People always desired the things they didn’t have. After gaining it, they would miss the things they had lost. The two boys sat close to each other. The tourists bustled by but they stayed in the same place. Gao Xing was the eyes of his parents. His family rarely came to crowded places like this. His bright eyes hid a trace of anxiety. The sound of the visitors scared him. Holding the bench, he stared at the aquarium shop. His blind mother was buying penguin ice cream for him. This had to be a special day because his parents wouldn’t buy something like this for him. His blind mother carefully walked out of the shop with the ice cream. She couldn’t see, so she had to use her hands to guard the ice cream for her child. Her body was bent over as she tried to shield the ice cream with her body.
His mother’s world was dark. Only his voice was her guidance.
Gao Xing was about to call his mother when another woman walked out with two ice creams. She was confident and beautiful. She was glowing. When the two mothers stood together, the contrast was great.
The woman was very polite and kind. She helped the blind mother with a smile as they moved toward the bench. Gao Xing would remember this sense forever. ‘If only she’s my mother…’
Gao Xing looked at Gao Cheng beside him. The blind boy couldn’t see anything, but there was no fear on his face. He seemed to know that his mother would come to fetch him.
The blind mother kept thanking the other lady and handed the ice cream to Gao Xing. The ice cream had melted and dripped on the mother’s fingers, but she didn’t mind. She licked it off. She wouldn’t splurge on luxury like this herself, but she would buy it for Gao Xing. However, Gao Xing was ashamed as he lowered his head. He watched the woman take out a paper napkin and share the ice cream with the blind boy.
Because Gao Cheng was blind, the woman patiently explained everything in the aquarium to him. The world described by the woman was so beautiful and colorful. After finishing the ice cream, the woman carried her boy’s hand and left.
Gao Xing bit through the ice cream and stood up involuntarily. He walked towards the lady.
“Are you done?” Gao Xing’s blind mother heard the movement and stood up too. “We should walk around some more since the ticket is so expensive.”
“Okay…”
Gao Xing held his mother’s hand and followed the other lady from a distance. He didn’t know why he was doing this. Perhaps it was a yearning for something better. They passed through the underwater tunnel and watched the dolphin performance. It was the best day of Gao Xing’s life. Gao Xing didn’t know what would happen next. He just felt happy. He temporarily forgot about his blind parents, his poor family, and his bullies. He enjoyed a few hours of being a normal kid.
Gao Xing still didn’t want to leave even when the aquarium was about to close. He and his mother were ushered out when the speakers requested all the guests to leave. Gao Xing saw his blind father once he left the aquarium. To save the price of another ticket, his father didn’t enter the aquarium. He stayed at the bus stop for several hours. The joy in Gao Xing’s heart was replaced by something else. No matter how many times he visited the aquarium, that feeling would always remain stabbed in his heart. As they returned to the bus station, Gao Xing’s father smiled and didn’t have a word of complaint.
The sun set. The bus didn’t arrive. Suddenly, a very expensive car stopped before them.
“Aren’t you the boy who had been following me in the aquarium?” The woman’s familiar voice came out of the car. She smiled. “It’s almost dark. Where do you live? Why don’t I send you home?”
Gao Xing didn’t expect the woman to know that he had been following her. He was embarrassed and stood there, not moving.
His blind father’s reaction was strange. He seemed to recognize her voice. “Were you at Third Mental Hospital?”
“Yes. My son was born with blindness, so I often bring him to the hospital.” The woman was very polite. She opened the car door and planned to have her son take the passenger seat. However, Gao Xing didn’t know that and walked toward the passenger seat.
“Move. Don’t stand between my mom and me!” Gao Cheng bumped into Gao Xing since he couldn’t see, but he didn’t plan to apologize.
Gao Xing didn’t say anything. He was always a coward. However, his normally shy blind father suddenly jumped forward to grab Gao Cheng’s arms.
“What are you doing?” Gao Cheng was shocked because he couldn’t see.
The blind father raised his arm, and he almost slapped Gao Cheng. “In this world, only you can’t bully him.” The blind parents couldn’t see, but they knew very well that Gao Cheng was their real son. It was why the father was so rough with him.
“Only he can’t bully me?” Gao Xing was confused. Before he had the time to think, his father grabbed him and his wife and walked away. Fate gave Gao Xing a hint. There was a cross in their paths.
Gao Xing and his parents arrived home after the sky was fully dark. The narrow room and the horrible smell pulled Gao Xing back to real life. “Yes. This is my home, my life.”
Gao Xing helped with the housework like usual and returned to his small room. Too many things had happened that day. He couldn’t sleep. He sat up in his bed. Gao Xing heard his parents arguing. He didn’t switch on the light and opened the door. Gao Xing’s home only had one bedroom. His blind parents gave him the room, and they slept in the living room.
“Are we really going to do that?”
“The most suitable eyes are Gao Xing’s eyes. If he’s willing to donate, then our boy will have a normal life. The wife will also give us a lot of money, and our lives will change too.”
“But this is too unfair to Gao Xing.”
“I know. We’ve already owed that child too much.”
The couple stopped talking. Their hearts were tormented.
“Shall we sign the agreement?”
“I don’t know…”
The two discussed in a very low voice. They couldn’t sleep, but they had no idea Gao Xing was standing at the door, and he had heard everything.
“Our boy? That child? Am… Am I not their child?” Gao Xing’s face started to twitch. His fragile body twisted. He stood there until his parents fell asleep. He walked to the other side of the living room and looked through his parent’s clothes. Finally, he found the document in his father’s pocket. The hospital hoped that his parents would ‘donate’ Gao Xing’s eyes to Gao Cheng.
His parents were hesitating, not because they were worried about him but because they were considering giving his eyes away.
“Why? Why should I give my eyes to another person? Am I not your child? Didn’t you say I’m your eyes? Why would you give your eyes to another person? Why would you want me to live in the dark like you?”
Gao Xing’s face and body rapidly mutated. The memory changed. Everything started to grow ugly faces. The tables, chairs, walls, and beds, the familiar objects turned into grotesque human beings. They were bound like rope, weaving a suffocating web. Some of them had sticky skins. They were like fish caught in a net. Some drown in the net, while others climb higher. This was the real world in Gao Xing’s eyes.
The weak Gao Xing struggled in this scary world. Not far away, the blind Gao Cheng was begging for help too.
In this memory, other than the two boys, only Han Fei didn’t turn into some sort of monster.
