The next day got JC excited to test out his cane again.  After a shower, JC bound, carefully so as not to trip over anything, down the stairs.

            “Hey Tyler,” JC shouted.  “Let’s go for a walk!”

            “God, you’re like a dog or something.  Walk me, walk me.”

            “Watch it man, I got a weapon.”

            “That’s not a weapon, it’s a visual aid.”

            “Whatever man.”

            This walk seemed to go much like the one before.  Smooth and without incident.  Until the very end.

            JC knew he was close to his house when he heard something.  Something like…..a car.  And it sounded like it was stopping.  He froze.  Wait.  Check the sides….grass.  At least he wasn’t IN a driveway.  ‘It’s just the neighbors,’ he told himself.  ‘Just the neighbors, just the neighbors….’

            “JC!”

            Justin.

            “Hey man what’s up?  Haven’t seen ya in a while, how’s it going?  Feeling better since you escaped the hospital?”

            ‘Please don’t notice….please don’t say anything….’

            “Um, Jace.  What…..is….that….thing that you have?”

            JC knew he had to come up with something.  Unfortuantely the object in his hand made lying a near impossibility.  “It’s,”

            “Isn’t that one of those things blind people use?”

            “Well,”

            “You’re not….blind….are you?”

            There was no getting around it now.  He knew.  Justin knew.  And JC wasn’t sure how to explain it.

            “My….you’re blind?  And you never told us?  What were you thinking?  You think we wouldn’t have figured this out?  You think we’re stupid or something?”

            “Justin, let me explain,” JC stammered.

            “Explain?  You’re just explaining this now?  To me all that needs explaining is that you don’t trust us.”

            JC wasn’t sure what had just happened until he heard the start of a motor.  Frozen in his spot, JC stood there until he imagined that Justin was far off in the distance.

            ‘Why didn’t I tell him before?’ he thought.  ‘Do I really not trust him?’

            “Don’t worry about him Jace.  He’s just in shock, that’s all,” said Tyler.

            ‘Is that really what it is?’ JC continued to think.  ‘Is it really just shock?  Now that I’m blind, will he still want to associate with me?  A cripple?  Will we even be able to do anything together anymore?’

            It was then that the reality of the whole situation finally hit JC.  This wasn’t some game that was going to end soon.  It wasn’t just trying on the accessories.  His life had just been turned upside down.  Not only that, he would have to find a new life, more than he was only capable of fantasizing of.  That meant change.  Changes that might not be pretty.  That- scared him.