Blindfolded (AJ)

[Zelda & Erik Crones-McKinley]

It had recently dawned on Erik that he might have the potential to be a natural painter. At lunch Erik had announced this to Zelda, along with his plan to go to the studio once they finished eating. They were new here and Zee still had all but her bed sheets to unpack. They had no pressing expectations and Zelda wasn't up to meeting new people right away. Returning to the room probably meant a real interaction with their roommate. It’s hard for her to explain to others about her stutter and she wasn’t quite ready for it. Just this morning, they had been talking to school officials about moving in. She had passed her confortable stutter quota for the day. So painting it was. However, the studio was filled with a class. Erik gave up on his dream of being a world-renown oil painter.

“We… should go h-,” Zelda got stuck on her last word but Erik spoke “home” without realizing. Almost instantly she regretted saying this. Erik tried to hide it but Zelda could feel his pain clench her chest. Erik crossed his arms in defense and stood facing away from Zee.

The two remained like this for a few minutes. Zee drew her fingernails against the floor in boredom. “Ww-what now?”

“Train.” Erik sat down next to Zelda. His voice was surprisingly soft. He didn't want to go home, unlike Zelda. From here he could feel her wish for him to elaborate. “Let’s try to get into each other’s head.”

“That’s disgusting,” Zelda thought back and received a soft punch to the shoulder in reply.

Soon Zelda found herself standing blindfolded in an unknown hallway. Surprisingly, she was surprised to find that Erik carried around silk handkerchiefs with E.C. embroidered in the corner. Behind her Erik was telling her to breath through her nose and to concentrate on him. “If you can see what I see, then you’ll be fine.”

“You’re… g-genius!” Zelda scowled back at her twin. “There’s nothing!”

“I think it’s more of a feeling. Perhaps you should just start walking and see what happens.” Erik was almost giddy with anticipation. Zelda took a few steps forward. Unknown to her, she was walking into the student lounge with Erik just a few steps behind her. Seven slow steps forward, one step to the right. Another step to the right. Continuing forward.

[Aaron Walker]

AJ had showed up at the lounge, hoping to run into Jared or maybe Kevin. Or basically any student who wouldn’t mind him following them around. But when he had arrived at the lounge, he had found it empty. Sighing he turned to leave when he noticed a girl walking in with a blindfold on. Behind her a boy seemed to be leading her around, but he wasn’t doing the best job. Weren’t you supposed to hold onto the shoulder of the blind person or something?

“Hey!” he yelled, running up to the pair. “Watch out for the couch! It hurts if ya fall over it.” He was speaking from experience. More than once he had ran into the lounge only to collide with the couch near the entrance and fly sprawling into the room.

“Can I go next?” he asked, grinning up at the boy with a hopeful expression in his eyes. “Or I can lead if you want? I promise not to walk you off the roof.”

[Zelda & Erik Crones-McKinley]

Couch. Couch. Couch. Couch. Couch. Erik was almost screaming off his head. He raised his hands to his temples; his eyebrows were strongly brought together. Zelda had taken a few promising steps to the right but on her current path she would hit the back corner right into her upper stomach. He concentrated on the image of the couch and the image of Zelda walking toward it.

Zelda paused mid-step. She moved her foot back and concentrated. Erik was annoyed, or concerned. It was hard to distinguish those two emotions when it came to Erik. She picked up her foot and stepped gingerly sideways to the right. A boy spoke somewhere close to her and coming closer. At that same moment she felt a wave of fear and aggression. Following gut instinct, which she hoped would be governed by Erik’s eyes, she ducked and dived forward, right into the corner of the couch. “Fuck!” Zelda yelled through gritted teeth as she clutched her head. “Erik, you …”

“Tard.” Erik said in a weak voice above her. He was also clutching her head. When her voice failed her it was so satisfying when Erik insulted himself for her.

Zelda took off the handkerchief. It was a boy, about their age she guessed. “Erik… he’s no… th-hreat.”

“Look what you did!” Erik yelled at the boy, ignoring Zelda. Zelda quick jumped up on her brother. Her weight did nothing, but she was able to press her palms into his face. The main goal of this was to get him to shut up and it worked. She turned to the boy and held out the handkerchief to him. Her other hand remained on Erik’s mouth.

“H-how… should I give you hints?” She asked. She gave a nervous smile, hoping to compensate for Erik’s behavior.

[Aaron Walker]

“Are you okay?” AJ asked, completely surprised when the girl suddenly dove into the corner of the couch. Offering his hand to help her up, he gave the boy a questioning look. “You’re not a very good leader, are you?”

AJ took a step back when the boy starting yelling at him. Now he was completely confused. Maybe the girl was supposed to go diving into the couch. Although he didn’t think that sounded like a very fun game, he had given up trying to understand motives in other people a long time ago.

“Um…” he said, looking from the boy to the girl and back again. “I don’t have to dive into the couch too, do I?” he asked. “Cuz I still have a few bruises from falling down the stairs the other day.” But when the girl smiled at him, he found himself returning one of his own. A game was a game, even if he didn’t understand completely.

“Just don’t let me knock my head off,” he said, reaching out his hand for the handkerchief. “Cuz my mom always seems worried that I’m going to loose it.” His voice was serious when he spoke; mostly because he had no idea he was making some sort of joke. He had always thought his mother really meant it when she yelled about him loosing his head if it wasn’t attached.