In My Eyes

Grace's POV "Please take me home. I don't want to be here anymore." I beg. "It's okay. We only have to get a few more things, and then we can go." My brother tells me. "Nack. Nack." "Okay, I have some snacks for you, Olly," I say as I move my hands around, feeling for the little bag of Cheerios I brought. "Right here." My brother says, and I hear something move, then the sound of the bag being opened "Nack!" Brandon cheers, this time hitting the little tray on the stroller. I hear some cheerios being poured out onto the plastic trays. "Thanks, Justin," I say to my brother. "That's what I'm here for." He says, and I can picture him shrugging and putting his hands in his pockets. "Where are we? What are we near?" I ask. "This is the bread aisle. Why, what do you need?" Justin asks. "More baby powder, diapers, and shampoo," I answer. "Okay, that's a few isles over. We can get that next," Justin says. "How many items are left on the list?" I ask. "We have to get 5 pounds of flour, 6 pounds of sugar-" "Ugh," I groan. "Please, Justin. I really don't want to be here. I want to go home." I beg. "We're getting it because the Luna asked us to. You know the mate ball is coming up, and we're hosting it this year. She asked us to pick up some stuff, and you agreed. You said it was okay." Justin points out. "I know, but that was before we got here. Please, Justin. I don't want to be here." I beg. "It's a crowded grocery store," Justin sighs. "You said that last time," I say quietly. I hate to play that card, but I really have a bad feeling being here. "Hmmm, okay." He sighs, "Give me a second to round up everything really fast. Then we can go." My brother tells me. "Please hurry," I mumble. "Stay here. Don't move." Justin says, and I nod. I feel him leave. "Dink." I hear Brandon say. Oh, I think that's in the cup holders. Yes. I mentally cheer for myself. I always put Brandon's stuff on the left. I stick my left hand out and feel around for the silly cup. "Dink. Dink." Brandon says again, and I hear him slap the little tray, and Cheerios go flying. Oh, I'm never going to find those. "Brandon, it's okay. I'm coming. Just give me a second." I say as I search for the sippy cup still. There it is. I wrap my hand around and start walking around the stroller. "Look at her over there; the little slut has the audacity to continue to fake being blind." I hear some girls talking. Ugh, not this again. Do they not see me struggling just to give my child a drink? Why do they still think I'm faking being blind? "Get out of here." I hear my brother say sternly from a short distance. I gave up fighting them a long time ago. Not many people know what actually happened to me. They just know that one day I could see and the next I couldn't, so a lot of people think I am faking, or if they do know what happened, they think I just made up a story to cover up being a slut. I bend down and put the sippy cup on Brandon's little tray. "Here you go, baby. Mommy loves you." I say as I kiss my baby's cheek. I hear Olly talking to himself right behind Brandon. "Mommy loves you too, baby," I say as I put my hand on Olly's head to figure out where he is and kiss the top of his head. I feel my way to the back of the stroller. I have two twin boys. They're 20 months old. We live with my brother Justin. He's a huge help. I wouldn't be able to do this without him. I wasn't born blind. In fact, I've never heard of a blind werewolf.... then again, I'm not a werewolf. I am supposed to be, but I'm not anymore. When I turned 16 and got my wolf, she rejected me. I didn't even know that was possible, but apparently, it is. I've not heard from her since. "Come on, Gace. Let's go home. You don't need to be around these people." Justin says, much closer to me this time than last time I heard him. "Did you get everything?" I ask. "No, but I'll come back later. You were right. We should have left when you said to earlier." Justin says, putting an arm around my shoulder. Justin's always been that really protective older brother, but that protectiveness only increased when our parents died and again when I lost my sight. "But you said the Luna needs stuff." I hate being away from home, but I know Justin; he will just drop the boys and me off at home and come right back here. He does so much for me that I don't want to make his life harder. "The mating ball isn't until this weekend. I can come back, or the Luna can send someone else." Justin says. "Let's just go." Justin puts his arm back over my shoulder and starts directing me to walk forward, so I push the stroller forwards, and Justin pulls the shopping cart behind us. I'm sure we are getting a lot of stares. Justin helps me load the boys into the car, and then I get in the car, then Justin loads the groceries we bought into the trunk before driving us home. It takes about 20 minutes to get on pack land and another 5 to reach our house. Justin and I have lived in this house our entire lives. We grew up here with our parents. They passed away when I was 14, though. It took a lot of time for Justin or me to even look at their bedroom.... but when we found out I was pregnant, Justin turned their bedroom into a nursery. I'm a lot more independent at home because I have lived there so long; I know where everything is. Once Justin stops the car, I unbuckle