Eyes Wide Open(Alex)

After several days, Alex received a visit from the medicine man. He carefully unwrapped the bandage from around here eyes and tenderly wiped away the poultice that covered them. “Slowly open your eyes.” His deep voice sounded like a drum that cut through the silence. Everybody was holding their breath with expectation, including herself.

As instructed, she slowly opened her eyes. The little bit of light coming from a nearby lantern caused her eyes to burn but she fought the temptation to close her lids again. After what seemed like several minutes she finally looked at her surroundings for the first time but was disappointed to discover that everything was blurry. “What’s wrong? Why can’t I see clearly?” panic choked her voice and her heart felt as though it would jump out of her chest.

“Take a deep breath and try to remain calm.” The doctor’s voice gave her something to focus on and she relaxed a bit. “Now slowly look around and tell me what you do see. Describe it to the best of your ability so I know how you’re doing.”

Alex was surprised by the man’s use of words, his dialect was very different from those here in the village. She quickly pushed her questions aside and again focused her attention to the task at hand. Blinking her eyes several times in an attempt to clear her vision she began to describe what she could see. “The room is very dark but there’s a source of light coming from a table to the right of the room. There are three chairs at the table but I cannot make out the color or style just their shape. I can see a person standing by the wall close to the table but I can’t see who it is. It’s like I’m looking through fog. I can see shapes but not details.”

“That’s good. We didn’t know if you would be able to even see that much.” For the first time she noticed that there was somebody sitting to the left of her. He was rather tall even though he was sitting and his hair was a light color. “I want you to put this on your eyes twice a day.” He placed a smooth jar in her hand. “Leave it on for about an hour each time and hopefully when I come back in two weeks we’ll have some improvement in your sight.”

Alex muttered a “thank you” as the man stood to leave. He was accompanied by another person whom she figured to be her hostess. Turning to the right she found that the other person was still in the room with her. “Come closer, if you would, so I can see you a little better.”

There was a swishing sound that had become familiar to her over the past few weeks. “Are you Evilin?”

“Aye” came the mousey reply.

“Well, don’t go all shy on me now, not after all the time we’ve spent together.” Alex smiled warmly and reached out her hands towards the girl. Quickly Evilin scurried over, embracing her new friend in a hug.

“I’m so sorry that ya can’t see nothin’. What will you do now?” The girl had a flair for the dramatics as most girls this age do.

“I’ll do as the good doctor told me to do and hope for the best. What else can I do?” she ran a hand through her tangled hair absentmindedly and realized that she hadn’t bathed since arriving on this island. She wasn’t one to be picky but even she had her standards. “Evilin, is there a place where I can bathe?”

“There’s a little cove where the river runs into. It’s about an hours walk or so from the village. You can bathe there without fear of folk comin’ across ya.” Without being told the girl gathered up some items. Taking Alex by the hand she carefully led the way to the cove, chattering all-the-while about what life would be like in the castle.

They arrived at the pool of water just as the sun reached its peek. Even Alex with her blurry vision knew that this was a place of serene beauty. The moss and grass surrounding the body of water was a deep lush green and the ground was soft and springy. In the distance was the rumble from a waterfall that added continuous motion to the water. Birds sang from all directions and small animals scurried about in the underbrush that surrounded the clearing.

“I’ll leave your things on this here rock while you bathe.” Evilin placed a fresh set of clothing and a patched up towel on a large rock that was being bathed in sunlight. “I promised Mamma that I’d gather some nuts and berries for her. I’ll come back in an hour to get ya.”

Alex waited until she could no longer hear the girl before she undressed and entered the lukewarm water. It was very frustrating not being able to see clearly and she found that her head ached from the strain on her eyes. She decided to close her eyes to give them a rest heightening her other senses.

She wasn’t sure how long she had been floating about in the water when she heard the clatter of horses’ hooves approaching. Automatically her eyes flew open and she lowered herself into the water so that her nose was just inches from the surface. Anger welled up inside as she struggled to see the oncoming riders with no avail. Slowly she moved back towards the sound of the waterfall with the hopes of finding a hiding place. She didn’t make it before the riders came into the open, Alex could make out their fuzzy shapes but that was about it. Fearing that any movement would only draw attention to herself, she stood fast in her spot hoping to go unnoticed.

“We’ll water the horses here and break for lunch.” A deep voice sliced through the air scattering several birds that had been nearby. The riders dismounted.

“Luke, I think somebody’s here,” One of the riders had found Alex’s belongings on the rock and now carried them to the fellow addressed. “Either that or they ran away in their birthday suit.” A round of laughter broke forth from the four riders as they scanned the area.

“Have a peek around, Solo, we don’t want anybody stabbing us in the back while we try to eat.” Luke eyed the woods nervously. “Chewie, why don’t you take a swim, make sure there’s no creatures in the water that would want to ruin our party.”

“Why do I have to go in the water?” whined Chewie.

“Cause you stink!” came the answer which was followed by more laughter. “Now get going.” Taking the reins of two of the horses Luke addressed the other man, " Come on, Ben, help me take these guys to the water."

As the two men carried out their orders, Luke and his other companion proceeded to lead the horses to the water for a drink. Alex stayed fixed to her spot her heart pounding in her ears. Carefully sher turned around so that she could judge the distance to the waterfall or some other bit of coverage. Her stomach knotted as she realized she was still a good ways off. Scanning the water she looked for a rock or some vegetation or anything that she could hide behind but there was nothing. Quickly, she made up her mind to try swimming to the opposite bank from where the men gathered, maybe then she could slip into the woods unnoticed. Taking a deep breath she submerged herself under water and began to swim for the shore.