[Fiction] Throwback Thursday: Circum

This one was written in 30 July 2008, originally posted in my “Short Stories Inspired by my Dreams” blog.

I got comments that the title was a spoiler, so try not to think about it too much while reading this.

Circum

Meet Matthew, twenty five years old and blind since birth.

Because his relatives have no patience in taking care of a blind adult, he lives in a foster home - a place where the blind are finally taken care of, funded by a pity subsidy from the government. He has two friends, Jake and Oscar, both of whom are victims of a factory disaster that either killed the employees working there, or left them blind, or deaf, or worse, psychologically damaged.

Take for a fact Ness, a thirty-something orphan who lived in that foster home since she was a child. She's not blind, so she serves as one of the caretakers. She was at the factory when it exploded, visiting a flirt-mate who eventually died in the tragedy. That left Ness somewhat damaged. Not physically, since she hadn't arrived at the factory yet, but emotionally. Mentally.

And then there's Arthur. Blind by choice, as they say. He purposely blinded himself twelve years ago as a sign of repentance. He was driving the family car one night, drunk, with his little sister and two parents in tow. While crossing a dark, narrow bridge, his hands shook uncontrollably, and the car fell of the road and into a flowing river. He never admitted he was drunk, but on his sister's wake, he finally sought his parents' forgiveness, before running towards nowhere, unluckily into the chemical factory right before it exploded.

While most of Matthew's friends were somehow related to the factory, Matthew wasn't. But this wasn't the only difference. Unlike his friends, he has never seen anything in his life. Ever since he could remember, everything was black. While his friends oftentimes tried frantically to describe the things Matthew is missing, no one has actually made Matthew imagine the unimaginable. That would change today.

From a faraway land, a rich businessman was visiting the foster home. Curiously, his name was also Matthew, Matt for short.

He talked to most residents about what they want and need so he could make a donation. Upon talking to Matthew, however, his interests turned.

Matthew told him his story. He was born from well-off parents. His father was an inventor, having invented the "perpetual electric fan", among others. His mother was a genius herself, but for love's sake, remained a housewife. They made a living, big big living, inventing and selling patents. His father's goal was to one day invent something that would cure blindness - a long shot, but one that would has forever inspired him.

One day, while on a family trip, their family car collided with a huge ten-wheeler head-on, the front of their vehicle completely crushed. Matthew, seated comfortably at the backseat, tucked nicely with seatbelts on, suffered only minor injuries. His parents never made it out of the car.

Matthew's opportunistic relatives sold everything his family owned, then, with no one wanting to take care of the orphan, all decided to "donate" the blind child to the institution he is currently in. The foster home, at first, wanted to file charges against the poor child's relatives, but, they thought, his relatives could easily retrieve the child and transfer him to another orphanage, or worse, kill him altogether. They thought he was safest under their roofs.

Matthew narrated all this without sad emotions, as objective as possible. He knew the past is the past, and he was actually lucky considering what else might have happened to him. He was just happy to be alive, breathing, and telling his story, and could think of nothing else but how he could repay everyone who helped him.

When the visitor, Matt, finally asked him what he wanted, Matthew, at first, answered comically sarcastic, as though Matt already knew the answer. Of course he did. What else does a blind man want?

"To see?" He said, testing how the person he is talking to would respond.

There was silence at first, but soon he could hear Matt talking to the foster home's head, Mr. Alvarez. Then, he could hear Mr. Alvarez himself talking to him.

"Matthew, my boy, today is your lucky day! A gentleman here, Matt, would like to take you with him on a short trip."

He didn't really have much of a choice. After some maids dressed him up, he was off with a stranger to nowhere. He fell asleep during the trip, and only woke up when he felt a cool fresh breeze. Seeing the young child move, Matt anticipated his question.
"We are atop the tallest mountain in our neighbourhood. Nowhere far, mind you, so you don't have to worry."

With a deep yawn, Matthew cleared his throat, before giving a courteous half-smile.

"We are here to enjoy nature," Matt says. "You don't have to see anything to appreciate what life has to offer."

Somehow these words fail to comfort the obviously annoyed Matthew.

"Has anybody told you how nice the town looks from up here?"

He simply shook his head.

"There's mister Alfred, the ice cream vendor, trying to keep flies away from his products. Oh, and there's your friend Arthur, playing hide and seek with Jake and Oscar. There's Nessa, trying to..."

"You're lying. You can't play hide and seek when you're blind."

"You are correct. And you can't see anybody from atop a hill, either."