and jump out. I feel around for the back seat handle; I open the door and start messing around, trying to unbuckle Olly. Olly grabs a little chunk of my hair and pulls it. "No, no, Olly. Let go of Mommy's hair." I say, pulling my hair away from him. "Need help?" Justin asks; then I hear a car door close. "No. I got him. Can you just make sure the door is unlocked?" I ask "Yeah. I got Brandon." Justin tells me as I pull Olly out of the car. "Thanks," I tell Justin. I hear some keys jingling and then the familiar squeak of the front door open. Justin always makes sure to park in the same spot in the driveway, so I know exactly where I am. I carry Olly inside and can already hear Brandon's little feet walking as he toodles around. I put Olly down, and he toodles off too. When I found out I was having twins, I was terrified. That's twice the work, twice the diapers, twice the midnight feedings. But now that they're a little older, it's nice because they play with each other. "Are you okay now that we're home?" Justin asks. "yeah." I nod. I get nervous leaving the house. "Okay. I'm going to go back there later. Is Chelsea coming over today?" Justin asks. Chelsea is my best friend. Well, really, my only friend. I used to have more friends, but that was before. Chelsea's the only one who stuck around, but even she doesn't come around as much as she used to; I'm okay with that. I don't like people coming into my space. "Yeah, she is. She is helping get everything ready for the mate ball. She said she would come by afterward," I tell Justin. "Okay. I'll go back to the store when she comes over. I don't want to leave you alone," Justin says. "We're at home. I'm fine at home." I tell him. "I know. But I really don't want to leave you alone today for some reason... I don't know. I just have a bad feeling like something is going to happen." Justin says "Why? What do you mean?" I ask. "I don't know; it's just this weird feeling," Justin says as he pats my shoulder. "Okay." I sigh. I turn on a movie, and the boys eventually fall asleep. I may have dozed off too.... okay I definitely did. "Nacky Mommy." I wake up to Olly poking my face. "Oh, Olly. You're always hungry." I yawn. "Nack nack," Brandon also cheers, crawling on top of me. "Okay, I know. I know. What time is it, Justin?" I ask but get no response. Great. How long was I asleep? Is it mid-afternoon or midnight? Do I need to give them a snack or dinner and put them to bed? I pull out my phone and dial Justin's phone number that I have memorized. I hear it ringing from down the hall in his bedroom. "Justin?!" I yell again. I stand up and walk down the hall as I hear the pitter-patter of little feet behind me. "Justin? What time is it?" I asked, knocking on his bedroom door but getting no answer. "Justin, I know you can hear me." I sigh as I open his door. "Justin?" But still, I get no answer. Okay? That's odd. "Nack, Mommy." the boys pout again. "I know, I know," I say, grabbing both their little hands and walking them back out of the room and towards the kitchen. I don't know what I did to make him ignore me. He's never done that before. I hear the squeak of the front door open. Who could that be? Justin's in his room, and the rest of the pack avoids this place. I put the boys inside the empty cabinet that I keep empty for instances like this. "Stay here and stay quiet," I whisper to the boys. I can't do much to protect them when I can't see, but hopefully, they will be okay if they hide and stay quiet. "Hello? Grace?" I recognize that voice. "Chelsea?" I call out. "What are you doing here?" "I told you I would swing by when I was done helping set up for the mate ball. I got out a little bit early, so here I am." Chelsea explains as she walks closer to me. "Where are the boys?" she asks. I walk back over to the cabinet and open the door. "Uh- Grace- you can't keep your children in cabinets when you want a break," she says sarcastically. "I wasn't doing that. I didn't know who you were, so I hid them...... just in case," I explain. "Come on out, boys," I say, bending down and helping them out of the cabinet. "Nack," Brandon says, pulling on my legs. "I know I'm working on it," I say, patting his head. "Need help?" Chelsea asks. "Yeah. What time is it?" I ask "About 3 pm," Chelsea says. "Okay. So just a little snack will be fine then." I put Brandon in the high chair on the left, and I hear Chelsea putting Olly in the chair on the right. "Okay, boys, what do you want to eat? Some crackers?" I ask. "Iceceem," Olly says happily. "No, Olly. Ice creams for a treat after dinner." I remind him. "Iceceem iceceem," the boys start chanting while hitting their little trays. "Okay, well, it looks like you've been outvoted." Chelsea laughs, then I hear the fridge open. "No, Chels. We can't give them ice cream every time they ask for it." I tell her. "YOU can't. But I'm fun, Aunt Chelsea. I can only give them exactly what they ask for every time." She says, and I can imagine that she's already giving the boys spoonfuls of ice cream from the way they are clapping their hands. "Ugh, Chelsea, this is why I don't let you babysit." I groan. "No, you don't let me babysit because you never leave the house." She counters. "Not true. I went to the grocery store today," I say proudly. "So you've left your house all of once this week," She