Foreword: This is a standalone story set in the same world as my first short story, Clairvoyant. I recommend reading that before starting this, as the dystopian world is explained more clearly in the first story. If you choose to just read this (spoilers for Clairvoyant), know that the people of this world have had their vision censored, so that faces are blurred. This was due to an immense war between races and has resulted in the formation of a worldly government known as the Clairvoyants. The Clairvoyants have the ability to assess all situations to better manage criminal activity, once everyone in the same room/radius summons them. 

Without further adieu, I present Sightless:

He held her with every bit of care he had in his tall frame. Although Elaine couldn't see him, she knew her son was strongly built and didn't fear as he helped her down the stairwell. Her feeble structure along with being blind wasn't the ideal combination to have for the task at hand, and she couldn't recall why they hadn't simply taken the elevator.

"It was out of order, remember?"

"Oh yes," Elaine responded, although still unconvinced.

As much as she wanted to push it out of her head, she didn't understand why it was so hard for her to come to terms with something she didn't know. Elaine reached for the banister to stop them for a minute.

"Why am I always fed information, James? I know I asked... but why can't I ever think of anything myself?"

"'Member when the doctor said you had something called dementia?"

Elaine licked her chapped lips, stopped her irrepressible shaking, and tried to scour her brain for traces of the word. Her attempts were futile. The only thing that felt familiar was the feeling that she was having; the sensation that her life was being written by a ghostwriter. She had been able to cope with it when she was alone in her ward, but caved into her fear when someone else was at the wheel rewriting her vague memories.

Although she couldn't remember anyone ever saying that she had anything wrong with her, Elaine realized that James was most likely telling the truth.

"I suppose." She retracted her hand from the cold metal railing and stabilized herself once more on his arm.

When they reached the bottom of the seven flights, James took a plastic card out of his pocket and swiped it to unlock the door. From there, he hustled her out into the parking lot in the rear of the building. Elaine thought it was strange that they did not use the front entrance where visitors usually parked, but she could not complain. She was enlivened that her son was visiting her again for the first time in months.

The back parking lot was rarely used, other than by a few staff members, which resulted in it eroding into a moon's worth of crater-like potholes. The multitude of cracks and bumps made it near impossible for James to help Elaine across, but he prevailed.

When the two met the line where the soil bordered the concrete, James let out the breath that he had kept, no longer needing it to focus on his task. They had made it out of the building, and as long as he could keep her from getting injured he knew that everything would be alright.

"Are we almost to your car?"

The air was silent for a moment before a breeze blew between them and stole the words from his mouth.

"Yeah, won't be too long."

His short response surprised Elaine. James was usually talkative, and she wondered if anything was bothering him. Although she considered voicing her concern for a short moment, she thought better of it. Perhaps something is going on that he wants to keep to himself.

They crossed a small clearing west of the building and came to a thicket of trees. Elaine could sense the change in brightness as they entered the grove. It reminded her of the countless sullen nights she had spent in her room at the institution.

Even if James wasn't as garrulous as usual, Elaine realized that she should be grateful that he was even distracting her from her miseries. A breath of fresh air compensated for the loss of voices.

...

It was half an hour before Elaine began to question where exactly it was that they were going. Her weak legs were sore, and she could no longer feel James beside her, save for the few tugs he gave her sweater when they had to slow down or change direction. She had gathered that they were somewhere in the city as she could feel the cracks in the sidewalk, but didn't know where exactly.

After deciding not to aggravate him, Elaine had chosen to remain silent, but she now regretted not speaking up.

"James!"

She heard no reply, only the rise and fall of footsteps beside her in the endless void that was the world. Everyone had always told her how big the world was, but she had never realized how vast it was until now. Being indoors and away from hazards for the better part of her life, she could only accept being told that the world was big. To be experiencing it was a completely new feeling.

For the second time that day Elaine stopped walking, only to be shoved forward by a foreign hand that no longer felt like it belonged to the same James she had raised. Her knees gave out and she stumbled to the pavement. Her hands took the fall, and they skidded on the harsh sidewalk until they were raw and bloody.

"Don't hurt me, James! I don't understand...What's going on?"

"Get up, Mother," His voice growled as his hand shot down and pulled her up by the collar, "You're going to ruin everything if you don't shut the - up."

It was then that Elaine sensed something that frightened her even more than the never-ending darkness. She didn't need to know the censored curse word, as that only confirmed that her son wasn't beside her. From the jumbled mess that was her mind, a memory rang loud and clear: The pact that James had made her when her sight was taken from her when a glitch occurred in the installation of her implant.

