The Eyes Tell No Lies Read online

  Cris had suggested they take a seat before he told them why he was there. He always suggested this after he had countless victims’ families faint on him after he told them. He waited till both Arie and Kylee were sitting on the couch before he attempted to tell them.

  “I am sorry to have to inform you but both your parents died last week in a car accident,” Cris said after a few moments of silence.

  ****

  Arie couldn’t believe what she was hearing; her parents were dead and she didn’t even get the chance to say goodbye. That was the worst part, knowing they were gone and she couldn’t say ‘I love you’ one last time. It was as if her mind had froze. She couldn’t think or say anything.

  “Give her a few minutes, she’s in shock,” Cris said to Kylee as she tried to snap Arie out of the trance she was in.

  By now Cris could spot the symptoms of shock quickly. He usually stayed with a family for a few hours before he left. He didn’t worry about Derrick who was waiting in the car because he knew he would call his fiancée to come get him soon. This time it was different for him, from what he understood her parents were all she had and now they were gone. And there was just something about her that intrigued him and he was going to find out what it was. He stayed with Arie until he knew she was okay and finally fell asleep.

  The next day, Arie didn’t feel right being in her parents’ home without them there. She kept expecting them to walk in the door any moment and tell her it was all a big mistake. Being in the house was too much for her, she smelled their scents everywhere she went in the house. She couldn’t take the smell or the memories contained in the house knowing they wouldn’t be back so she headed outside to the porch swing.

  All the wonderful memories she shared with her father bombarded her mind as the sun shined down on her. Her memories evaporated from her mind when she heard someone approaching her. As the person walked closer, she could smell them and knew exactly who it was even though yesterday was the first time she smelled his scent.

  “Detective Crow, what are you doing here?” Arie questioned.

  “I came to ask you some questions about your parents,” Cris answered as he sat next to her on the porch swing.

  Needless to say he never asked her a question, all his questions pertained to her life. Cris continued to stop by and check on her for a week. Arie thought it was cute how he pretended he had to ask her some questions but never did. Instead, he asked her about her life, dreams, aspirations, goals, fears, and anything else under the sun.

  Arie knew he was making excuses to see her, but she never called him on it. For some reason she felt safe and soothed whenever he was around her. His voice sent tingles throughout her body. When she thought about giving up after her parents’ death, he knew just the right words to keep her going. He breathed life into her when she forgot to take a breath and live.

  He made her laugh when he talked about his different conspiracy thoughts. Hell, he thought everything was a conspiracy. He told her how he thought sharp objects were intentionally left out on highways and roads so people’s tires will go flat and they would have to buy new ones. She especially loved the one about insurance companies and agreed with him. He knew it wasn’t required for everyone to have insurance so when someone went to the hospital and couldn’t pay, he felt the insurance premiums went up for everybody to help cover the loss from the hospitals.

  The last day he came over was sad for her and the answer to her prayers at the same time. She was falling for him quickly yet she didn’t want to or couldn’t tell him. Despite all of this, she didn’t want him to go, but he was called out on an important case in another town. He told her he would come back to her as soon as he wrapped up the case, but she wasn’t going to hold her breath.

  Arie snapped out of the past, not wanting to think about it any longer. Her past consisted of depending on others when she was blind or taking on the world alone. She was tired of shouldering her problems on her own. She wanted someone to stand next to her and help her with her problems while she helped them with theirs. Arie couldn’t understand it, every time she pictured someone being there for her and taking some of the weight and pain off her shoulders, she heard Detective Crow’s voice or imagined what she thought he might look like. She didn’t know whether or not it was because he was there for her the first week after learning her father and mother were dead. Or simply because he was the first person that made her look forward to her future and made her forget the past and her fears of the future. He made her want to grab a hold of her future and him. She knew he had a job to do and it was important, but she hated that his latest case had taken him away from her. And she especially couldn’t understand since she hadn’t known him for that long but something about him made her feel safe. Even with all his conspiracy theories. Hell, he even had a conspiracy theory on why hospitals smelled the way they do. He told her they smelled liked that so they could make more money. The smell made patients leave quicker than they were supposed to and when the patient left early, it made room for the next paying customer.

  Speaking of hospital smells.

  She didn’t know how she was going to survive in the hospital for that long since she hated the smell of hospitals. Especially since her other senses had become so enhanced. The smell of the hospital made her stomach turn and she couldn’t wait until the doctors came and sprayed some of the scents her in-home care nurse had packed for her. Arie was starting to get a pounding headache—and not from her surgery—but from the beeping sounds of the machines she was hooked up to. It sounded like someone was beating pots and pans right next to her ears.

  Arie could hear and smell Dr. Johnson before he entered the room. The first thing she realized after she became blind was that she could determine who a person was just by the way they walked and smelled. Everyone had a unique scent even without wearing cologne or perfume.

  “How are you feeling, Arie?” Dr. Johnson asked.

  “Fine, except the smell and sound in this room is throwing me off,” she answered with a slight whisper.