says sarcastically. "Okay, but you know that's a big deal for me," I say. "Yeah, it is. I'm proud of you," Chelsea says. "Thank you." I nod, walking to the fridge to get the boys' sippy cups. "So the mate ball. Are you going?" she asks. "Smooth transition," I comment. "Well, it's what everyone is talking about. We only get to host the mate ball once every like.... 20 years. This is a big deal. And a lot of people are going to find their mates. I hope I find mine." Chelsea explains. "Mooore...... mooore" one of the boys says with a mouth full of food. "No, no more," I say "More," Chelsea says "Ugh, Chelsea. You're going to ruin their dinner." I complain "Ice cream for dinner," she says, and I can imagine the stupid smile on her face. "Chels" "Don't pretend like you've never done this because I have pictures on my phone. I have proof," she says. "Yeah, show me that. I'd looooove to see that." I say sarcastically. "You can't see the glare I'm giving you, so I'm just going to tell you. I'm glaring at you." Chelsea deadpans. "What, you didn't like my blind joke?" I ask sarcastically again. "No, I loved it. I'm glaring at you because I'm mad I didn't think of it." Chelsea comments. "Okay, so anyway. I need you to come dress shopping with me. We need to get dresses." Chelsea says. "You want me to go shopping so you can show me the dresses you might buy. You forget that I'm blind." I answer "Well, you need a dress too," she sighs. "I'm not going," I tell her. "Why not?" she yells. "Because there's no point in me going. I'm not old enough, so I can't find my mate, and I probably don't even have a mate; I don't have a wolf. And if I did have a mate, they'd reject me the second they see me. Nobody wants a blind teen mom as a mate." I shrug. That thought used to upset me, but now I've come to terms with it, and over the years, my fear of leaving the house has only gotten worse, so the chances of my even meeting any new people are slim to none. "Don't be so pessimistic. The mate ball is Saturday, your birthday is on Sunday, and the mate ball goes until 1 am, so technically, nobody can say you're too young to be there. I think they can make an exception for that," Chelsea says "But the boys are too young," I argue. "Take then to the nursery in the packhouse. There are always kids there whose parents are on patrol or busy. It will be fine, and they can play with the other kids," Chelsea says. "You want me to leave them?" I ask "Just for a couple of hours," she says. "But I've never left them." "You have to leave them at some point. It's actually surprising that you made it a year and a half without ever leaving them." Chelsea says. "It's in the packhouse. You know I don't like going there," I state "And why not? You never had a problem with it before." "That was before....... now it's too close. Since the trial, I've not been back, and you know how that turned out." I say sadly "But that's not this. And nothing will happen. Come on. Think of it as just a big birthday party for you." Chelsea says. "With people who either don't like me or don't know me," I say, looking in the direction I think she is in. "Well.......... Grace, come oooooonnnnn please for me. I'm really nervous, and I don't want to go alone." Chelsea begs. "I already know the theme, so I can get us dresses and make sure we both look perfect. And we just found out that Alpha Keaton and the Eclipse pack are coming, and we've always wanted to see them." Chelsea explains. "I wonder if they're as scary as everyone says they are?" "Chelsea, I wanted to see them back when I could see. But them going is just more of a reason for me not to go. What if they are as intimidating as everyone says they are? Then imagine that, but not being able to see at all. I got scared of you when you walked in here." I explain "Please just think about it. At the very least, you and I can have a nice night, and you can be a kid again for one night. I just want to have a fun night like we used to... before." Chelsea explains, saying the last part sadly. "I'll think about it." I sigh. "But I suggest you go dress shopping with someone who can actually see the dress. I won't be much help with that. I'm sorry." I say "Okay, I can live with that," she says excitedly. "I didn't say I'd go. I just said I'd think about it." I say again. "Oh, I'm so excited," she screams. "What's all the yelling about?" Justin says, walking into the room with some loud bags. "Grace is going to the mate ball with me!" Chelsea says. "I said I'd think about it." I clarify. "And you. Why did you ignore me earlier?" I ask, looking in Justin's direction. "Ignore you? Oh, I went to the grocery store again, and I realized once I got there, I left my phone." Justin says "You weren't in your room?" I ask "No," Justin says. "Did you need something?" he asks. "I just wanted to know what time it was, but Chelsea helped me. "Okay, are you sure you don't need anything?" he asks, but before I can answer, "Chelsea stop feeding them ice cream!" "Never! HA HA HA," Chelsea says and gives her best evil laugh. "Gimme that." Justin grunts. "Boys! Help! Justin's hurting fun, Aunt Chelsea!" she yells. "Iceceem!!!" both boys shout from the high chairs. I like hearing my little boys laugh. Okay, now to figure out how to get out of going to this without making my one friend hate me.