"A one in a billion chance of vision loss." was what the Administrator had told her between condolences.

The genius implant that was supposed to only blur faces to protect individuals had censored everything. Even then, the Clairvoyants had feared that removing the implant would kill her. So much so, that they kept it in and it had self-attached to her brain rather than her eyes. Now, rather than censoring identities the implant filtered out everything offensive that entered her ears.

James had told her that he didn't want to be like their father and say things that his mother couldn't hear, and never in her life had she heard him swear.

"James, what did you promise me when you were a kid?"

Silence.

"What age were you when we lost your father?"

The memories those words once evoked were as hushed as the man walking beside her. The man beside her was not the problem – what he wanted with her was.

She couldn't very well alert the Clairvoyants that she was in any danger, for she knew that the man would see her if she tried to contact them. Instead, she remained silent after playing it off and telling him that she was just getting forgetful.

His strategy was planned precisely. She couldn't ban him in public without everyone in a kilometre radius agreeing, nor could she attempt to spread the word without him realizing, either. At this point, only in a confined space with more than twenty people could she successfully ban him.

As they kept walking, her ears became introduced to a crowd of voices and sounds. They were approaching a more urban area of the city, and that was equally as terrifying as it was comforting. If only she could reach out and let somebody know that she was in danger.

They descended down a staircase that Elaine presumed to lead to the subway, and they waited a few moments before a train came to a halt in front of them. She could feel the man's hand pinching the back of her sweater as the mass of people around them rushed inside. They followed not far behind.

"If you try anything, it's your loss. I'm only trying to help you." The man's hot breath met her cold ear, two fronts that created a tornado of angst in her mind.

The ruses spun in the whirlwind he had created, and she knew that she would meet her doom if she didn't get away soon. His definition of aid was certainly different than hers.

In a drastic change of tone, the man aided her onto the shuttle, making sure that she didn't trip over the crack between the platform and the car. His bittersweetness was killing her even more than the anxious thoughts she had about her future.

When they had boarded the train, Elaine purposefully stepped back, and onto the man's foot. She made an effort to hurt him but was unsure if her weight would be able to cause enough of an impact. When she didn't hear any response other than a push forward, she knew that she would have to do more.

She summoned up every atom of force in her body and concentrated it into her leg which she then bent backward and struck the man in the shin. This time, she could hear him groan in pain for a few seconds, long enough for her to tell the people in front of her that she was in danger.

"Please, hurry. This man has kidnapped me I need your help to ban him ." Elaine nodded behind her to where, unbeknownst to her, the man was now standing upright and watching.

The woman quickly relayed the message to the person in front of her, and so on and so forth, until the whole car knew what they had to do.

Unfortunately, the startled crowd didn't think to be secretive about it, and the man could tell exactly what they were doing. With their hands on their temples and heads bowed, only one woman looking gasped as the man took something from under his belt.

Elaine felt something cold press up against the back of her head and she gasped, which only made the man angrier.

"Everyone stop or she dies!" The man screeched, pulling Elaine closer to his body.

Elaine, like everyone else, had her hands on her temples. He took the gun away from her head so he could use both hands to pry her hands from her head, but she wouldn't budge.

In an instant, everyone's signals synced and the Clairvoyants came down from the Cloud. They used the Mundane's consciousnesses to assess the situation, and Elaine felt her heartbeat stop as time froze. The man had his finger on the pistol's trigger but was unable to pull it.

Perhaps too soon, Elaine was able to move again.

"Is he gone?" She kept her hands on her temples for a moment before realizing that she couldn't be frozen again. Despite the man being gone, Elaine felt at peace with the world when everything had stopped, and longed for the sensation once more.

"You're safe now," said a woman, placing her hand on Elaine's shaking back, "Where were you before he took you?"

Elaine responded in the few words that she could muster up, and was met with an unusual response:

"You really want to go back? Are you sure?"

- - -

For some reason, as Elaine made her way back to the institution the woman's words resided with her. The woman had offered to help her get back but Elaine refused; the woman was acting too weird.

It's better if I depend on myself, Elaine thought, What does she mean 'Do I really want to go back?'

She tried to brush it off of her psyche but was left without anything to think of. She tried to picture where she was, but when she got bored she consumed herself with getting back.

