Echolocation helps when you're blind(i'm a bat bitch!)
My head was in the clouds when a brief tug pulled me to the real world.
"Hnn?" I grunted, a bit confused about what's going on. When I blinked a couple of times, I realized that everything was black. What? I was pretty sure that we were picked up in the morning, so that should mean that it would have been the afternoon. My internal clock told me I only slept for about 2 hours so I know I didn't sleep for too long.
As the tugging on my arm increased, I turned to observe the cause. When I had moved, something on my head shifted. Was that...cloth? Perplexed, I raced through different reasons why they covered my head. Nothing added up that would make sense until further investigation. With a reminder to look for more information later, I moved my hand to stop the tugging.
"Ooooguh?" Squishy's curious voice inquired. Good, at least he's with me. The sound of children speaking and laughing reaches my ears. We must be at the orphanage then. Feeling the area around me, I made contact with the ribbing of the crib.
Not bad, we have plenty of space to take our nap time then. I wanted to see-er I guess feel Squishy so I turned over to my right with a little difficulty and squeezed his hands for comfort. The cloth over my head was thick so I couldn't see anything at all. My body wasn't fully operational yet, so removing it wasn't an option either.
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The aforementioned twin was a bit confused himself. When he had woken up he immediately searched for his warmth. Locating it took him only a couple of seconds, but the sight that had greeted him caught him by surprise. A large black blob covered him with only arms and legs visible. Sensing the distress the other was under through their bond, he reached out to tug the other to have his twin's attention. It had worked for a little while but he had noticed the other's quickening breaths and did the only thing he knew that could calm his twin down.
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Honestly, not being able to see made me a little tense. Am I truly that awful-looking to the point of needing to cover my face? While inwardly panicking I didn't notice Squishy shifting closer. The feeling of warmth had me startled until I noticed what my brother was doing. While a little awkward because of their changed positions, he had wrapped his pudgy arms around me as best as he could in a semblance of a bear hug.
My love for him grew even more right then and there. As each second passed, my breathing grew slower and slower until it was back to normal. When I had calmed down I my head tilted up to kiss his head through the cloth. It's too bad that I can't see him, I miss seeing his face.
The only thing that I can do for now is to wait and observe what happens.
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11 months later
Almost a year has passed and my situation hasn't changed much. Our needs are met but other than getting fed and changed, we don't spend time with our caretakers. I never did get to see Ms .Rat and Ms. Toad face to face again. They usually go to another room when we're there.
The children are told not to disturb us and the adults avoid us so there's no one to interact with. When we're let out of our crib, I prefer to stay in the corner of the room and daydream while my brother tries to play with the others. After the usual failure to acquire a plate mate, he comes to me in our usual corner and slumps on my dozing figure. I don't mind it but I'm worried about Squishy being affected. I read from a childcare book that the amount of attention and care given to a baby can affect their mental growth. I want him to have no hesitation in asking me for help so I help him when he's troubled. On the other hand, we're always together so there's no need to worry about us getting hurt from either side.
The black cloth from before was a scarf from one of the matrons and now I have my own designated blindfold. I prefer it much more than the scarf from before to be honest. It's black and the material is much softer than the scarf. Whereas the scarf had covered my whole head, my blindfold only covers about a third of my face from the eyes and up. The only time when I'm allowed to take it off is when I'm bathed or going to sleep. Other than that? I have to wear it all the time. I don't care for it much and only panicked that one time because I didn't know what was going on. It's become second nature for me to have it on to the point where I feel very bare when I take it off.
Right now we're in the corner of the playroom playing with blocks. I'll say this very bluntly, being practically blind and trying to build up a tower with blocks is a very arduous challenge, especially with the motor skills of a one-year-old baby. Fortunately, Squishy helps direct my hands to make sure each cursed block stays straight. Thank God for Squishy, or I would have given up and metaphorically stared at the wall in boredom.
That would have been a sight to see. A blindfolded baby staring at a wall. Hilarious.
(My humor was never the best. A lifetime of no social interactions outside the business of work does that to you)
Regarding the eye problem, I found a loophole. It had actually happened by accident.
It was when I had woken up from my morning nap that one of the caretakers had stumbled in. It was raining hard outside and the raindrops hit the ground loudly. I had always liked the sound of rain so I concentrated on listening to it. As each drop falls, the vibrations from the ground start to form some sort of image in my mind. It was similar to how bats use echolocation. I mused a bit more on the thought that the forced blindness had caused my body to be more sensitive to sound waves. Nonetheless, I had done some experiments to work on the theory. Usually, listening to the afternoon radio had proven beneficial for 'seeing' the area around me.
Currently, I'm able to 'see' the orphanage—although the bathrooms are a bit fuzzy—from the front to back and from the basement to the top of the roof. The orphanage is a six-story building with twenty rooms on each floor. It'll take some time until I'm able to 'see' farther than that. Usually, I can only make out plain large figures but I'm focusing on making out smaller and more detailed objec—
Thunk.
Wincing, I rub my forehead where a block landed off on. Turning towards where it fell, I narrowed my eyes and glared as best as I could at it. Curse you, you insufferable piece of wood. You should have been left as a tree so that you'd at least have some contribution to our lives. The soft coos from Squishy distracted me from my inner tirade towards the block. "Agabooboo" chu. Giggling from his kiss, I squeeze his hand in the reassurance that I was fine.
That reminds me of another thing; I've been taking down mental notes and observations of our lives in the orphanage and one thing that had stuck out to me was my brother's unending energy. It's like he's on a sugar rush every time we wake up after our naps. The only time he actually calms down is when he's with me.
Squishy's a rather curious baby and doesn't hesitate to crawl out of our crib to explore. Inevitably, he's caught as usual and gets brought back. When he comes back, he always babbles about what he saw and I would listen to him every time. I'd fall asleep to his rambles and when he finally notices, he'll shuffle around and as usual, lay down on top of me and konk out.
Shaking myself out of my inner monologue I returned my attention to my twin. Smiling at me, he lays himself on my legs and babbles about his day.
Laying back on a strategically placed pillow I goofily smiled in bliss. It's nice to know we still follow the same habits. I don't think I would ever get tired of this.