  “I am turning off the machines now, so that will help with your hearing. Nurse Jane is plugging in one of your Glade automatic sprays.

  “Now I am going to remove the covering from your eyes. Don’t worry if your vision is blurry at first, it takes one to two days for your vision to come in. While I am unwrapping your eyes, I will give you the information for aftercare even though you are staying here for two weeks,” Dr. Johnson said as he reached up and began to unwrap her eyes.

  “You will have to use a metal shield nightly when you sleep or when taking a nap during the day, plus a cloth pad under your glasses for one month. You may not bend at the waist for more than ten minutes at a time but may squat at the knees. You may not lift or push anything heavier than fifteen pounds for two week. You can have your head be gently shampooed by a friend or a beauty shop with the head leaning slightly backwards for two weeks. You may watch television, but you cannot read a book for more than ten minutes at a time. No heavy exercising or swimming for three weeks, but walking is fine.

  “Here are your eye drops and medication. It is very important you remember to take it and the right dosage everyday once you leave the hospital. For now, a nurse will come in everyday and give it to you.

  “Once you leave, you will have to come in weekly for the first four to six weeks and then monthly for the next three months,” Dr. Johnson said.

  “I promise, Dr. Johnson,” Arie said when she noticed the doctor was hesitating.

  “Nurse, close the blinds and turn down the lights,” Dr. Johnson said.

  Dr. Johnson waited until the nurse followed his orders before removing the last layer around Arie’s eyes. She slowly opened her eyes and closed them quickly again. Even though there wasn’t that much light in the room, her eyes still burned. She heard Dr. Johnson say to her, “Take your time and tell me what you see.” She slowly opened her eyes once more, this time determined to keep them open and focused. Her eyes slowly
roamed the room with a slightly blurry vision, each time she blinked the room became more focused. It felt odd for her to finally be able to see again. She reached out and ran her right hand along the bedrail, then clutched the cover into her left hand. She could finally see everything she touched or sensed again.

  “How is your vision?” Jane, the nurse, asked this time.

  Arie jumped a little at the sound of the nurse’s voice, she had forgotten they were even there. She hesitated for a second before she answered.

  “Fine, my vision was blurry at first, but now I can see everything so clearly. Thank you, Dr. Johnson, I can finally see again,” she said with a hitch in her voice.

  “Remarkable, your vision is returning already. It usually takes one to three days for someone’s vision to return fully. Here is your metal shield and sunglasses. If you would like to see the garden we have for our patients or the walkway, please put on the glasses before going outside. For the first three days, you can visit the cafeteria or have your food brought up. After the three days are up, we have a few dining spots within blocks of the hospital and across the street. Most of them deliver or you can travel.

  “I have some more rounds to make so if you need me press the Nurse Call Button and have them page me,” Dr. Johnson said right before he stood and left.

  The doctor's voice began to fade away as she started to think to herself. Arie felt a mixture between excited and scared about her eyesight. She was elated to see again but was still petrified of going back into the dark where all she could see was either blurry outlines and shapes or total darkness. It was like being trapped in yourself and not being able to find the exit no matter how hard or long you searched for it. Being the strong-minded, determined person she was, she quickly adapted to the darkness, overcoming any obstacles that came her way. It felt surreal to finally be able to see again since she never thought she would.

  Her mother had stopped her from having the cornea transplant a lot sooner. Over the years, Arie’s mother had lied to her by telling her the doctors said it was impossible for her to see again. Arie had believed her and some of that disbelief about her eyesight was still in the back of her head. This left her in shock and still in utter disbelief about being able to see now.

  There wasn’t enough words in the dictionary to express the joy she felt, as she thought more about being able to see again while looking around the room. She couldn’t wait to be able to do and see just the simplest thing. Like go to the park to feed the ducks and watch them as they flocked to her for a piece of bread. Watch the waves as they traveled to the shore and build a sand castle on the beach. Watch the sand flow through her fingers and back into the pile of sand on the ground. To gaze at a flower as it blooms in her hands. Hell, she just wanted to take care of herself and not depend on a CNA to cook her meals or clean her home.

  “I have set up everything you will need in the shower. You have had a long day, get some rest and if you need anything, have the nurse’s station page me. I will be here for the next two days as your nurse. Your lunch is right over there and dinner will be in another four hours,” the nurse’s voice lightly drifted into her head before she left the room.

  In truth, Arie was tired of being alone in the world and longed to feel that sense of being in love with someone. She wasn’t ready to have kids yet, but she was ready to find that person who completed her in every sense of the word. Arie just wanted someone to love her. Her father loved her, but he was always away at work, sometimes for months at a time leaving her with her mother, who, for some reason, hated her with a passion. The hatred her mother had for her caused Arie to become strong and independent at a young age, since her mother was never there for her, she would have starved to death if she didn’t learn how to fend for herself. It was hard being strong on your own since the tender age of five and never having anyone around you to share your burdens with. At first Arie thought it was normal for a kid to take care of herself until she made friends at school and started visiting their homes. Going to her friends’ homes was like a vacation since she was able to be a child and their parents took care of all of them, but when she started questioning their home life, her mother put a stop to her vacations, as she liked to think of them.