Although she had lost her way a few times, Elaine made it back by nightfall with the help of some strangers. She could tell she had arrived when the unfortunately recognizable smell of pungent mountain ash trees planted outside greeted her nose. Ever since she had smelled them the first day of being admitted, she connected them to depression and harrow.

Entering the building only made Elaine dread her decision more. What she had pictured to be a triumphant return fell very short of her expectations. She marched up to the front desk, proud to be readmitting herself, but the secretary didn't utter a word.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

A man's voice entered the room from the left, joined by the sound of what Elaine thought to be a cart of some sort.

"Please Ms. Morris, come with me."

His informal tone made her on edge, though she complied with his order and began to walk toward him.

"I'll need you to take a seat just here." The man took Elaine's hand and placed it on a gurney.

"I'm sure that's not necessary... I can just walk to wherever you need me t––"

"It's not up for debate Ma'am, now get on."

Elaine tried to ignore the negative undertones of his speech that he spat into the room.

Maybe he just wants to escort me to my room.

Cautiously, she took a seat. Immediately she regretted it when a pair of hands restrained her from getting off, and soon a second person grabbed her legs.

"Stop! You've got it all wrong, I wasn't trying to escape!"

Elaine felt helpless once more as they pinned her down like a rag doll. Restraints were placed on her frail wrists and ankles. Soon, she was unable to resist and gave up.

"Someone, Help!"

It was no use. Wherever they were taking her was unavoidable.

The sound of the cart racing didn't help slow down Elaine's speeding mind. With each turn and stop, her gut told her that something wasn't right.

After entering a room, Elaine's gurney came to a stop and she expected them to scold her for leaving. What she didn't know, was that that was the last thing on their minds. What she thought was going to be a big speech involved no talking at all.

A wet cloth interrupted Elaine's train of thought when someone wiped it on the side of her neck. She flinched as two hands pressed her head into the plastic covered pillow. A needle followed the cloth, injecting a serum into her neck. She could feel it disperse in her veins, and soon she could no longer feel anything. A fog of dread crowded her head and before she could remember it's cause, she fell asleep.

When she woke, the fog had dissipated but a blinding light took its place. In a wondrous state, she had forgotten just where she was but was reminded of it when her eyes focused on the disheartening sight of two men dressed in lab coats.

She couldn't comprehend how she was able to see again, much less what to do with her newfound eyesight. Her vision was partially blurry, but she could tell what was going on for the most part.

"Ah Ms. Morris, so glad you can see us!" One of the men exclaimed.

Elaine opened her mouth to reply but not one sound came out. She was interpreting the world in a foreign way and had no time to focus on anything else.

In a state of shock, Elaine went to rub her eyes but stopped, for she feared that touching them would return her to the darkness. She spotted a bearded man sitting next to her. He had a clipboard in hand and was checking things off of a list.

"You fixed my eyesight!"

"You could say that." The man said without looking up to meet her eyes.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You see Ms. Morris, your eyesight was never truly gone," He explained, as though what he was saying was common knowledge, "You were the second successful test subject of a beta update for the implant."

"Excuse me?!"

Only then did her eyesight clarify enough to read the letters on the man's lab coat. Clairvoyant HQ.

The men began to converse, giving each other information which was then written down by the bearded man.

"Is anyone listening to me?"

"How about her memories?"

"They won't come in all at once, but Ms. Morris should be getting them back within forty-eight hours."

"And her senescence levels? Do her cells show signs of reversion already?"

"Can someone please explain what is going on with me?"

"Someone shut her up for God's sake!"

"Through an unexpected breakthrough in neurotechnology, we have been able to control the state of your body and mind."

"You've been controlling me for fifty years?" Elaine felt a searing headache begin in the back of her head.

"It has only been about a day in real time, but we set the implant settings accordingly to the aging speed. We wanted to make it feel as real as possible. In fact, you haven't even moved from this very room!"

Elaine began to wail. She could see her wrinkles fading already, and her entire system rattled with the cold and empty feeling of helplessness. She was overwhelmed to a point where she just wished for it all to end.

"Make it stop, I beg you!"

"You need to remain calm Ms. Morris. Don't you want to see your wife again?"

My wife? Elaine's brain seemed to freeze up in her whiteout blizzard of thoughts.

At once, Elaine could remember her wife's face. She was without a name, but picturing her was like removing a band-aid to see that the wound had healed. As the memories began to replace the false ones, the indifferent ripping of band-aids began to sting. Her mind was healing just as much as it pained.

