Love Story

Based on a true story

I was eight when it happened, police showed up at my front door, coming to take me, my parents were dead, I realised later that that moment was the moment that I lost my childhood, all because of some person with a 40 S&W wanted what we owned. 

A few days later my uncle comes to pick me up, I didn’t even know I had an uncle. I didn’t want to go, but they said it was compulsory. Another week and I'm in another place far from home. 

A few years pass, and I feel so alone, no friends, no enemies, just a few bullies. I feel so invisible to the world I might as well not even exist, it’s not like I was even audible.

Five years later and I’m a twenty-two-year-old dude struggling with depression and self-harm, I’m such a loser I’ve never even had my first kiss. I’m still living with my uncle, who although is an amazing guy, just can’t seem to help. He’s tried; he’s pointed me in the right direction, multiple times, got me a good job, even though I lost it soon after, he even got me through high school and college. 

Now I know that this story sounds like crap, but I’m just getting to the good parts so hang with me. It was the day I lost my job, the one I told you about earlier. So my uncle, being the nice person he is, takes me to a new sandwich place to try and cheer me up. 

The food was good, I ate too much, but that was ok, sitting outside on a sunny day with my uncle was not a bad way to spend the day, in fact, I was quite enjoying myself. As I relaxed I stretched my arms wide. I felt a bump against my arm and before I could respond to it I was drenched in freezing cold water. 

I grab the table zealously as the water sloshes down my back sending shivers all the way into my brain. As soon as I got over the sudden cold I heard a timid; “I’m sorry,”

Sorry? I’m the one that should be apologising. I look up, standing there is the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen, but she’s not even looking at me, just to space above my head, go figure, it’s not like a hottie like her would even look at a loser like me. 

A few seconds later multiple waiters show up with paper towels to dry up the mess. I feel bad, they shouldn’t have to spend their energy on someone like me, it was a waste. 

Ouch! I hold in a grunt as my uncle kicks me none-to-gently under the table. I look him in the eye wondering why he kicked me. Our eyes met and he points to something the girl was holding. A walking stick? She was blind.

I felt even worse, getting up quickly, I apologized to her for both ignoring her and bumping into her. She reaches out unexpectedly and grabs my arm. What the heck?! She apologises again for spilling water on me. 

“It’s okay, I’m used to it,” I replied. Stupid stupid stupid, why did I have to add that last part? 

She smiles warmly, it was an amazing smile, then introduces herself as Emma. while I'm struggling to introduce myself, my uncle offers her a seat. 

“I can’t, I’m still on shift,” she says, “But…”

She reaches into her purse, fumbles around for a few seconds and pulls something out. Then flailing around she finds and takes my hand, it feels so nice. She then drops something into my hand, it’s her card. 

“Call me sometime and I’ll make it up for spilling water all over you,” she says as another waitress comes. They lock arms and walk away, “Goodbye,” Emma says sweetly. 

After they left I took a look at the card, it felt weird. Uncle says it’s braille. I then pocketed the card, there was no way I’m going to call her but it feels really good to be treated like a human by someone else than my uncle. I decided to save it for a rope day. 

A few weeks go by, I got a new job, and life is not that bad. After getting home one day from work, my uncle sits me down. He has the “we need to talk” look. I figure that he is going to give me a rally speech on how proud of me he is for getting a new job on my own. He doesn’t, instead, he tells me to hold on a second, he then walks into my room and returns with Emma’s card in his hands. He pulls out his phone and dials the number, then lifts the phone to his ear. 

They talk for a few minutes then my uncle says “yea, he's really shy but a good guy,” Lies I think quietly, and if things weren't bad enough, Uncle sets a dinner date for that night. 

At first, I think my uncle is joking, but after he finishes the call he takes a look at me and says, “Well, you’re not wearing that!” 

Panic sets in, it took me over an hour to calm down. I started to think about my life, had I ever even been on a date? No. What's the worst that can happen? Not much. After taking a shower I decided to put on a ton of deodorant because I remember something about blind people having a supernatural sense of smell. I drive to the restaurant that my uncle has set up for us to meet at, it’s the same place where she dumped ice water on me, darn you, uncle. 

She’s already there, I walk up to her table trying to make enough noise so as not to scare her. It seems to work because as I get closer she turns her head in my direction. 

“Jack?” she says.

“Yea it’s me,” I replied, she must have gotten my name from my uncle. 

Our first contact was awkward. She’s more beautiful than I remember, 5’9, dark brown hair, amazing figure, and very nice long legs outlined by the yoga pants she was wearing, giving off a sense of ethereal beauty. She’s already ordered, so I order the house burger. She laughs, did I do something wrong? Is she laughing at me? I then ask what's funny, and she says that we order the same thing and that we already have something in common. 

This was obviously a charity date but she’s pretty and it feels good to smile, so I go along with it anyway. I even try to put some effort into it. I try to tell a few jokes, I'm terrible at joke-telling, but she laughs anyway. Why do I feel like crying? 

We start talking, I learn that she’s a foodie, and when I asked her what that meant she said that it means she likes complex and artistic food flavours. Our conversation continues, I’m learning a lot about her, about her family, what she likes and does not like, I learn that her favourite flavour of ice cream is chocolate chip, and how she loves pineapple on pizza. She then tells me that she is really enjoying herself, why do I feel like crying again? What the hell is wrong with me? 

Before I knew it, it was time to go. It felt too soon. The waiter comes and she holds out her credit card to the waiter, I quickly swap hers for mine. There is no way I’m letting a blind girl pay for my meal, besides she only came out with me as an apology for the water spill. When the waiter returned I took my card and handed hers back to her. 

We walk outside, I’m expecting her to bail, for another car to come racing around the bend to pick her up and take her home. Any second now… 

“Did you forget where you parked?” she asked.