  Arie never had someone to pick her up when she fell. Growing up, she had to learn how to pick herself up and talk herself out of giving up. She wouldn’t change it for the world since it made her strong and independent but now she wanted someone to be there for her to help her up. When she felt as if she couldn’t go on anymore or felt like giving up. She was tired of feeling as if she was walking alone in the world, and carrying her burdens and hurts on her own. It was all just getting to be too much and causing her so much frustration and pain. Arie needed someone there to help relieve the ache and aggravation, someone to love her for who she was.

  She was tired of receiving sympathy and pity because of her blindness and now because of her parents’ death.

  ‘Oh poor, Arie, she is blind and now her parents are dead, what is she going to do without them?’ I am tired of them thinking I cannot take care of myself since my parents are dead and I am blind. Hell, I have been taking care of myself since I was five and continued to take care of myself when I became blind. Shit, I even got a degree in criminology without anyone’s help. I helped the FBI solve cases they couldn’t while blind, but does anybody give me credit for my accomplishments? Hell no, they overlook everything I accomplished all because I am blind, Arie thought as she blew out a breath of irritation, then laid back onto the hospital bed and stared up at the ceiling.

  Now that she had her eyesight back, Arie felt as though it was time to put her degree to use, besides just being an intern with the FBI. She had no clue what she wanted to do with her degree, but she knew she wanted to do something with putting criminals away. Maybe it was time to finish the things she started at the FBI or find something else. In her heart she knew it was time to take control of her life and stop letting her mother and her blindness be a crutch to lean on. Other than encouraging others who were blind just like her to keep pursing their dreams during her motivation speeches, she felt like a failure. Because in her speeches, she told them to follow their dreams no matter what others said while she was no longer following her dreams herself. It was time to stop hiding behind everything that went wrong around her and stop being scared of going into the world alone. She was going to get over her fear by just jumping right in and finding a job as soon as she got home.

  With her eyes closed, Arie sat up, reached out, and felt around for her food until she realized she could just look for it with her eyes. Damn, it’s going to take a long time to readapt to using my eyes again, Arie thought as she began to eat. Her eyes started to burn and grew heavy just as she finished her sandwich and soup. The toll of the surgery and the medicines still in her system was finally catching up to her rather quickly. She pushed the table with her food on it to the side and laid back. As soon as her head hit the soft, cool pillow, she fell sleep.

  ****

  Two weeks later Arie was pulling up to her house in a cab from the hospital and not a moment too soon. She felt like she was either going crazy or the medicine was making her insane. A woman’s voice that felt and sounded so real whispered to her every night for the past two weeks. Whispering, ‘my brother needs your help, help him and you will find what you have searched for your whole life.’ At first she thought maybe her eyesight was messed up and the woman was actually there. Until the voice whispered to her while a nurse was there and the nurse hadn’t seen anything either. Arie knew as soon as the medicine had worn off she would be fine—or so she thought.

  She was in awe of seeing everything for what seemed like the first time again. The way the sun blended into the light blue sky and how when she looked at the clouds they took on shapes of animals and many other things. The tall intricate and small charming buildings she had seen on her way home as she looked out the window seemed so familiar yet so different from the changes made ove
r time. A tingling sensation took over Arie’s body whenever she got the sense she saw something before but couldn’t quiet put her finger on it. She couldn’t remember how many times she got that feeling of déjà vu on the cab drive home.

  “That will be ten dollars and fifty five cents, miss,” the cab driver’s voice drifted into her thoughts.

  Arie reached into her purse and felt around until her hand brushed across the pouch in her purse. She quickly reached in and felt the different shapes of her money until she felt the awkward shape of a twenty. Damn, I have to stop doing that, Arie thought, when she realized she was feeling around for her money as if she couldn’t see instead of just looking into her purse.

  “Sorry about that,” Arie said to the cab driver as she slipped her money into the slot.

  “No, problem, miss, here is your change,” the cab driver said as he turned around and placed the change back into the slot.

  “No, sir, you keep the change,” Arie declined as she hurried out of the cab.

  She couldn’t believe the sight of her home when she turned around. It looked as though it had a fresh coat of paint in sky blue and her shutters were ivory. If she didn’t know any better, she would think her fence, which matched the color of her home perfectly, was repaired and newly painted. Her garden on either side of the walkway was filled with red roses on one side and white tulips on the other.

  A small, fragile voice called out to her just as she unlatched her gate.

  “Mrs. Craig, how are you? Do you know who painted my home while I was gone?” Arie asked her next-door neighbor when she smelled the fresh scent of paint the closer she walked to her house.

  Mrs. Craig was a seventy-five year old lady who still had a lot of life left in her. Sometimes Arie thought the woman had more energy and spunk than she did. She was a small woman with gray hair flowing down her back and a brown cane at her side that she rarely used.