Sarah's Trust

After the first attempt at leaving the house, Sarah realised that she wasn't quite ready to leave the safety of the walls surrounding her. She opted not to tell either of her parents about her going out into the street, instead deciding that she would just put it behind her for the next few weeks until she felt confident enough to even attempt to go out by herself again. Of course, she didn't know whether it would even be in a few weeks' time or whether it would be in a few months' time. She was fairly confident with getting around in the house, and that was with the shapes that her father had stuck onto the walls for her to feel to find her way to certain rooms, but going outside she would be exposed to anything and everything with no help if she ended up getting lost. That was one thing she found herself despising about the outdoors.

The day after she left the house, her mother gave her school books that were in Braille and helped her get used to the feel of the words so that Sarah could work on her education while both her parents were out. It was something Sarah thought would be a good idea because then she would be occupied for most of the day so she wouldn't want to try and attempt to go out again.

Because her mother worked Tuesdays and Thursdays, Sarah found herself home alone again the following day. She had her books downstairs and she was sat at the table in the sitting room, focusing on reading the Braille writing. She thought she was already getting the hang of reading despite only just starting, but she didn't want to think about how long it would take her to learn to write again properly. Since losing her sight, Sarah had come to realise just how much every day things such as writing relied upon vision heavily. She wouldn't never be able to write again, but she would have to learn to write without being able to see what she was writing and whether or not she was correct. It's one thing to write without looking at the page when you have vision freely, but it's a completely different thing when you only see light sources which don't help when it comes to writing.

Just after midday, there was a knock at the door. Sarah stayed where she was when she heard it, only moving to get up when the person knocked again. She slowly made her way over to the door, and keeping the chain on, she opened the door as wide as it could do.

"Hello?" she greeted.

"Hi, Sarah. It's Embry," the boy said. He was stood right close to the door frame and was hoping that this would go well.

Sarah frowned slightly, wondering why the boy whom she had met just a few days ago was knocking at her door. "Can I help you with something?" she asked him hesitantly.

"Actually I want to help you, Sarah," he started and she shook her head.

"I'm not a pity case."

"I know, you said. When we met you weren't too sure about being outside, and I want to help you with that."

She was confused about what he was saying. He wanted to help her cope with being outside even though they had only met once? Before she would have been weary of someone doing something like that, but now she wouldn't even contemplate something like that. She couldn't trust people because she couldn't see whether she thought they were genuine or not.

"Why would you want to do that? We've barely met," she told him.

He shrugged. He'd had a feeling she might bring that up, and he didn't blame her for doing so, but he just wished she didn't. "Chivalry’s not dead, Sarah," he said.

She found that comment slightly amusing but kept a straight face. "I'm not going outside, Embry. I can't."

Her words made him tilt his head slightly in confusion. He figured that she could go outside but instead didn't want to because of some reason. A part of him reasoned it because of having no sight, but another part of him argued that something like that shouldn't make her feel like she couldn't do anything. "I won't let anything happen to you, if that's what you're worried about with being outside," he told her truthfully.

In all honesty, Sarah found herself a bit weary of his persistence to spend time with her. She didn't get why someone would be like that, especially to her. Before she would have liked someone being like this, but because of the accident leaving her blind, she was worried that people would take pity on her and want to hang out with her just because of that. After all, she didn't go to school so it wasn't like she knew a lot of people around the reservation.

"I'm sorry, I can't go outside," she said once more before closing the door and turned to go back into the sitting room. However, she found herself lingering, and after almost a minute had gone by, she sighed and took the chain off the door, opening it wider than last time. She knew he was still there because she could hear slight movement of his feet, almost like he was shifting from one foot onto the other. "You can come in, though."

Sarah stepped away from the door and let Embry into the house. She closed the door behind him and secured the chain like always.

"Why'd you do that?" she heard him ask as she turned away from the door, grasping the cane she had rested next to the door.

"Security. I've been feeling a bit paranoid since losing my sight so I like being locked in because then I feel like nothing can get me," she explained as she started towards the sitting room.

Embry followed after her, looking around the place and noticing there were different shapes stuck on the wall in different places. He found himself realising just how being blind must have brought on a lot of change in Sarah's life. He knew she lived with her parents so he figured that the shapes had been put up by one of them so that she could get around easier, and he could tell that the cane wasn't something she was too used to using even though she could use it effectively.

They got into the sitting room and Sarah headed towards the table that held her books. She didn't quite know why she had invited him in because there wasn't much they could do, and the fact that she didn't know him also cropped up, but she figured that she might as well put her work away for the time being and work on it whenever he left. She didn't realise he had followed her over to the table until she had begun to gather the papers and one brushed her hand as it was picked up.

"You're in school?" he asked and she nodded in reply. "Do you go to the reservation's school?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm home-schooled."

"Is that to do with...?" He didn't need to finish his sentence because she knew what he had meant.

"No, I haven't been to an actual school since I was nine."

He nodded and gave her the paper he had picked up, watching as she collected the rest and then began to move down the hallway. He watched as she felt along the walls and touched the shapes that told her which way to go. She turned into a room and disappeared for a minute or so before coming back without the papers in her hands. Embry knew that the only reason she had let him in was because he had been persistent at the door, and he was okay with that because he knew that there was no other way he would be able to get to know her unless he was persistent. Especially now that he knew that she was home-schooled.

Sarah got back into the sitting room and sat on the sofa, feeling Embry join her a minute later. Truth be told, she wasn't too thrilled with the idea of him being in her house, but she'd become a bit lonely recently, especially because she hadn't become friends with anyone before the accident. All she had was her mother and father for company when they didn't work, and sure that was great at times, but she needed to talk with someone her age.

"Why did you come here today, Embry? And don't give me that 'chivalry’s not dead' speech because I don't believe it," she asked him straight up.

"I wanted to get to know you since I helped you back to your house," he told her.

"And why do you want to know me?"

He gave a short laugh. "Not everything has an answer, Sarah. I can't explain why I wanted to get to know you; I just did."

"Oh," she muttered to herself.

Embry kept the conversation going for a bit, wanting to get to know her even more but having to make do with short answers that she was reluctant to tell him. He was going to get her to trust him, but he knew it'd take time. He just didn't know how long.