Blinded

Chapter 3

Brian leaned back on his bed. He was exhausted. He still didn't have all his strength back from the mugging and being in a coma. This was his first day in rehab for his blindness and he had learned so much. But it had taken a lot out of him. Everything required so much concentration without his eyesight. He couldn't believe how difficult the simplest things could be.

However, Brian was rather proud of himself. With the help of Martin, his rehab therapist, Brian had trained himself to find his way around his room. He had learned the clock method dealing with food on a plate. He could feel a tiny bit good about himself. He was self-sufficient as long as he stayed in this room and someone brought him his food and told him where each item of it was situated on the plate. He let out a long breath. Who the fuck was he kidding? He was a helpless, pathetic, lonely, blind man.

"Mr. Kinney," Janet said. "Are you awake?" He had learned that she was the receptionist/secretary/scheduler at the rehab center and not a nurse. Her manner really rubbed him the wrong way.

"If I wasn't before, I would be now. What is it?" Brian asked with a sigh.

"I have someone here who is doing some community service and I decided you would be a good candidate to assign him to."

"Community service? Assign him … to me?" Brian asked. He couldn't figure out what was going on.

"Yes," Janet said brusquely. "Go introduce yourself," she said to someone else.

That person cleared their throat and a hesitant voice said, "Um … hello, Mr. Kinney. I … I'm … um … my name is … um … Justin Taylor."

"I don't care who the fuck you are, I don't want you here. Go away." Brian turned his head and faced the wall away from the door. He was sure that should get his message across clearly. He didn't want anyone around him.

"But…"

"There is no fucking but. Get out!" Brian growled. He didn't need some stupid, incoherent adolescent hovering around him and making fun of him behind his back.

"But I have to do this. The court said so," Justin pleaded.

"Go tell the court to fuck itself, and then find someone else to irritate."

"But…"

"Get . Out . Now!" Brian yelled punctuating each word.

The silence and emptiness told him that he had gotten rid of his unwelcome visitor. If he could see, he would fucking kill that fucking Janet, bringing fucking strangers in here to fucking stare at him and pity him. If he wouldn't allow his fucking friends to see him, he wasn't going to allow fucking total strangers in. Brian lay back down and closed his eyes. He could still scare people, even if he was blind. He had kind of enjoyed driving the kid away. He sounded like an idiot anyway.

"Mr. Kinney?" the same soft male voice said.

"Are you fucking back?" Brian roared. "What part of 'get out' didn't you understand?"

"I understood all parts of it perfectly well," Justin said forcefully. He was going to have to deal with this asshole, and he wasn't going to take being ordered around.

"Then why the fuck are you still here?"

"I have to do this community service, and Janet says she won't assign me to anyone else. So you're stuck with me, and I guess I'm stuck with you."

"Well I'm not fucking doing community service, and I refuse to be stuck with you."

"I … I don't think you're in any position to refuse," Justin said rather condescendingly. He was getting sick of this asshole.

"That's what you think, is it?" Brian rumbled.

"Yes."

"Well," Brian began suddenly feeling the hopelessness of it all. "You're probably fucking right. I can't do anything for myself. I can't even kick you out and have it stick."

Justin chuckled and Brian thought that he liked the sound of that. "So, can we call a truce and I can stay?" Justin asked.

"Can you stay out of my way?"

"But I'm supposed to help you."

"For how long?"

"40 hours."

"That's less than two days," Brian observed. "So if I let you hang around for two days, then we'll both be free."

Justin let out a large sigh. "It doesn't work like that. I'm supposed to do an hour a day for forty days."

"I'm stuck with you for forty days!" Brian demanded.

Justin nodded and then he realized that Brian couldn't see him. "Looks that way."

"Didn't it rain for forty days and forty nights before the great flood? I think the end must be near."

Justin laughed out loud and Brian liked that sound even better than the chuckle. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad having this kid around. In fact, he thought of something the kid could actually help him with.

"How old are you?" Brian asked.

