“Ugh, I want to get out of this Hell Hole” thought Alyssa while sitting in her 1st period Art class, it was a Monday morning and she would give anything to be anywhere else but in this old dingy school building. Alyssa was quietly stippling the moon that the decrepit pudgy old teacher made her practice on when all of a sudden the room was alive with a new piece of gossip, cellphones all around the room vibrated as word of the latest news spread through the small school. There was a new kid, and, he was blind. Alyssa didn’t really care for most people in the first place, but, the idea of this new student peaked her interest, she had never met anyone blind in her small town so she didn’t know what to expect. Alyssa plodded through the day all the while looking for the new kid, she didn’t see him in any of her classes, but, at the end of the day they ended up having a chance meeting.

Alyssa was walking across the commons towards the exit of the building with her headphones in, not really paying attention to anything in particular when all of a sudden someone bumped into her, almost knocking her over. She snapped “What are you!? Blind!?” and turned to see who bumped into her, she promptly felt horrible because, the person had in fact been blind, it was the new kid. The new kid spoke “Why yes, I am blind, thanks for reminding me, asshole.” Alyssa was taken aback by his attitude, but, she still felt bad about calling him blind so she apologized “Oh my god I’m so sorry I didn’t mean that”, he replied “It’s okay, I’ve had a long day, I shouldn’t have called you that” Alyssa decided that she’d make the best of this chance meeting so she asked him “Well I haven’t met you before, what’s your name?” The new kid replied “Joe, my name is Joe, and yours?” Alyssa pondered her response, should she tell him her real name and possibly have him associate her name with a bad experience, or lie, and try again fresh some other time, after all, he surely wouldn’t recognize her. She decided to be honest and try to salvage things with Joe, after all, he was pretty cute, “My name is Alyssa, and I’m sorry about what I said” A smile crept across Joe’s face, “It’s okay, I was the one who bumped into you.” From that moment they were instant friends they stood there talking for almost 2 hours and then parted ways

Alyssa and Joe began to spend every waking moment together, and, it started to show in Alyssa’s grades. In response to her plummeting scores Alyssa’s parents forbid the two from seeing each other, they took away her phone, her computer, and escorted her to school and back. Alyssa was crushed by the loss of her new found friend and crush, so, she decided that the two would meet late one night after she snuck out of her home. Everything went well, she was able to “borrow” her father’s car and drive to the outskirts of town where Joe lived, the two spent the night together and in those intimate moments they fell in love. They kissed and cuddled and made the best of these few hours that they had together. Alyssa left at about 3 in the morning, and hurried home, she knew that her parents would be up in less than 2 hours and she had to still get some sleep. In her hurrying she accidentally blew through a stop sign. Unluckily for her there was a cop also at the same intersection who decided to pull her over. Even after she begged him not to the officer called Alyssa’s parents to come pick her up.
Nothing was said or heard from Alyssa for several weeks after the incident, she wasn’t at school, she wasn’t logged on to any social networking sites, nothing. Finally someone heard a rumor that she had been sent to a boarding school several states over. The second Joe heard the rumor he stumbled out of class and made his way to the train station with the intention of getting the fastest train there. Joe wanted to see Alyssa, he wanted to spend every moment he could with her, she had asked to see his eyes but he had refused, he was embarrassed of them, they were ugly, alien, it was like a scar left for the world to see, and all he wanted to do was hide them behind his sunglasses. Once he got to the building he found his way to the main office and asked for Alyssa. The boarding school had strict policies against outside visitors but the administrator was so touched by Joe’s story and disability so he allowed the visit, but only once, and only for 10 minutes.

When Alyssa saw Joe she broke out in tears, the two embraced and for what seemed like hours but was really only a brief few minutes. Once the two teenagers broke the embrace they started to talk, Alyssa talked of how she had missed Joe and how much she had wanted to see him, but, she had two questions that Joe had refused to answer in the past so she asked them “Where are you from Joe?” Joe wasn’t comfortable talking about his past, he was embarrassed to talk about his mother’s drug habit so he replied “I don’t want to change your perception of me, so I don’t want to tell you” Alyssa was upset about his answer but didn’t want to push the issue so she asked her final question “What do your eyes look like? You’re always wearing your sunglasses” Joe replied “I will let you see me eyes, but, only this once.” He removed his glasses and showed his eyes, Alyssa was amazed “Oh my god, you’re entire eyes are white like cotton…” Just then the administrator entered the room taking Joe by the arm and leaving Alyssa to watch out the window as Joe walked off the property. Alyssa never heard from Joe, he disappeared from her life without a trace, leaving Alyssa to wonder; “Where did you come from, where did you go, where did you come from cotton-eye Joe.”