The Blind and the Crippled [STORY]

Blackness, all he could see was blackness. For a moment Cyrus thought he was asleep, but he didn't often wonder if he was asleep when he actually was asleep. He did know he was extremely disoriented however, thoughts seemed to squirm away from his grasp the moment he tried to line them up in any sort've cohesive manner. Maybe going to sleep wouldn't be such a bad idea after a-

"HUUURRG!" a sharp pain drove itself into Cyrus's abdomen, the pain bringing his thoughts into sharp focus. His stomach clenched and Cyrus found himself involuntarily spewing up a warm liquid. It burned his throat mildly and tasted like a mix of bile and the irony taste of blood. It seemed to take forever for the flood of the slimy substance(puke?) to finish being expelled, Cyrus just then realizing how taught and full his stomach had been before. Cyrus pushed himself off the ground wrinkling his nose in disgust at the slime, what the hell was it that had just come out of his stomach? He wiped his face off and looked at his hand, but of course, it was pitch dark and he couldn't see the hand in front of his face. A deep seeded uneasiness began making itself known in Cyrus's heart. He looked around frantically, but couldn't see even a pinprick of light coming into wherever he was.

"H-hello? Is anyone else here with me?" Cyrus called out. He couldn't remember how he got here. Where was here anyways? He had been driving home and... he grabbed at his clothes, these weren't the ones he had left in. Unease was quickly turning into fear and he began to panic. "HELLO?! SOMEONE?! ANYONE?!" he yelled. His voice was a little gruff after puking Cyrus mused.

"Nng..." a small moan, a tiny voice. It was unmistakably a girl's voice. It sounded like she was waking up just like he had a few moments ago, minus the expelling of odd slime-puke. Cyrus crawled forward in the darkness, reaching out for the source of the noise. His fingers brushed smooth skin and he flinched back out of instinct, the light touch intimate. There was a sudden intake of breath from the girl and Cyrus heard her move about.

"Wh-where am I?" she mumbled as she woke. Her voice was light and young; it sounded like it belonged to a little girl. She had a light accent that Cyrus would've found mildly cute if he had spared it any attention.

"Oh you don't know either..." Cyrus slouched down, resting back down on his knees and closing his eyes.

"Wait who are you? Where are we?" the girl sounded surprisingly calm for the situation.

"Listen my name's Cyrus and I don't know what's going on either. Maybe if we could find a light switch or something we could-"

"Light switch? We're outside it's the middle of the day-" the girl suddenly paused and her hands went to her mouth, eyes wide, "Oh god your eyes I am sorry!"

"Heh, what do you mean my eyes," Cyrus's hand went up to his face...

Cyrus couldn't think he couldn't breathe he couldn't move, all his body and mind seemed able to do was keep pressing and poking his fingers into the place where his eyes were supposed to be. It couldn't be, it couldn't be. His brain just couldn't comprehend how his fingers could be occupying the same space his eyeballs were supposed to be. He was weeping violently but the fact barely registered in his mind.

"I c-can't- I'm- MY EYES! Uh- guh!" Cyrus could barely speak between his choking sobs. His stomach was beginning to clench and unclench painfully. He was going to puke again; he swore he was going to puke again as a crawling feeling slithered up his throat.

"P-please stop," the girl watched with wide, black eyes as Cyrus broke down in front of her, his movements becoming more frantic as he clawed at his face. She watched the panicking man and then looked back down at herself, tears welling in her own eyes. "Please stop Sir you're going to make me c-cry too," her voice was getting meeker and trembled with her effort to not break into tears as well.

Cyrus seemed not to hear her, he had curled over, his head nearly in his lap as he kneeled on the ground. Shuddering as he breathed and sobbed.

"PLEASE STOP MY FEET ARE GONE TOO AND I DON'T WANT TO CRY!" The girl finally half screamed.