"Um … twenty-one." Justin didn't know why he lied about his age, but he wanted to impress this man.

"Really?" Brian asked sarcastically. The kid sounded about fourteen.

"Twenty," Justin said tentatively.

"Yeah?"

"Nineteen."

"Right!"

"Eighteen."

"What is this, a missile launch?" Brian asked with a chuckle. That was the first time he'd had any inclination to laugh or enjoy himself or crack a joke. Maybe this kid could be a good thing.

"Okay, so I'm seventeen, but I'll be eighteen in a few months."

"Can you drive?"

"Yeah?"

"Good. Sit down. I need to find out a bit about you."

"You do?" Justin asked as he moved over to the chair and sat down. He figured he better take whatever this man was willing to give. He had to do his community service and it looked like he had to do it with this guy. Besides, once the black eyes went away, Justin could envision how handsome a man Brian must be. Then he chastised himself for thinking that way. "Does this mean that I can stay?"

"We'll see."

"So what do you want to know?"

"What did you do to get into this mess?"

"I … um … I …"

"Don't fucking lie to me. I'll know by the sound of your voice."

"I got caught with some pot."

Brian chuckled. "That's all? And they gave you forty hours?"

"Yeah."

"Why are you here?"

"I told you, to do my community service."

"I heard that the first time. I want to know why you're here in the rehab building, here with a … blind man, here with me."

"Oh, because my mother suggested it. She volunteers sometimes at the hospital."

"Do you always do what mommy tells you?" Brian asked with a sneer.

"When it suits me," Justin said with a huff and with more bravado than he felt.

"Were you dealing?" Brian asked suddenly.

"You mean drugs?" Justin asked in horror. "Fuck, no!"

"Good," Brian said relieved to hear that Justin had got himself in just a little trouble. "Can I trust you to do something for me?"

"Of course," Justin said quickly. He liked that this man was going to trust him.

"All right, listen carefully," Brian began. "I'm going to give you the keys to my apartment. I want you to go there and get me some clothes and shaving gear and some of my special soap and my shampoo."

"Whoa, wait a minute," Justin interrupted. "I need to write this down." He opened his backpack which held his sketchbook and his ID that he had brought in with him. He found a pad of paper and a pen. "Ready," he said.

Brian gave him the long list of things he had been longing for from the loft. He gave specific instructions of where to find them. He asked Justin to pick up his mail and bring it to him. Maybe he could get Martin to read some of the important letters to him. He also wanted his laptop from his desk. Justin wondered how this man planned to use some of this stuff, but it wasn't his place to question what he wanted.

"So, can you do that without stealing anything from me?" Brian asked.

"Jee-zus," Justin reacted. "I'm not a fucking thief."

"I certainly hope not. You better be back here in two hours or I'm calling the police."

"I'll try," Justin said hesitantly.

"What do you mean, you'll 'try'? It should be easy to drive to the loft and return with these things in two hours."

"I … I can drive but I took the bus here from school. I don't have a car."

"Fuck!" Brian said. That blew his whole plan.

"But I can take the bus and go there. It may take me a little longer than two hours to get back, that's all," Justin explained.

Brian hesitated but he wanted his own soap and shampoo, not the awful detergent they gave him when he had a shower. "Can you make it in three hours?"

"I think so," Justin said.

Brian scrabbled around in the drawer of the nightstand and found his keychain. Thank God they hadn't stolen that. He handed the keys to Justin. "Then go, and … thanks."

Justin smiled to himself. "I'll be back as soon as I can," Justin said as he hurried out the door cramming the list into his pocket.

-----

Brian thought about this young man, kid, teenager, who had suddenly appeared. He seemed nice enough, but Brian didn't really want anyone around. Maybe he could get rid of him once he had outlived his usefulness, if he played his cards right.

Brian slid down in the bed trying to visualize what Justin Taylor might look like. He had such a soft, captivating voice until he got riled up. Brian smiled to himself. He wondered if one, Justin Taylor, might be gay. He had a few mannerisms that might lead one to think so. It might be interesting to play with him a bit before he got rid of him. Brian felt his eyes close and then he was asleep.

