Vision Of Hope

• Bryzlyn Sin, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2018

As I open my eyes for the first time, many thoughts instantly hit me.
Rainbow.Luminous colours?
As I look up, I read a blurred name tag: Dr Fiona.
The saviour who has played a vital role in my life.
The pair of healing hands that regain my vision.
There, stood my now aged parents brimming with tears.

I am Amelia,18 years old.
I have been officially blind for 10 years until this very moment.

For the past decade, I have been living in shadows, in darkness and I never saw a ray of hope.

Visually nor mentally.

I was wretched the day I lost my vision…..I was 8 years old and was cooking on a kitchen play set when I needed a tomato. I searched high and low for it in the nursery.
“There you are!”
It sat there, looking ripe red on the top shelf with the books.
I remember chanting: “ You can’t have a salad without a tomato.”
I climbed up the shelves.
As I reached for the red, juicy tomato, I slipped and books came tumbling down.

I have no idea what happened next.
The next thing I knew I was confined to a hospital bed with tight bandages on my head, uncomfortable tubes coming out of my nostrils…. I had lost my sight.

“She’s awake!” my mum’s voice quivered.

I felt a gentle touch on my forehead: “Hello Amelia. How are you feeling?” an unfamiliar voice asked.

“I am Dr Fiona, your surgeon and you had an accident. You slipped from a bookcase and suffered a head injury, you had been in a coma for days and unfortunately, you are now blind.

“Blind?”
My heart instantly sank.

“This is a rare outcome.You have been put on the priority waitlist for an eye transplant.” Dr Fiona reassured.

As I was ushered out of the hospital in a wheelchair, I asked my parents, “will I stay blind forever?” and “will someone donate their eyes to me?” I continued to ask the same question over the years.
“It is as hard as finding a needle in a haystack.” I began to lose hope.

10 years later, after my braille tutoring session, my parents received a phone call. “Someone was able to donate her eyes to you!”
I couldn't believe my ears.
It had been ages since I was last able to see, I had forgotten how radiant colours were.

My eye transplant was a success.

I can’t express my gratitude to the deceased and her family:

“Dedicated to the beautiful soul who is looking down on me from heaven:
I never knew angels existed on earth and in heaven,
I never thought anyone would give when they lost someone so dear to them.
I never knew such grief and agony can turn into love and compassion.
For someone unknown,
For someone unrelated, 
I treasure the thought of her life and your ultimate gift for me to see again.”

(493 words)