Somehow, it caught Matthew's attention. Here's someone finally telling him something new, what you can't see. All his life, he always thought he couldn't see anything because he was blind, and conversely, everyone not blind can see everything.

"What can you see from up here then?" He finally asked.

Matt smiled first. Not that it mattered anyway. "Trees. Some rooftops. The roads. Some cars. From here, people look like ants."

Ants? Matthew knew what ants are, of course, and how small they are. Suddenly a picture formed within his mind of treetops and roofs, with roads, probably land without trees. Then moving along roads were small ants shaped like humans, and ants riding boxy vehicles called cars.

"Towards the horizon you could see the sun slowly trying to set."

Matthew always wondered what the sun looked like. He knew how it felt like, but not how it looked.

"It looks like a small coin stuck in the sky," the image instantly being painted into Matthew's picture." Today is also partly cloudy, so you could see clouds here and there. They're just like cotton in the skies."

Matthew felt he had a perfect picture now, so he thanked Matt for his nice gift. Matt himself was teary eyed, especially when he saw young Matthew with a wide, genuine smile across his face. But the picture he had was far from perfect, and Matt contemplated for a while if he needed to reveal this to the boy.

"It would be nicer with colors," Matt suddenly said.

Colors. That would certainly be a complete stranger to Matthew.

"Aside from the lines and curves that form your picture, you also have to fill them with something. And that something isn't always the same," said Matt, who was seemingly aware of his mind picture. But what came next was the big surprise.

"Matt, my boy. I cannot make you see right now, but I can help you feel what it feels like to see. I cannot fix your eyes today, but more often than not, what is impossible today is common tomorrow. Don't give up just because today sucks. If you feel you're at your lowest today, be happy. At least you're sure that tomorrow would definitely be better."

Matthew, being called Matt for the first time in his life, nodded and smiled. "Help me, then."

Matt spent the next few hours until sunset describing to Matthew what red, or blue, or green looks like. Red is how heat looks like, he said, with blue being the opposite. Black is nothing, while white is everything. Somehow Matthew was able to understand how colors complete the picture, and though he couldn't see a single one of these colors, he loved how they might look like.

Matthew would never meet Matt again after that day, or so he thought. A few years later, Jake and Oscar would completely rehabilitate and start their own business elsewhere. Arthur and Ness marry, and lived happily abroad.

A few years more, a wealthy couple sent an anonymous donation to Matthew, who now wants everyone to call him Matt after his idol. Deep inside, he knew the couple was Arthur and Ness. He used the money to invest on a breakthrough scientific operation, which completely repaired his once-worthless eyeballs. He could now, for the very first time, see!

He looked at himself in the mirror, and somehow he saw someone familiar. He knew he remembered his close friends, his parents, and everyone that helped him get to where he was. Then he wrote a letter to his donor and sent it to all publications, websites, and magazines, telling them of his story.

A few months after, Jake, Oscar, Arthur, and Ness visited Matt's abode. He was now a budding scientist, just like his father. He thanked Arthur and Ness deeply for their donation, but was shocked to find out that the money actually came from Jake and Oscar, who were now wedded from another country, where gay marriage was allowed.

The four were pestering Matt to leave Bohol, but he was hesitant to leave his native hometown. He loved its tradition, its culture, and now, its scenic views and Chocolate Hills. He loved one hill, in particular, the tallest one, and called it "Hope".

About a decade later, Matt, now a wealthy businessman after the success of his inventions, attempted building the device everyone has been craving for - a time machine.

He had always said that further modifications on his device will always be possible, and that no one should ever say that it is what it is and nothing else. He believed that, whatever it was today, tomorrow, it will always be better. Despite its lack of interest and market, Matt finished the first and only prototype, and was the only one eager to try it.

The first attempts by other scientists were disasters. One, they say, landed along the sidewalk and got run-over by a ten-wheeler, which lost control and caused an accident. The other one, even more tragic, caused an explosion in a factory that left many people workless or dead. The problem each of the devices, including Matt's, had was controlling where and when the device would land. This was why no one but Matt himself was willing to try it.

So, bringing only Dollars and Euros since he didn't know where he'd land, he stepped in and pushed the transport button. From inside the machine, everything in his life flashed before him. Finally, he landed... Somewhere.

As he stepped out of his machine, he saw something quite familiar - a foster home. Inside were children eager to meet the new visitor. He talked to each one and asked them what they wanted, so he could make a donation.

And finally, the inevitable came - he met himself.

(Go to start)