"Mr. Kinney."

"Huh, what? Who's there?" Brian came awake with a start and rubbed carefully at his still sore eyes.

"I'm the night nurse, Amanda Strang," said a female voice.

"Yes?"

"I'll be looking after you tonight," she said in a soft somewhat suggestive voice.

Brian felt her pick up his hand and assumed that she was going to take his pulse. However, her other hand rubbed the back of his wrist and his forearm. "What are you doing?" Brian asked feeling very strange about this turn of events.

"Getting to know you," the woman replied in that suggestive voice. Brian quickly pulled his hand away. Amanda sighed. "Let me get you situated for the evening. Your meal was delivered while you were asleep."

"What time is it?"

"Six-thirty."

Brian wondered how long Justin had been gone. Surely he should be back soon. "I'm not hungry," Brian said wanting this woman to go away.

"You have to eat to regain your strength," Amanda stated. "I bet you're quite the looker when the bruises all go away."

"Bruises?" Brian asked. He knew his ribs were very sore, but what was she talking about.

"You have two very black eyes, but I can see that they're starting to change color so they should be back to normal before long."

Brian absorbed this information. He knew his eyes were sore but he had thought that was because of the pressure that was making him blind. He must look like a fucking raccoon with two shiners. Shit! And he thought he had impressed Justin Taylor. The kid must think he was a fucking freak. It was a bloody wonder the boy hadn't run away in fear of his grotesque looks.

Amanda finished setting up his meal on the tray that slid across his bed. She described what the tray contained telling him where each item was positioned. At least she did that part of her job efficiently.

"I don't want it," Brian grumbled.

"Perhaps you'd like me to feed you, my pretty," Amanda suggested. She stroked his arm again.

Brian flinched and pulled away from the unwanted touch. "I'm gay," he said bluntly trying to put an end to this nonsense right away.

"That's what they all say," Amanda snorted.

"Jesus Christ," Brian thought to himself. "Does she pull this crap with all her patients?"

Amanda adjusted Brian's bed and he could hear her unwrapping the cutlery that came with his dinner.

"I can feed myself," Brian said quickly. "Give me the fork."

Amanda handed him the fork. He could tell she was standing beside the bed waiting. He took a bite of the potatoes. "You can go now," he said.

"I'll be back in a bit," she promised. "Maybe you would like a sponge bath."

Brian felt the mashed potatoes turn to concrete in his mouth. The last thing he wanted was Nurse Skank with her hands all over his body.

When Brian managed to eat a bit of his dinner and keep it down, he closed his eyes and dozed once more. He wondered why Justin hadn't come back yet. It was hard to know how long the boy had been gone, but surely it must be three hours. He hoped nothing had happened to him. The kid better fucking not be robbing him. But somewhere deep inside Brian was sure that Justin would never do that to him. Something about the young man had made Brian trust him as soon as he told him what he had to serve his community service for. He didn't think Justin would rip him off.

"Ready for that sponge bath now?" Amanda's attempt at a sultry voice asked.

"I don't need a bath," Brian responded. "I'll have a shower in the morning."

"Suit yourself," said a disappointed Amanda. "Shall we get you ready for bed?"

"What time is it?"

"Eight-fifteen."

"Shit!" Brian reacted. Justin should have been back by now. What was he going to do?

"Would you like to sit up for awhile?" Amanda asked taking hold of Brian's arm.

"I can do it myself," Brian snapped pulling away from her. He quickly slid his legs off the bed and got his bearings. Four steps along the side of the bed and three over to the chair. He negotiated the distance until he felt the chair brush against his leg. He turned and sat down. The next thing he knew Nurse Skank was draped around his neck rearranging his shirt, brushing out imaginary wrinkles and illicitly rubbing her palms across his breasts.

"What the fuck is going on here?" said a voice from behind them.