Her body felt like it was failing. Not that her organs were stopping, but it was as though she had failed at a career she had spent an entire lifetime working towards. Her identity was being stripped away from her muscles and bone, her memories like foreign invaders in her territory.

She let her body go loose, and it became an unattended firehose, concussing on the bed— which shook a great deal in return. She could feel hands try to restrict her, but she was untameable.

A voice broke her fit in two, and a relaxed Elaine suddenly emerged from her dislodging temper.

"My Love, we can go home as soon as you stop."

Her eyes rested on her wife's blurred face, and she obeyed her command. In doing so, her wife's name appeared in her head.

"Lucy," Elaine mumbled, and her wife came closer.

Lucy kissed her forehead, "Everything is going to be back to normal in a few days, I promise."

- - -

With every step that Elaine took, she could feel her anatomy changing. Each pace became lighter and Elaine feared that the implant would take her rejuvenation too far. She still didn't know what was going on, but she knew that being an infant wouldn't help her any.

She had accepted that yielding to her mind was easier than resisting, and decided to let the universe explain itself to her in time.

Observing the city again was like opening one's eyes on a scary rollercoaster ride. Not only could she feel her environment, but she could see it, for what seemed like the first time in a very long time. Going from blind in the city to having twenty-twenty vision was a big difference, and Elaine couldn't contain her happiness, which escaped her mouth in gasps and giggles.

Hundreds of memories settled back into her skull every time she recognized the name of a street or billboard.

Elaine didn't know that being in the city could feel so euphoric. From the scent of street vendors to wafts that blew up from the sewer, she wanted to live the rest of her life in this moment.

She was no longer afraid of voices, as she could see the people that they were connected to. The city had always been a magical place to Elaine, but today it felt exceptionally mystical.

She disregarded every negative sight she saw as she plucked memories out from apartment windows and avenues.

Soon they came upon a small building nestled in between two larger structures.

"Welcome home, honey!"

As Lucy unlocked the door, a dangerous thought crossed her mind. Why was her wife in on the big plan to control her?

Despite her ever developing curiosity, Elaine kept her thought to herself as she sat in the living room chair, gazing out at the fading sun. Only when the sky had been painted navy and Lucy called out that dinner was ready, did the thought of Lucy cross her mind once again. 

With her pleasantries and etiquette, Elaine thought that perhaps Lucy had done it to her for cash, and sat down on the cushioned chair feeling less anxious. Elaine's body no longer felt crippled, and she hid her hands under the tablecloth where she cracked her revamped knuckles. She wondered if it would be hard to forgive her, now realizing that maybe Lucy knew it would be reversible all along. 

It wasn't until Lucy poured white wine into a polished glass and handed it to her that . Lucy must've been the one with the bad memory, as Elaine realized that Lucy was trying to do something to her. Lucy knows that I don't drink alcohol, so why is she trying to give it to me?

Lucy kept her temper at bay until Elaine caught her in the act. She realized that she shouldn't have underestimated her wife's memory until she was sure she was still missing it. To her dismay, Elaine seemed to remember her hatred for water flavouring, which Lucy had tried to use as her cover up to administer the final drug.

"Just drink it for now! No sense in wasting water... now is there?" Lucy coerced, sliding the glass across the table to where Elaine was seated.

Elaine refused, "No, I'm not a big fan of that flavour, but you can have it though!"

Lucy knew that the drug was just supposed to eradicate any memories of the experiment, so she picked up the glass and took a sip. As her memories of the Headquarters began to fade, she slid the glass back over to Elaine.

"Lucy, what was in that drink?!" Elaine demanded as she stared at the glass. She could see her wife begin to shake, and Lucy looked just as concerned as she did.

Lucy faltered to the sink and shoved her head under the faucet. No amount of water could rid her body of the poison that was in the drink however, and Lucy knew that she had made a fatal mistake.

As she collapsed to the floor, the glass of red liquid came crashing down with her. She could see Elaine standing above her, muttering "traitor".

Elaine was in disbelief that her wife had poisoned herself. Didn't she know what was in the drink? How could she have been so adamant, only to have turned around and changed her mind?

Only as Lucy inhaled her last breath of air did it dawn on Elaine that maybe the Clairvoyants were trying to kill both of them.

With her still confused but now terrified mind, Elaine moved away from her wife's body which lay on the kitchen floor. She opened the front door and went into a world unknown.