Blinded in Chains

"Copper, do you remember your last name?"

I bit my lip from saying anything sarcastic in reply. Instead, I settled on the obvious statement. "Are you going to keep asking me the same three questions over and over again Doc? Can't you atleast change the order of the questions? It's getting pretty boring."

I could tell he was getting fed up with my remarks, but he didn't leave it present in his voice. "Yes Copper, I am going to ask you the same questions again and again until you remember the answers to them. Now, do you remember how old you are? Your birthday?"

I growled low in my throat, frusterated with all the questions. "Doctor, I didn't know yesterday morning, yesterday evening, nor yesterday night. I didn't know this morning, this afternoon, eight minutes ago, nor do I remember now. I doubt that is going to change within the next few minutes. So, how about a completely new question for once."

I heard him shuffle some paper agound before speaking again. "Alright. If that's how you want it to be then. Do you remember any hobbies you did? Anything at all like reading, skiing, biking, climbing...anything of the sort?"

I groan as I tried to think back. What the hell did I like to do? My head was spinning with a minegraine as images flashed through my head.

"Your always fucking reading those damn books Copper. What the fuck are you good for besides sitting on your ass all day long?" Chris shouted at me.

"I work fourteen hours a day, Chris. I read and write to relax, not that you would understand. Books are like my drug," I said with a sigh, turning the page of the latest romance vampire book I bought myself yesterday, and turning my ipod back up to blare in my ears.

I groaned as something in my head felt like it exploded. Little white flashes of light exploded behind my eyes and I clutched my head in pain.

"Copper? Copper, are you ok? What's wrong?" the doctor asked worried.

"Reading, writting, and music. I love to read and write stories while listening to loud music," I said in a rush.

"Copper, what just happened?" he asked again. "You clutched your head like you were having a seizure."

I gave a small smile and leaned back into the pillow behind me, exhausted from the little effort it took in remembering that. "I think I did have a seizure actually. I remembered Chris shouting at me while I was reading a book and listening to music."

I heard him take a deep breath before moving his papers around again. "I think that's all for now Copper. Why don't you lie back and try to rest a bit and I'll come back a little later to try again."

"I look forward to it Doctor," I said sarcastically.

He just gave a small laugh. "Very funny girl. Meanwhile when I'm gone, if you feel up to it, I would like you to try and open your eyes for a while. If you don't use the muscles frequently they will start to deteriorate and you might lose your sight perminantly."

"Anything for you, Kevorkian," I said with a grin. I even managed to open my eyes a small bit and attempted to roll them in a crazy fashion. The only reason I knew they were open was because I felt the strain on my eyelids as I held them open.

I heard the doctor laugh again. "Nice try Copper, but they are barely open and they didn't move at all. Keep trying though. It was a great effort."

I listened as he walked out of the room humming something under his breath before the door closed.

Finally. Alone at last. I sighed to myself in contentment as I pushed myself back on the bed, propping myself up on the pillows. I nuzzled my head into the pillow and managed to pulled the blanket up over me with my only good hand.

I layed there for hours, trying to look at the ceiling, windows, chairs...myself. Anything at all. All I was met with was darkness at every attempt. I finally got so frusterated that I lifted my hand up to my face and pulled my eyelid open. Still nothing. I repeated it with the other eye and again I was met with a vast darkness.

And I cried. Chris must really be pissed at me now. I won't be able to do anything that he asks me to do anymore. I won't even see him swing at me next time. He'll kill me if I can't see.

"Knock knock," a voice said in a happy tone.

I looked up towards the door, not that it did me any good. I quickly ducked my head and wipped my face free of tears before choking out, "Who's here?"

"It's Brian. I came back to see how you were doing and if you need anyth- why are you crying?"

His voice went from happy, to worried in less than a second. "I'm not crying. I'm just..uh... really hot," I lied.

I felt the bed sink down before two arms wrapped around my waist. "Please don't lie to me girl. I'm not that bad of a person to be lied to by a stranger."

That made me smile. "No, you don't seem like you are."

He shifted beside me until he was almost laying down beside me, pulling me down with him. I was half laying on the bed, half laying on his chest. His one arm was behind my shoulders while his other hand brushed at me face, wiping off the tears that I must have missed.

"Please tell me what's wrong girl. I promise not to laugh or anything," he whispered.

I shivered at the feel of his breath on my neck. He's probably an ax murderer and I'm sitting here feeling safe with him. I have finally lost my mind. "It's nothing," I lied again.

He sighed but didn't say anything. He was playing with my hair, gently twisting it around his fingers while I layed as still as I possibly could. I realized after a few seconds that I was holding my breath. But why? What was I expecting?

"Please tell me what's wrong girl. Your turning blue from holding that breath," he said with a small smile.

How do I know he is smiling? I wondered. I guess when you can't see, you realize that people's voices always portray their emotions.

I let out the breath I was holding and bit my lip. "He's going to kill me when I get out of here."

I felt the bed start to shake as he let out a soft laugh. "He isn't going to be doing much of anything for a very long time girl. I promise you that."

He sounded so sure of himeself. I wanted to believe him, but what did he know? He didn't know Chris, nor did he know anything about me. "You don't understand Brian. You couldn't possibly know that."

I felt him move his head to look at me, his breath was leaving goosebumps on my neck. He was so close. Hips lips grazed the soft flesh by my ear as he spoke. "I promise you, he isn't doing anything for a very long time. He's been taken care of for you."

I sat up so suddenly, the weight left the bed beside me. I heard a thump, followed by a groan as I realized I must have pushed him off the bed. Good, I thought. I don't want this psycho anywhere near me. What the hell is he talking about anyways? What does he mean by saying Chris was taken care of? Did he kill Chris?

"What the hell was that about?" he asked.