Cyrus seemed to be shocked into his senses, and abruptly stopped sobbing. A few tears still dripped down his face, falling awkwardly as his empty sockets made the water pool oddly along the rims of his eyelids. He sniffled and abruptly wiped his face, turning away for a moment. "I'm sorry I"m sorry!" he said quickly rubbing his face and then turning back, "I didn't mean to- y-your feet? What's wrong?" Cyrus fidgeted for a moment and hesitantly reached out blindly towards the girl. She had been gripping her shorts so hard her knuckles were turning white. She looked up at Cyrus, smiled weakly, and released her shorts, transferring her grip to his hand instead. Cyrus seemed surprised for a second that she had taken his hand, and then felt another surprise as he realized how small her hand was.

"My legs just... stop at the ankle. There are bandages and I think they were surgically removed," she looked down at her thin leg. At the ankle they immediately tapered into a rounded point. The last third of her lower legs were carefully wrapped with hospital grade bandages. Her dark eyes flicked over the empty area where her feet should be and she set her jaw, looking down as her eyes began watering again. Her grip tightened on Cyrus's hand and she looked back at him, head lowered so she looked through her neatly cut bangs.

Cyrus felt a a twinge of guilt the way he had been acting and the overwhelming urge to keep the girl from crying like he had. He had been only thinking of himself, but the girl had been hurt too and he couldn't just sit here and cry. He felt the tears and despair pushing at him in his mind, but tried his best to push them down out of sight, quivering slightly still.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"It's not your fault," she replied, her voice still wavering with emotion. She sniffed once, and then fell silent, staring at the ground.

The silence lingered for several seconds. Cyrus realized suddenly he was still clasping the girl's hand. He blushed and dropped her hand, his own hands hiding back into the safety of his own lap. He felt his cheeks flush and he clasped his hands uncomfortably. The silence gave him a second to once again feel the full brunt of his blindness. He heard the wind now, blowing and whispering through the skeletons of buildings... but he couldn't even see the hands on his lap. Vaguely he though he smelled smoke carried on the wind. There was a tiny alien noise on the wind. A human voice... a scream? Cyrus tensed and tried to hear the sound again, but it didn't come. The girl didn't seem to have noticed it, at least not until a slightly closer scream sounded followed by the sound of howls and barking on the wind. This time the girl looked up wide eyes.

"I think we really ought to look at finding some other people... or a way out of wherever we are..." Cyrus said uneasily.

"It's a city..." the girl offered up with a meek smile of equal unease, "But I can't walk..."

"And I-" Cyrus didn't finish the sentence, squeezing his eyes shut and breathing deeply again. He wanted to help, he really wanted to help, but he suddenly felt so robbed of power, no memory of how he got here, a strange weariness in his bones, and his stomach still throbbed with pain every once in a while. He slumped down, curling down towards the ground again.

"Wait," the girl suddenly smiled, the first genuine smile she had given the whole time, "You be the legs and I'll be the eyes!"

"Huh?" Cyrus blinked, for a moment completing the thought.

"You can carry me and I'll help direct you," the girl sounded pleased with herself, but she hesitated, "That is if you want to..."

Cyrus couldn't help but give a small smile at the girl, despite the darkness around him constantly reminding him... "Oh course, I couldn't leave someone in need by themselves," Cyrus said softly. He straightened up and slowly got to his feet, knees and joints creaking slightly. Probably just something from waking up on the concrete he thought to himself. He approached the girl, bent down, paused, straightened again, bent down once more trying to get a different angle, but he wasn't sure how to approach picking the girl. There was the small sound of air being expelled from her nose, Cyrus recognized it after a second as the sound of a smile.

"Come here," she said reaching up from the ground and grabbing his hands with hers and guided them to her knees and back. Cyrus felt heat rise to his skin once again, and cautiously moved his hands to slightly better positions and hefted her up.

"Th-thanks," he said still blushing. He awkwardly arranged her in his arms, commenting, "You're so small!"

"Makes me lighter for you to carry at least," the girl said. She grabbed a piece of his shirt for support as he shifted her and added, "I'm sorry you have to do this..."

"Don't worry you're light like you said and it's just until we find someone who can help us. If we're in a city it can't be too long until we can find someone to take us home..." Cyrus said, giving a small smile downwards, hoping to comfort the girl.

"No I suppose not..." Cyrus felt her head pressed against his chest nod. He breathed deeply, and cautiously began inching forward, setting each foot slowly and blindly in front of the other, waiting for the girl to guide him further if needed...