The Blind/Gangster

Chapter Three

Eunice Mariano

I stared at the ceiling for hours, and I couldn't sleep. Even a nap was impossible for me to have. I sighed for the hundredth time, and I was still looking at the same spot on the ceiling as I had been looking at since I lay down to rest. I tried changing positions, trying to find the right spot and the most comfortable way to sleep. The bed is just as comfortable as my bed back in America, but something is just not right. I looked at the time and sighed again.

"It's already six in the morning," I said, and saw the sun shining through the threshold of the door. A shadow appeared and three knocks were made.

"Eunice, wake up. It's breakfast time." Said Mollie from the other side of the door.

"Okay. Let me wash up for a bit, and I'll be there." I responded. Mollie then walked away from the door. I got out of bed and walked to the shower room. I heard noises from the kitchen, and then I heard the voice of a man. After I finished washing up, I walked out and saw a man sitting on the dining table looking and staring at me.

"Who are you?" He asked, holding a mug of coffee.

"Justin Mariano, this is Eunice Mariano, aunt Alice Mariano's only daughter." Mollie introduced me while putting food on the table. "Eunice, this is Justin, my older brother. He stays with us, and his room is upstairs." Mollie introduced him, then she sat down next to her brother.

"I didn't know we had a cousin from aunt Alice." Justin said.

"Well. Aunt Alice didn't want to introduce her to us because, from what I heard, she is a pain in the a**-" Mollie said but immediately stopped when I looked at her in the eye. "What I mean is, aunt Alice couldn't have a chance because of her busy schedule." Mollie rephrased.

"You heard right. I am a pain in the a**." I whispered and sat down in front of them.

"Are you blind?" Justin asked, staring into my eyes.

"No," I answered, and started taking food from the plates in front of me, while looking at them both in the eye, to let them know I was not blind.

"Yes. She is," Mollie said. "Just look at her eyes and her food choices." Mollie said, and held out my hand to stop me. "That's too much hotdog for you, Eunice, I just cooked enough for the three of us." She said, and took the other hotdogs and put it in Justin's plate and hers.

"WTH? Did I just prove something not true? What am I doing?" I asked myself, watching Mollie put food on my plate.

"Eunice, eat, I already put everything on your plate, you can use your hands or you can use utensils. Just tell me if you need help." Mollie said, and they both started eating. I too started eating, staring at nothing, feeling stupid.

"I'm going to the gym." Justin said while we were in the middle of our breakfast.

"Okay." Mollie responded. I looked at Justin and noticed his arms and shoulders with buffed muscles.

"Gym? Can I come with you?" I asked. Both of them looked at me with widened eyes and confusion.

"You go to the gym?" Justin asked me.

"Yeah."

"What do you do there?" Mollie asked.

"I lift weights."

"How?" Mollie asked. I looked at her for a second and breathed in to ignore the stupidity of her question.

"I use my arms, and not my eyes, if that's what you are asking," I answered sarcastically. Mollie then turned to her brother and looked down.

"You can come with me," Justin said.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Mollie asked me.

"No. One is enough. You know, gyms nowadays are not safe." Justin said to his sister and pat her head. "Just tell me what you need and I'll come and help you out."

"Okay," I said, and we finished our meal.

"Change your clothes. Mollie, let her borrow clothes appropriate for gym," Justin said, and started walking upstairs.

"I think I gave you a pair of sports bra and leggings." Mollie said while looking up.

"Yeah. I saw one." I answered and we both walked to my room. Mollie went through all the clothes she gave me while I washed up in the shower room.

"I found it." She said and threw the clothes onto the bed.

"Okay. Thank you." I said and stepped out of the shower room.

"Oh. I just remembered. Your father,-" Mollie said. I stopped her and looked into her eyes. She couldn't continue what she was saying.

"He's not my father," I said.

"Okay. Mr. Clemente, not your father," She rephrased, so I continued what I was doing. "He enrolled you to our school. He called in early this morning to tell me to tell you."

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah. It's a good thing he still knows his responsibility." I said, and wore a white shirt on top of the sport's bra. I smiled half and then walked out of the room, but I immediately bumped into Justin.

"Are you ready?" Justin asked. I looked up at him and glared into his eyes.

"Yes."

"Let's go." He said and took my hand to hold onto his arm. "We'll be back."

"Be careful," Mollie said, and we went out of the house.

We walked side to side. He is an awfully gentle person, but he is not as awkward as Mollie. He just made sure that nobody would bump into me. He would pull me gently or stretch his hand for others not to bump into me. He was nice, Mollie was lucky to have him as a brother.

"We're here," Justin said, and we stopped for him to look around and peek through the glass.

"Why are you both making everything dangerous?" I asked. He looked down at me for a second.

"Do you have gangsters in America?" He asked. I nodded as an answer. "We too, but, here, as simple as eye contact can be dangerous,"

"I won't make one," I promised and smirked.

"I know. Because you are blind. If you can, keep your eyes below eye level. So that we will not stir some trouble." Justin explained while still looking around.

"Okay." I responded and held onto his arms.

"I just hope that girls won't pick on you." He whispered, and we walked inside. He logged our names, got our passes, and all the other necessary things. While I looked around, there were different kinds of men and women here, and I think all of them were gangsters, and they came of different ages.

"What kind of workout will you do?" Justin asked me.

"Whole body workout." I answered.

