Chapter 2

Cedric unexpectedly chased after me and helped rebandage the wound on my arm.

"Nicole, your eyes are fine, right? Can you stop being so upset now?" he said gently. "As long as your eyes are still okay, it's not a big deal, right? The doctor said it wouldn't have much of an impact. I just can't bear to see you become blind. Celine had constantly told me how painful a blind person's world was, and I was really starting to lose patience with it."

Realizing he might have been too harsh earlier, Cedric softened, trying to soothe me.

"I thought you were purposely trying to make me blind," I replied sarcastically, ignoring Cedric's attempts to appease me.

I walked with Cedric toward the hill behind the house where we often went for walks.

As my vision faded from blurry shapes to complete darkness, I realized the sky had already turned dark.

I had no choice but to grab the corner of Cedric's shirt.

A while later, I felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.

Rowena's frantic voice came through. "Cedric, Celine's right eye has worsened, and now she can't see at all. She's at the hospital and threatening to die. You need to come stop her!"

Cedric quickly pulled his hand away from mine and rushed back.

The path we had taken back seemed endless, and by the time we were halfway, the sky had fully darkened. The valley around me was pitch-black, and I could see nothing. My phone was dead too.

I grabbed Cedric again. "Cedric, can you take me back first? I can't see, and my phone's out of battery."

He ignored my pleas, brushing me off as he hurried away.

The sound of rustling leaves echoed in the empty valley, shattering the last bit of my rationality.

I screamed into the darkness. "Cedric, come back! I can't see! My phone's dead! I don't know how to get back!"

In the endless darkness, I clung to Cedric like he was my lifeline, but all that answered me was the echo of my own voice bouncing off the walls of the valley.

He was gone, and my world had become nothing but darkness.

He knew how terrified I was of the dark, yet he still left me alone on the hill.

Tears blurred my vision, and despair seeped into my bones.

I grabbed a branch to use as a makeshift walking stick, but in my panic, I lost my footing and tumbled down the slope.

The pain clouded my thoughts, and I suddenly remembered something from long ago.

Cedric and I used to take walks on the back hill. He would always wrap me in his arms and say, "What if there's a wild beast on the hill that eats my Nicole?"

Sometimes, when we stayed out too late and night fell, he would gently reassure me, "Nicole, don't be afraid. I'm here."