I then realized that I was her ride home, I laughed and said “Yea, I remember now though” as I started towards my car. I help her into my car, then get into the driver's side, thank God I just got the car cleaned! I’m so nervous I dropped my keys twice before I could stick them into the ignition. I start to drive, hot girl in my car? How badly did I mess up the date? I go on autopilot mode, and without thinking, I had driven to my uncle's house, crap crap crap crap what am I doing?! 

I apologise, no response, then I remember that she’s blind so I explain that I went on autopilot and drove to my uncle's house. I drive away. 

She starts making small talk. She asks me about my family, about my parents. I told her the truth, they’re dead. I then realize that I’ve been driving for over 30 minutes without having a single idea about where she lives. Boy am I a dumb failure. I asked her for her address. 

She giggles and says; “I was wondering when you would ask me that,” 

I go to put in the address on google maps for directions. My battery is dead, so I ask for hers and when she handed it to me I felt like an idiot, it was a flip phone. At this point, she could not hold it in and in a fit of laughter, she takes the phone back and dials a friend. 

We laugh the whole way home, and by the time we got to her apartment I was feeling really good, so good that I walked her to her front door. There was a pause;

“I know you paid for dinner.” She says.

I don’t know how she knew but I didn’t renounce her statement. Her hand goes to my arm, and slowly she reaches my face, I wonder if she’s trying to “see” me. After a minute she stands up on tiptoes and kisses me lightly on my cheek. I could have returned the gesture, but that would have been a silly caprice. 

She turns and walks into her house saying over her shoulder, “And next time, don’t make your uncle call.” 

The door slams shut. I’m standing there befuddled, there's going to be a next time? 

Nine dates later and we’re still going strong, and despite the fact that she is completely blind, I make an effort to make myself more presentable. I joined a gym, start eating better, buy clothes that actually fit, and just, in general, make more of an effort to get to know her. 

I learned that she loves to cook, and she loves the same music that I do. I meet her friends, who were pretty cool people, I learned how she lost her sight, when she was young she fell off her bicycle and hit her head, had blunt force trauma. Learned how she wanted to be a painter, and how much it hurt. She tells me she’s happy now though, she has family, friends, and now she has me. It feels so good to hear that. 

For our tenth date she wants me to come have dinner at her house, she asks me to come over really really early. 

“Okay,” I say over the phone, why would she want me to come early? 

The day comes and I drive to her house. I feel nervous about coming over, I have been to her house before, but never inside it. I run my hands quickly though my hair straightening it. 

Just as I’m about to knock she opens the door, she’s wearing a long trench coat. Okay, it is a little cold I guess but not trenchcoat weather, but then again she still looks really nice in it. She grabs my hand and pulls me in closing the door behind me. It’s dark, like really dark, I can’t see a thing because all of the lights are out. She pulls me through her house and pushes me down onto something soft that I assume is a couch. I hear shuffling cloth, something hits the floor, I still could not see anything. 

“What do you think?” she asks.

“Well, it definitely smells nice in here,” I say, trying to think of a way to tell her the lights are out. 

“Crap!” she says. 

I hear her running towards the far wall. I hear the click of a light switch and a light turns on in another room. I still can’t see. 

“Better?” she asks,

“Sorry, not yet,” I replied, feeling embarrassed for her.  

Click! The light comes on. “There we go,” I say, letting her know that the lights have indeed come on. 

She’s in a beautiful form-fitting dress, quickly walking over to me, her body cleaving the space between us she sat down next to me. Omgosh she looks amazing, and smells fantastic, and feels… her hand runs across my leg sending shivers across my body. 

“You look amazing,” I say, 

“Thanks, you too,” she chuckles. 

That was literally the best dinner of my life, and ten months after that we’re still together, I have pushed my credit score high enough to buy a place of my own, I want her to move in, screw it. I want her to marry me. 

I decided to trick myself into proposing. But first I need to tidy up my house. My relationship with Emma has taught me that blind girls require it. 

I organizeed everything like I have O.C.D. Secure and nail everything down, duct tape all of the cords to the walls, and eliminate all tripping hazards. Finally, I line my entire house, at waist height, with a single wide handlebar. It takes three days installing it. On the fourth day, I go out and buy a braille label marker, marking the inner side of the handlebar with directions all around the house. On one random handle, I add a marker that says “will you marry me?” 

I then go out and buy a ring, nothing too fancy, something small that won't hinder her. I hope she says yes. Then calling her, I set up a movie night at my house. I don’t own a T.V. 

A few days later she comes over, I put her hand on the railing and show her around the house. She’s impressed. We walk all over the house, I want her to find the label but I also want to look like I'm indiscriminately walking her around. Finally we make it to the most important label. 

She stops, running her hand over it a few times, her breath quickening as she “reads” it. Taking my hand in hers she leaps into my arms. 

“Yes, yes, yes!” she says kissing me while she says it. I slide the ring over her finger. I must be dreaming, this is far too illusory to be real!

Holding her close in my arms, I realise that this is how I'm going to spend the rest of my

life, and you know what? I’m really happy about that. 

Twenty years later and I have renounced all negative habits, we’re both happy with two

little kids of our own. So I write this to you, all for posterity, to let you know that even when you’re feeling down, good things will happen, and most of the time by accident, so don’t give up and don’t give in, life will change for the better, if you are willing to wait for it. 

-, Best DIY Ideas, et al. “Uncle Who Took His Nephew In After His Parents Died Ends Up Introducing Him To The Love Of His Life.” Quick 5 Minutes DIY Ideas, 6 Sept. 2019, https://5minute-diy.club/uncle-who-took-his-nephew-in-after-his-parents-died-ends-up-introducing-him-to-the-love-of-his-life/.