Prologue

Two years since the accident that tore them apart, siblings Thomas and Dawn Rayos must live with one another out of convenience. Will their time bring them together or drive them apart?

                “Why did you do this to me? I hate you! I don’t want to see…” I remember my little sister crying out, cursing me over and over. I wanted to give her a little show. She loved fireworks on the Fourth of July so I got some from that stand they set up in the shopping center. The power outage caused the show to cancel, so Kurt and I wanted to cheer her up.

Tears running down her cheeks as her world went black in an instant, she caught herself, knowing the twisted irony of her words. “Don’t ever come near me again! Go far away! Go! Go away! I hate you, I hate you, I f*****g hate you!” she screamed over and over, pounding my chest as she writhed in my arms. She never cursed before.

What have I done?

The sound of screeching tires tore my eyes from my sister. It was my father’s car. He saw what happened. I remember him picking my sister up from her wheelchair and rushing her to the hospital with me and my friend Kurt in tow. My father probed the three of us for answers all the way to the hospital. I barely remember the car trip but me and Kurt blaming each other all the way to the building.

My father accompanied her as the nurses rushed her in, consoling her all the way into the emergency room, demanding we stayed outside. I remember staying in the hospital for hours, as if the Devil slowed time down to mock us. Kurt, in all his tact, tried to levy the blame on me. He wanted to absolve himself from our crime. The little Chihuahua nipping at my heels that was once my friend became my enemy that night, even though I was at fault that night. I bought those fireworks. Kurt knew something was going to happen as neither of us knew anything about setting off fireworks. I wanted to do them in our yard since she loved the azaleas my dad always planted in memory of our mother, who would carry my little sister in her arms as the fireworks painted the sky on every Fourth of July.

When the nurse came out of the room with a downtrodden face, I saw the doctors consoling my father, who was on the floor crying. I remember him crying like that when my mother died in that car accident. I prayed in my mind for the first time in my life. Maybe Dawn would get her sight back in maybe a few weeks? Maybe I could make it up to her somehow. Like when she gets her sight back I’ll take her to the beach again. She couldn’t walk, with her born paraplegic and all, but we could tour Broadway on the Beach again like always. No, this wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be happening. Not to her.

“I’m sorry. Our surgeons will be able to stop the pain but,” she spoke  “Even with surgery, she’ll be blind for the rest of her life. I’m sorry, but there’s nothing we can do.”

 “Why did you do this to me?”  For the rest of her life. “I hate you!” Blind. “Don’t come near me again!” Nothing they could do.

“I f*****g hate you!”

With those last words hammering my mind like a mantra pounding intently in tandem to my swelling heart, I broke down.

I cried, and I just couldn’t stop.

Author's Note

The inspiration came from doing some writing exercises I found on the web. Naturally, this popped out of my head. Suggestions for improvement, comments, and criticism are all welcome.