretch and fell on the hard floor.
“ooowww” I groaned. I rubbed my forehead where I hit the floor. I slowly got up- using the bed for support- and turned around and headed for the door. I had my arms slightly lifted up in front of me so I could find the door. I shuffled my hands around the right side of the door looking for the door handle. Found it! I walked down the hallway with my hands on the wall looking for the railing’s for the stairs. I’d fallen down the stairs many times and landed myself in hospital. So I’m always extra careful with the stairs.
