Speechless: Part 2 of Hunting Party

In A Blind

Once upon a time, there was a man named Curtis and he liked to play with eyes. It had started when he was little. His third grade teacher brought sheep eyes into class and let them dissect the eyes with little scalpels. It was enough to break little Curtis’ heart. For you see, Curtis had no eyes of his own. That would change though. That would all change when Curtis moved to Chrysalis Falls with his Daddy.

You see, Curtis had already been learning all sorts of things about eyes. He tried telling his mommy once, but she wouldn’t stop screaming. He was telling her about how the dog’s eyes seemed to fit just right when he put them where his eyes were supposed to be. But she wouldn’t stop screaming and waving her hands at the dead dog in the middle of the floor. Well, of course the dog was dead. Didn’t want it to be missing its eyes too. That would’ve been cruel.

But she just wouldn’t be quiet. Curtis was worried that someone would hear. And when Mommy fell to her knees to get sick in the hallway, Curtis cut her throat just like he had cut Duke’s. Her eyes fit much better. So much better in fact, that he went right out and headed down to the park to play with the other kids.

Daddy came home and called the police. They thought it was Daddy that did the killing at first. But too many people saw Daddy at work. Then, they got to thinking it was Curtis, but how could a ten year old do such a thing? And they never did find the knife. Curtis had buried it too well in the sandbox.

Time went on and Curtis hid Mommy’s eyes from Daddy. They were so nice and stayed fresh just so long as he kept them washed in between the times when he put them in. And he could see all sorts of neat things. Mommy was always there, frowning sadly at Curtis, asking him to let her go. But he didn’t. He loved his Mommy and always wanted her with him. Even when she screamed nasty, nasty things at him. That was okay.

And then, when Daddy brought him to Chrysalis Falls to help build the wall, things only got better. He got to meet all sorts of new people; people that came and went and were never seen again.

And that was when Curtis got The Best Idea.

You see, Curtis was old enough now that he didn’t have to the window-licker classes anymore. He always hated the window-licker classes and the window-licker bus. He hated all the nasty, stinky people that rode it and he hated that they were stupid and he hated that people must think he was stupid too because he rode the window-licker bus.

But he didn’t have to any more. He had his own car that his Daddy bought with wall-making money. He had a license that Daddy had paid for with that same wall-making money.

And he had lots of friends that came and went and were never seen again. And so Curtis began collecting the eyes of friends that were going to leave. After all, if they always left anyway, what was the difference? At least this way, they’d be with him that way Mommy and Duke were with him. They’d yell and cry and swear (boy did they swear) but they’d stay.

And then Curtis learned a curious thing. A thing that made The Best Idea even better. Curtis’ Daddy caught him wearing his Mommy’s eyes one day. Even as Daddy had shriveled up in fear, Curtis was completely honest with Daddy about what he had done. After all, he had never lied. They just didn’t believe that he could’ve killed Mommy and Duke and taken out their eyes so cleanly. But the holes where his eyes should’ve been knew just how to make his hands move to take them out nice and clean.

But Daddy wasn’t pleased and he was trying to get out the door and was shouting that he was going to call the police and that’s when Curtis told Mommy that he’d like Daddy’s eyes to keep her company.

And Mommy did it. Daddy couldn’t see her but his throat still collapsed under her hands just the same. Oh, she was bawling as she did it. She was sobbing as she choked the life out of him and his pretty little eyeballs bulged. Then, as he was choking out his last gurgled breath, she reached through his skull and lifted up so gently, the eyeballs sliding right from their sockets. She leaned in and bit all that nasty little nerve tissue away.

Curtis immediately popped out one of Mommy’s eyes and replaced it with one of Daddy’s. And he got to see both of them together again. They were so happy to see each other that they were sobbing and holding each other tightly.

The next couple of years were fun. Curtis found lots of new eyes. Especially after The Wall Daddy helped build had started to fall. Curtis got to find all sorts of new eyes. Wolf eyes, fox eyes, crow eyes, piranha eyes, barracuda eyes. He had even taken the eye out of a killer whale man that he had found. It felt a little big but it squeezed in just like all the others.

All the people in his eyes did as they were told, no matter what nasty words they had for Curtis. They always did as they were told and crushed throats and stole eyes and protected Curtis.

Then, one day, he met a nasty little man and a nasty little fish.

It was after he had met back up with his friends Anne and Toby. They were so pretty. He had told them before that they should get married. And then, when they died, they should let him have one of their eyes. They laughed and had told Curtis that if they died, he could have their eyes.

That made Curtis happy. It made him happy enough that when Danny Corsair told him that they were in trouble, he went running for them right away. And they sure were in trouble. Someone nasty little man had blown a hole in their floor and cut up their legs and feet something fierce. They had even taken Toby’s latest skin. And he had looked so nice in that one.

Curtis helped them run but they knew the fish and the man were behind them still. They were sure. So they had stopped for a couple hours to rest and say goodbye and then Curtis shooed them off. He would stop the nasty people and be right back to following them. After all, he didn’t want anything bad to happen to their nice eyes.

When the nasty man and the nasty fish arrived they were uglier than Curtis had expected. He had his best two eyes in; the eye that Danny Corsair had sent him from the Arbiter that had let them free. Danny had promised it would be useful. The other one was a nice shiny black eye that Danny said he couldn’t tell me much about. Just that it was a gift from a very nice friend of ours and that I should keep it.

Mrs. Fogelson always told me that when I write things, I should always keep perception in the right direction but I can’t help it. I’m just so excited! I like my new friends. Mr. Sturm and The Inky. That’s who they were. Mr. Sturm carried his head under his arm and whoo-whee he recognized the nasty fish. The Inky didn’t ever talked, even when I asked him too. But he was still so pretty with the way he melted across the floor, making lip-licking noises.

The nasty men shouted something ugly at me and I didn’t even have to tell Mr. Sturm to go get them. He grabbed the nasty fish by the throat and lifted him nice and high into the air. The nasty man said something else but I couldn’t hear it. The Inky was making such a whooshing sound as he darted for the nasty man that I couldn’t hear anything.

The nasty man ran away but I knew The Inky would catch him. Nothing was faster than The Inky.

This was going to be fun and I would have two more friends that would never leave me.

I liked friends. Did I ever tell you that?