"Get away from me you lunatic," I almost shouted with hysteria. "What the hell did you do? Kill Chris?"

"What?" he asked. His voice sounded almost flustered. "Why the hell would you think I killed him? I said he's been taken care of, not that he's been taken out."

I pushed back on the bed until my back hit the wall. "What did you do to my boyfriend?"

"I just-" I flinched away from him as I heard his voice get closer to me. He stopped moving. "I, that is to say we, went and had a little talk with him. He didn't view things our way so we had to knock some sense into him. That's it. He's still breathing and alive."

That didn't really set my nerves at ease. "We, as in the other four of you I assume. How did you find out who he was? And where he lives? And what exactly did you all do to him? What did you go there to talk about to begin with?" A million questions flew through my head, but only half of them made it out of my mouth.

I heard him sigh before a chair scrapped along the floor. I assume he sat down on it instead of trying to sit by me again. "We wanted to teach him a lesson. It isn't ok to beat the shit out of a girl, so we showed him what it felt like."

I felt my face get more blank. "You bet him up?"

"We bet him up," he corrected me.

I bit my lip as new thought cross my mind. " You really shouldn't have done that Brian. He's going to freak out on me now and it will just get worse. He'll never stop doing it now," I said as tears started to fall again.

Hands suddenly grabbed me by the arms, almost crushing my fragile arms in his grasp. "No," he said roughly. "No he won't hurt you. He'll never touch you again."

His grip loosened on my arms, one remaining on my shoulder and one brushing the hair out of my face. "I swear it girl. If he so much as looks at you ever again, he won't ever take another breath."

I shook my head violently, tears streaming from my closed eyes. "He'll never leave me alone. Never. Never. Never! NEVER. Nev-" I was freaking out and I knew it. I couldn't stop that one thought from my mind.

He tried to shoot me once for trying to break up with him. He'll kill me for this now.

"Girl, stop already! Please, look at me," he begged.

It was such a morbid request that I actually did stop saying "never" and started to give a sardonic laugh. "Look at me girl. Look at me girl. I'M FUCKING BLIND AND YOU WANT ME TO LOOK AT YOU?!"

"Then stop spazzing and listen to me already!" he half shouted at me. I guess I deserved it though. After all, I did just shout at him. "I know you can't see right now, but that doesn't mean you won't in a few days or weeks. I swear on my fucking life that Chris won't ever lay another hand on you!"

I couldn't help but laugh at his stupidity. "Brian, you said you were there that night, that means you saw what he's like. He'll never leave me alone and he will kill me for this. He couldn't beat me to death so he left me to be electricuted in a freak accident. He could have pulled me out with him but he didn't."

"I know," he agreed. "But I pulled you out atleast. Doesn't that count as something?"

At that moment, I sooo wanted to be able to see his face. He sounded like a little kid, waiting to see if he was to be rewarded, or punished for his deeds. I tried to look at his face, opening my eyes so he would see that I waas trying to be serious. "It counts a whole lot Brian. Are you really the one who pulled me out?"

"Yes."

I nodded my head. "Noone told me who it was. I just assumed all of you saw it and called 911 and then they pulled me out."

"Well, now you know that it was me," he said, still sounding sad.

"You shouldn't have done that Brian," I scolded. "You could have been killed along with me."

I felt soft lips on the side of my face before he pulled back. "I think it was worth it. Now," he said, sounding more upbeat. "I have to get going yet again. I'll stop back later to see you, yes?"

"Yeah," I agreed.

****************Brian's POV******************************

"Mr. Haner?"

I turned around to face the doctor once I shut the door of her room. He was standing with his clipboard in one hand and a pen in the other, staring intently at me. "Yes doctor?"

The doctor frowned at me. I got nervous. Was he going to ask me to stop comming here to see her? Did I do something wrong? Was he going to tell me something was wrong with her?

"Is there something wrong?"

The doctor pushed his glasses up farther on his nose. "I was going to ask you a favor, if you'd agree."

"Sure."

I watched as he flipped through all of the papers in his hands before stopping at the last page. "I was going to suggest trying to help our young lady in there. She needs to learn to use her eyes again. As you may have noticed, she refuses to talk with her eyes opened, therefore, her eyes are starting to lose their functioning abilities."

I didn't get it. "So you want me to ask her to talk with her eyes opened, even though she can't see anything?"

"Precisely."

I nodded. "Um, ok then. Anything else? How's she doing?"

He flipped back a few pages and scanned the sheet. "She's as good as can be expected considering the extent of her injuries. Her body is healing very well, but I'm afraid her mind is still fragmented."

He shut the papers before looking up at me sternly. "I would ask you another favor, but I don't know exactly how far your willing to go to help her."

I smiled. "I'll do whatever I can to help."

He frowned. "Mr. Haner, I know what you do for a living, but I still feel like I shouldn't ask you to do this."

"Do what? Money isn't really a problem," I said smiling. I'll do anything to help this girl.

He gave me a stern look. "I would ask you to buy her some books in brail or audio cassettes. She needs to start reading again and doing things she used to enjoy."

"I can do that," I said, already thinking of where I could buy some books and what type she might enjoy. "Anything else?"

"Music," he said. "She loves to listen to music. Really loud music," he added after a minute.

I watched him give me a smile and walk back down the hall, entering into the next room. I shook my head, amused at his antics. I can pull this off. But where to start first? Music, or books?

I walked out of the hospital and put my sunglases back on. Thankfully noone noticed who I am yet. But it will happen sooner or later. And then I won't be able to come visit her anymore,I thought sadly.

What to buy first? I walked into the mall, hoodie pulled up over my head and sunglasses on my face. Music or books? Definantly music. I thought with amusement. And I know the first LOUD cd I'm going to buy her.