Visions

Jaeneung alighted off at the bus stop after Kylie's. He wore his bag with only one arm, his zipper nearly falling off. Behind the bus stop was a massive white building, a hospital. He lowered his head and walked forward, climbing up the stairs to the hospital and entering.

He walked up to the entrance and the doors automatically opened, sending a rush of cold air conditioner air straight to his face and blowing his hair back that covered his eyes. The all too familiar pungent smell of hand sanitizer and bleach also hit Jaeneung straight in the face. "This place wreeks of old people." Jaeneung spit into his right arm, putting his mouth to it and cleaning his tongue on it.

"Do you need any help?" A young female nurse came up to her, she clicked her pen on and off continously.

"Don't need to be nervous, I won't bite you." Jaeneung could tell she was nervous from the way she talked and acted. "I'm just here for an appointment with...Dr Geraldo." Jaeneung barely recalled the name of his own doctor.

"Great, would you please come over here?" The nurse started walking away, supposedly towards the front desk.

"Wait-" Jaeneung couldn't tell where she was moving, the marble floor allowed for him to tell who was walking where but suddenly her foot steps disappeared. Jaeneung reached his leg out cautiously, his school shoes stomped onto something soft and cushy, it was carpet.

"Tch." Jaeneung walked anyways with stride in his step and walked towards the front counter. With each step he moved cautiously, first putting his leg out before putting his entire body weight into it.

"A bad leg eh?" An older woman spoke to Jaeneung on the other side of the counter. "Where's your walking stick?"

"Hey-" The nurse from before tugged at her shoulder, signaling her to keep quiet.

"That's half of the point of why I'm here. I need a walking stick, but just, send me to Dr Geraldo's office." Jaeneung sighed as he tapped impatiently on the counter.

"Okay." The nurse sounded sheepish as she typed away at her computer.

"You're visually impaired." The other woman jutted in. "Dr Geraldo isn't a ophthalmologist. Truth be told he's pretty weird, he believes in all sorts of weird pseudo-science bullshit."

"I'm well aware, that's why I booked an appointment with him, and why I've booked many appointments with him before." Jaeneung smiled at the two of them.

"Hey listen here kid, being blind is tough, it sure is. But this magic chakra energy crystal shit isn't gonna heal you, it's all bullshit and just another way to take money out of ya' pockets." She lowered her voice.

"Pst!" The nurse who was at the computer tugged at her, signaling her to keep quiet.

"I can choose who I want to see and why I want to see them. Do you have my diagnosis?" Jaeneung turns to the other nurse, looking at her with his blank blurry white eyes. He stared off into darkness, not making eye contact with her.

She clicked her tongue and kept quiet, keeping her own mouth shut. "Here's your appointment, he'll be ready anytime. Just walk into his office on the left." The nurse stood up and pointed at the corridor.

"Thanks." Jaeneung took the receipt off the nurse and started walking away.

"What was that about?" The nurse tugs at the other woman again.

"I don't trust that Dr Geraldo." The woman crossed her arms. "I don't trust him at all."

x x x x x

"Hello?" Jaeneung opened the door, only to be hit with the same smell of hand sanitizer and bleach that plagued all the other rooms in the hospital.

"Ah yes!" A deep male voice spoke to him in a jamaican accent. "You must be Jaeneung!" Jaeneung nodded in acknowledge as he let go of the cold door handle, walking in to the room. He closed the door behind him as he slowly walks to the stool located near his desk. "Please, take a seat."

Jaeneung set his bag down on the ground and took a seat on the stool. "Just you today?" Dr Geraldo asks. "Not with your younger brother?"

"He's got school." Jaeneung answers Dr Geraldo's question.

"Okay, great!" Dr Geraldo finishes his work on the computer and turns away, turning to face Jaeneung on his chair that could rotate. "How are you?"

"I've been fine." Jaeneung took a deep sigh. "I use to have a tiny glimpse of my eye sight in my right eye for a while, maybe a couple years. It wasn't much, but it allowed me to see small glimpses of the world, it allowed me to appreciate my art. But I knew this day would come, I would one day completely lose my vision and be completely rendered useless."

"Aw c'mon man!" Dr Geraldo placed his hand on Jaeneung's shoulder. His cold rough hands rustled his school uniform. "You're not useless!"

"It sure does feel like I am." Jaeneung removed Dr Geraldo's hands from his shoulder. "It happened about 4 months ago, a couple weeks after our most recent appointment."

"Hmm." Dr Geraldo places his hand up to his chin. "That is truly peculiar." Dr Geraldo turns and faces his computer, typing something. "What you have is glaucoma. Here in your previous reports it says you had chemical burns directly to the eye, increasing the already blinding affects of glaucoma and causing you to rapidly lose your sight. It's a peculiar case for sure." Dr Geraldo sighs.

"So what about it doc?" Jaeneung asks with a hint of optimism in his voice.

"Glaucoma has no cure, atleast not yet, and your visions been permanently skewered by the chemical burns. I'd say your chances of ever getting your eyesight back are slim to none."

Jaeneung sits there in silence for a while. He knocked his head back and laid it gently onto the wall. He took a deep breath in and exhaled. "I had this vision, when I was 12."

Dr Geraldo turns and looks at Jaeneung. "Were you able to see?"

"No. My eye sight at 12 was still terrible, the chemical burns were fresh and I hadn't healed one hundred percent yet, but I could make out certain colors and shapes. If they were distinct enough I could tell what it was, that's how I was able to appreciate my own art." Jaeneung grabbed his jeans with his hand, crushing and scrunching them. "But this time, it wasn't like I opened my eyes momentarily and saw the world, far from it."

"So what was it?" Dr Geraldo questions Jaeneung.

"Doc, are you perhaps aware of the rare condition known as Synesthesia?"