A Tale of a Blind Son-in-law

CHAPTER 1:

Dark. All he sees is a dark place with nothing. He tries to move his body and feel his arm, chest, and face, and check where he is. Tristan felt a soft cushion where he is lying, a tiny cloth that engulfs his half body from his foot until his chest. As he moves, the bed was creating a sound that leads him to think he is not in his house.

“Why I can’t see anything? What is it covering in my eye?” he stood up, panicking as he notices that he is actually in some place he was not familiar with.

He tries to remove the bandage covering his eye but someone grabs his arm to take it away from his face. Tristan tries to remember what exactly happened to him… why he suddenly felt like all his muscle is aching and why he feels like he has some wounds in some parts of his body. He senses a needle injected in his left hand; he smells medicine all over the place.

“Don’t move yet, TJ. You’ll hurt yourself if you insist,” a man's voice suddenly murmured beside him. He stops Tristan from grabbing the bandage on his eyes.

Tristan did his best to reach the man who spoke, he feels his arm and chest. He can’t see the man’s face, so he just feels his presence to recognize him. Then he becomes familiar with the man’s smell that is match with his guess based on his voice. The man standing beside him as if he is pushing Tristan to lie down in his bed again. There is maybe a cover in his eye, but he was sure who is this man.

“Drayven, you are Drayven, right? Where am I? What happened? Why am I here, why there’s a cover in my eye?” Tristan asked simultaneously.

Drayven is his only friend, his best friend. They meet each other in college as they were block mates and decided to keep their friendship then. Tristan and Drayven supported each other in many ways, they used to visit each other’s place. So, he is certainly sure that Drayven will be the only one he could expect to see in every moment of his life.

“TJ, have you lost your memory or something? You got involved in a car accident… with Danica. You were in a hospital now. So please, you’re hurt a lot and you need to rest. Don’t push yourself too hard,” Drayven explains.

 Tristan was shocked, those words give him a reason to stay still as he process it in his head to remember what exactly happened… in his mind, he sees a beautiful woman sitting beside him in a car; it was Danica, his wife. Danica is Drayven’s older sister. They got married a year now and planning to work harder first before they had a baby. Their age is not that long gap, Tristan and Drayven are only one year younger than her so it is not a hindrance for them to fall in love with each other.

“Danica… Where is she? Where’s my wife?”

Tristan finally remembered what happened. They are on their way to the office on that day, but as they were busy talking with each other, he didn’t see the car crossing the street so he avoided it rapidly. But they were not lucky, they still got hit hard by something causing them into an accident. And now, he doesn’t know what happened next.

“Bro, Danica is… dead. I’m sorry.”

Tristan has no words to say. He doesn’t know how he could react to that; he can’t accept it. There’s no way his wife would be dead that easily. He met Danica as a strong woman that can handle everything even if it's hard to deal with for a girl. But she is different, there is nothing in this world she can’t do.

He shakes his head. “She is not dead; my wife is not dead! Take off this bandage! I want to see her!”

Tristan tries to remove his bandage once again but Drayven is more powerful than him to stop him. He tries to stand up but his friend stops him again. He shouted and calls for help, and he tries to convince himself that he can stand on his own even though Drayven stops him.

But another hand held him on his shoulder. “You need to calm down, Sir. Don’t push yourself.”

It was from someone he doesn’t familiar with. The voice comes from a man; it was a soft voice as if he wants to convince Tristan that everything will be fine if he will do that. He suspected that man was a doctor or a nurse, who rush towards him because he shouted.

“Are you a doctor? What happened to my eye?”

No one tries to speak after Tristan asked that question. The man he is speaking with is his doctor, he’s with two nurses that will assist him if ever Tristan goes wild again. He just looked at Drayven, as if he expects he will answer the question since he is his colleague. But Drayven just stared at the doctor, pleading to speak for him.

“I’m sorry, the accident affects your eye. You are now—”

“No. I am not blind, you can treat it, right? It just needs some time, right?” Tristan interrupts him.

The Doctor just stares at Drayven, he looks like sorry hearing Tristan’s reaction. He wants to answer his patient’s question, but he was worried about what he will feel after knowing the painful truth. He just wanted to respect what is the family’s decision and how they would tell him his situation now.

“TJ, the doctor needs to leave. And I think, you should rest,” Drayven suggested.

Tristan smirked. He doesn’t know what is Drayven exactly doing now, but he heard his voice coming from his left that’s why he faced that side. His best friend is soft and caring, he knows Drayven only wanted him to leave the thought unsaid because he doesn’t want him to get hurt more. But Tristan understands that…

“I lost my wife; I lost my eyesight. And soon… I’ll lose everything, aren’t I?”