The next morning, Ashley woke to the sounds of the guys trying to prod Justin out of bed. After a few more minutes of prodding, Tiny came over to Ashley's bedside.
"Ashley, will you go for a walk with us? I really want you to. That is if we can get Justin out of bed. He is proving to be on the difficult side of things today."
Tiny smiled at her, and tried to make the Puppy face that Justin was famous for. Ashley laughed.
"Tiny, Justin is so much better at that than you are. Now hand me my jacket and let a real Master show you how to get someone to do something that they don't want to do."
She put her jacket on and zipped it up. She walked over to the curtain and yanked it open. She was greeted by the stares of four other guys. She looked at Justin, who was sitting in the bed with the covers pulled up to his chest, wearing a sweatsuit. She looked at the guys who were watching her and smiled evilly at them.
"Ok Justin, let's go, get thy ass outta that bed." She flipped the covers off of him. He grumbled.
"Leave me alone. I don't want to go out there and be made fun of." He folded his legs under him to prevent her from grabbing his feet.
Ashley sighed."Justin, no one is going to make fun of you. If I can walk around the hospital and have a half normal life while being blind, then you can do it too. I will help you as much as you need it."
She waited for Justin to make the next move. He sat there silently. All of a sudden he started sobbing. Everyone looked at each other in shock. This was something new. Justin NEVER cried. Ashley walked to him and took him in her arms. She held him while he cried.
"It's ok Justin, let it out, go ahead and cry, No one is going to fault you for it. Take as long as you need." She waited for him to finish crying. After what seemed like an enternity he spoke.
"I am so scared. I can't see your faces anymore. What's going to happen to me? What's going to happen to your careers. You are going to end up having to either go on without me or postpone your careers until I get my sight back. What if I don't get my sight back? I am scared."
Ashley patted him on the shoulder."Justin, no one is going to abandon you. And they won't make fun of you. If you want to go for a walk and then come back fine, if not, that is fine as well but no one here is going to abandon you. Are we guys?"They all voiced their answers and waited for Justin to make the next move.
Justin nodded," I guess I can try I mean I'm going to have to do it sometime aren't I? I am just so scared that something will happen. What do I have to do?"
Ashley smiled and picked up the sunglasses off of the bedside table."First you have to protect your eyes even though you have those bandages in place."
She told Justin that she was going to touch his hand so he could get the sunglasses. He nodded and waited. Then she told him to make sure he wore a jacket because it was chilly out. He was reaching around for his jacket when Lance spoke.
"Justin, I have your jacket, im going to hand it to you now allright?" He waited until Justin nodded and then touched his hand, placing the jacket in his hand.
After he put the jacket on, he waited for someone else to say something. When no one did he started to feel a little panic.
" Guys? Where are you? Ashley? Please don't leave here alone like this. Where are you? Please" He was on the verge of hysterics when he heard Ashley's voice.
"Justin? It is ok. You are allright, I want you to follow my voice and come out to the hall. No one is going to guide you. You need to learn to make it to the door. I want you to count the steps you are taking, and don't be afraid to put your hands out in front of you. Act like you are walking in the dark ok?You can do it Justin."
Justin listened to her as she talked, he felt a little ridiculous holding his hands out in front of him like an idiot. His hand touched something solid and he jerked his back. He put his hand forward again and struck it a second time. He stopped for a minute and touched it.
"This feels like small table. Am I right?" He looked up and cocked his head listening for more sounds
"You are doing great Justin, That WAS a table, I'm proud of you. You are almost here. Justin watch out for the-"
She didn't get to finish her sentence. Justin tripped over a bag that was on the floor. He fell on his knees and grunted in frustration. Joey was about to help him when Justin started laughing.
"It's kind of like being in a fun house thats completely dark. You don't know what's in here and you don't know where everything is. It scares me, I never knew this could be hard work. Someone is standing next to me because I can hear them breathing.Who is it?"
Joey let out a breath." Joey, let me help you up." Justin placed his hand on Joey's arm and felt himself being lifted. He heard the scraping of stuff being kicked out of the way as he made his way forward.
"Joey, don't I have to do this on my own. It hurts and it scares me, but I need to know that I can do it. Are there anymore obstacles in the way?"
He heard some other things being scraped out of the way and smiled in spite of himself. 'I can do this' he started thinking to himself. He stood up straight. "Ashley, where are you? Start talking so we can make it out of here I am anxious to feel that sunlight on my shoulders."
Ashley started talking," I'm here Justin, you can do it. Just a little further, There is a table on your right,move to your left just a little. That's right. Just a couple more steps. Now, Reach your right arm out in front of you halfway. What do you feel?"
Justin did as she said and felt his hand come into contact with something soft and warm he ran his arm up and down it, until he reached the hand. He felt the hand, noting the contours of it. He came to a bandage on the thumb and smiled.
"Jc, I thought it was you, man, you could have helped me out by talking instead of being silent." He laughed as he felt the older man's arms close in around him.he hugged him back. and covered his ears.
"What's the matter Justin," Chris' voice.
"I am ok Chris, the amount of noise in the hallway is amazing. I can hear and smell so many different things. I can smell the food that they are bringng up, which is actually making me hungry. I can hear that cranky old nurse in the nurses station."
He smiled sadly and whispered." But I wish I could see it all too"
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