"Okay. Let's warm up here." Justin said, and led me to a treadmill. He helped with mine and he got on the treadmill next to me. We ran for an hour, we warmed up and then stretched on the side. "How heavy can you lift?" He asked.

"30." I answered.

"Okay." He whispered and got me dumbbells, and we did the same workout at the same time. He didn't leave me even for a second, noticing the look others gave at me. It was uncomfortable, and he knows it.

"Why do you work out?" He asked, mirroring me.

"Because of people like them," I answered, looking only into his eyes.

"You can tell?"

"I can feel."

"Ignore them. I will make sure that they will not touch you."

"They can drool all they want." I whispered, and noticed someone walking towards us. I looked at her and saw a smirk on her face.

"Don't make eye contact," Justin said.

"I already did." I said, and the woman finally got to us.

"Wow. You are so cool." She said with a smirk, looking at the dumbbell I was holding overhead. Then she punched me on my side. I felt the pain, but I made sure not to let go of the dumbbell.

"Yasmin, please, don't." Justin begged.

"Hi. Justin, I'm sorry, I feel like she's glaring at me, and you know how much I hate being glared at." Yasmin said and then punched me again on my side.

"Argh." I groaned.

"Eunice!" Justin screamed, worried, looking at me. I looked at him and breathed in, then stood up, facing Yasmin. I put my hand down holding the dumbbell tight and glaring at her.

"OMG. You just don't want to stop." Yasmin said and was about to slap me in the face, but I punched her in her stomach with the dumbbell. "Argh!" She exclaimed with pain and fell onto the ground.

"Hey!" Two other girls shouted and ran to us. I took a step closer to Yasmin, held out the dumbbell and let it fall into her legs.

"Ow!" Yasmin groaned.

"Eunice!" Justin screamed, he ran to me and held my hand to stop me. The other girls got to Yasmin and immediately attended to her.

"I'm going to send them all to hell." I whispered, and looked around, noticed many people looking and watching us.

"Eunice, that's enough." Justin begged.

"Give her to us, Justin. She needs to be disciplined." One of the girls said and stood up closer to us.

"Rose, please, Yasmin started it." Justin said and pulled me to hide behind him.

"I don't care," Rose said.

"You saw what she did to Yasmin. It's not fair."

"Aileen, you also saw that Eunice was not the first one to throw a punch." Justin explained.

"Justin." Rose called.

"Enough. Can't you see that she's blind?" Justin asked, and the girl was shocked. Their eyes widened. Yasmin stood up holding her stomach.

"No, she's not, I saw her glaring at me." Yasmin said.

"What is she doing here if she's blind?" Rose asked.

"She's strong for someone who is blind," Aileen said.

"Well. What she did was a safety response. You punched her and she defended herself, that is all." Justin explained and the girls looked at each other. "Next time, don't pick on someone holding a dumbbell. Especially a blind one."

"No, Justin. Next time, don't bring her here." Yasmin said.

"I can't understand how a blind person wants to workout in a gym full of gangsters," Rose said.

"I'm just blind, my hands and feet and working just fine." I whispered. "What about you? I think I should hit you on your head to make it more not stupid." I said, raising my eyebrows and peeking to look into their eyes.

"What did you just say, Blindie?" Aileen said and they were about to walk towards me, but Justin pulled me away, and we got out of the gym. They didn't follow though, which is a bummer not to kill them right then and there.

Justin sighed, and shook his head. Disappointed with what has happened and worried about me at the same time. "Eunice, are you okay? Are you fine? Does it hurt?"

"I'm fine and great. I should have punched her harder," I answered. He looked at me and made me look up at him.

"Eunice. Those girls are schooling at our school. They might get their revenge on you there while I'm not around. You should not have done that." He explained and held my hand. We walked back while he looked down.

"I will run to you if they are going to do something funny at me," I said and smiled at him. He stopped walking. I looked at him.

"I should not have brought you there. Those three are gangsters, you are blind, and Mollie can't even throw a punch. What you did earlier was awesome and jawdropping skill for a blind person, but you also put yourself in grave danger. Every gangster present there saw everything, just so you know." He explained.

"And they saw how I defended myself."

"Why are you like that? You were not joking around when you said you were a pain in the a**. But I didn't know it was this bad." Justin shook his head and we headed inside the house. Mollie was cleaning in the kitchen. She stopped as we got inside.

"That was fast? I thought you would be back by lunch?" Mollie asked.

"Next time, let's go to a different gym." Justin whispered to me and let me go.

"Did something happen?" Mollie asked. Justin didn't mind Mollie and headed upstairs.

"Do gangsters around here have ranks too?" I asked Mollie.

"Yeah. Justin is ranked third, which is high considering their age and how many their opponents were. Why?"

"Nothing. Just curious."

"Okay. Anything else?"

"Yeah. Do you know Yasmin, Rose and Aileen?"

"Yeah."

"Their rank?"

"Fourth."

"Last question. The gangsters who are ranked in the top ten, do they study in our school?"

"Yes."

"How do I get in?" I asked.

"Get in?" Mollie asked.

"Get in where?" Justin asked, heading down the stairs.

"Gangster world," I answered. Both of them looked at me, furrowing their brows.

"Why? Why do you want to get in? What are you planning to do?" Justin asked. I shrugged my shoulders as an answer. "You can get in by asking a gangster to take you inside as an audience." He answered. I nodded as a response.

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