Percy woke with a jolt. All he could see was black. He couldn't open his eyes.

Percy was about to start panicking when he heard Brenda.

"Percy!" She said relieved. Percy was suddenly pulled into a hug, startling him.

"B-Brenda?" He stuttered. "W-what's going on? W-where am I?"

Brenda sighed. "You're in the hospital. You scared me half to death y'know."

"B-Brenda...." Percy gulped. "W-why can't I-"

Brenda understood his fear and decided to answer him before he finished.

"You have bandages over your eyes. The doctors said your not blind, but they had to properly cover the back of your head."

Percy let out a shaky sigh of relief.

But his relief was short lived as he heard the voices of two people he really didn't want to be around like this.

"Percy?" The voice of his mother, Eli Patterson, came from somewhere to his right.

"Thank goodness you woke up, son." His father, Jonathan Patterson, chimed in.

As arms wrapped around him, Percy tensed up.

The arms released him. Eli spoke.

"Oh, sweetheart. We are so sorry."

"F-for what?" Percy stuttered.

"We should have fixed this years ago." Jonathan said as Percy felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Now you've gotten hurt because we didn't." His mother sounded as though she were about to cry.

On instinct, Percy reached toward the sound of his mother's voice in an attempt to comfort her. He felt someone take his hand, pressumably his mother, and hold it.

With a shaky voice Percy spoke.

"I-it's not your f-fault, Mom. I-I wasn't feeling well, I-I guess I was just exhausted f-from the flight d-down."

The doctor's voice sounded from behind Percy's parents. "Mr. and Mrs. Patterson? We will need confirmation for the surgery."

Hearing this Percy was shocked. "S-surgery?"

"It's about time we got that problem of yours fixed, son." Jonathan said sternly.

"You-you gave them permission to do surgery on me!" He exclaimed.

"It's for the best, sweetheart." Eli said.

Percy felt a hand on his cheek but he quickly pulled away as well as taking his hand from his mother's.

"You gave them permission without my consent."  He said quietly.

"We are your parents." His father stated. "We know what's best."

Percy couldn't help it. He bursted out laughing.

"Nothing's changed." He said once he calmed his laughter.

"Sweety-" his mom started but Percy interrupted.

"From the day I was diagnosed, you guys have always known what is best for me."

Percy sighed.

"Tell me. Is scaring your child into believing that if he can't see certain colors, he can't ever be normal, best?"

Percy waited for an answer, but none came. So he continued.

"Is patronizing your son because he wanted to work with animals, best? You did that by telling him he would never be able to tell the difference between one animal and the next, all because he can't see colors other than blue or purple!" Percy was growing angry now. He was finally telling his parents how he felt.

"Son, this is ridiculous." Jonathan said.

"No, dad. What's ridiculous is the fact that because I couldn't see other colors, I wasn't going to be anything worth while in your eyes." Percy snapped.

"Percy!" Eli exclaimed. "That is not true. Your father and I love you dearly."

"Mom, I'm not stupid." Percy sighed. "Do you honestly think I didn't hear your arguments when I was little."

His parents grew silent until his father finally spoke.

"You're getting the surgery. That's final."

Percy sighed in frustration as he heard them leave.

Brenda spoke shortly after, startling Percy slightly.

"Well that was unexpected."

"Oh, you're still here." He said relieved.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" She asked.

"I was sure they would have kicked you out when they came in." Percy replied.

"Oh" Brenda said.

She fell silent for a few minutes.

"Brenda, what are these for anyway?" Percy broke the silence, gesturing to the bandages.

"They're there to help keep any wounds from opening." She said.

"My head was split open!?" Percy exclaimed, his hands flying to the back of his head. There he felt where they tied the bandages, not a hard knot to untie. If I  could figure out what the bandages are actually for, I might be able to take them off enough to get out of here.

"What? No." Brenda said. She fell silent again. "Y'know I actually don't know why they put those on you."

"Miss." A female voice to the right of Percy spoke.

"Yes," Brenda said.

"You will have to leave, visiting hours for family only will begin soon." The lady said.

"Oh, ok thank you."

Percy heard the woman's footsteps go down the hall.

"Well, I better get going." Brenda said.

"Yeah." Percy sighed. "See you later, Brenda."

Brenda chuckled a bit. "I'm actually not sure if that was intentional or not on your part."

"What?" Percy questioned. Then realized what he had said.

He laughed. "Really?"

Brenda laughed some more.

"Get out of here before I throw something at you." Percy playfully warned, placing his hand behind him to feel a pillow there.

"Yeah, yeah." Brenda giggled.

Percy heard her footsteps leave the room and go down the hall.

Okay, Percy took a deep breath.  Here goes nothing.

Just as he was about to reach up to the bandages, Percy heard voices in the hallway.

"Are you sure that's a possibility, doctor." It was his mother.

"Yes, patients have been known to go blind because of the surgery. But there is always a chance it could cure your son."

Percy was shocked. He quickly went to undo the bandages.

"Don't worry, we know what to do in order to keep your son's eyesight intact." The doctor's voice sounded echo-y as it continued from down the hall.

Percy undid the knot on the back. The bandages fell from his eyes. The cold air meeting his eyelids stung slightly.

Percy carefully opened his eyes. For once he was extremely happy to see the blue and purple room greeting his gaze. Except the room was very blurry.

Footsteps sounded in the hall. They were getting closer to his door.

Percy looked around and saw a window, also seeing that he was still in his clothes.

Well, at least that's one thing I don't have to worry about.

Percy got up to go to the window and found his arm had an IV in it. He quickly took it out and went to the window.

Thankfully he was on the first floor in the hospital, in the ER. He looked around the room and saw that his belongings, and boots, were in a chair near the window.

Percy quickly slipped on his boots and slipped his jacket and backpack on.

Percy looked for a way to open the window, luckily it opened like any other window.

Sorry Brenda, he thought. But I can't just let them mess with my eyes when there's a chance I won't see again.

He opened it and was able to get his legs out and onto the ground when the doctor and his parents entered the room.

Percy had been so focused on getting out the window, he didn't realize how close they were to getting to his room.

"What are you doing!?" His father yelled.

Without a word Percy bolted into the woods.

He could barely hear the doctor shouting for security.

Percy ran as fast and as far as he could.

The bandages swung loosely around his neck. Soon he found himself in a forest near the mountain side. The security and his father had chased him for quite a while.

"Son!" Jonathan yelled. "We only want to help you!"

Percy rolled his eyes, though it was a little painful.

Percy continued to run until he could no longer hear them persuing him.

Percy stopped to take a breather and look around at where he was.

He was near what looked to be a cave. In the distance Percy noticed a slight glow of blue and purple lights.

I should probably lie low for a while. He thought.

Percy walked toward the cave cautiously.

He peaked inside. All he saw was a deep cave with rocks and sticks strewn about the ground.

Percy glanced back toward the direction he had run from.

Anywhere is better than the hospital, I suppose.

Percy walked into the cave and sat on the ground against the wall.

He realized his eyesight was still blurry, despite how long he had removed the bandages.

Perhaps these were preventing something from happening to my eyes.

Percy thought.

He took a deep breath. He fumbled with the bandages around his neck.

I guess it couldn't hurt to let my eyes rest with these over them. He thought.

Percy took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He placed the bandages and tied them tight enough to stay in place but, loose enough to take them off again.

Percy sighed and rested back on the wall and listened to the sounds around him.

After a while the silence was broken when he heard something he wasn't ready for.

"Are you okay?"