"It is beautiful to speak of beautiful things, but even more so to silently gaze at them as they are" - Dejan Stojanovic
...
The ferocity of ten thousand thoughts swirled in his mind, keeping him from sleep.
He gazed upward, but saw nothing. He only felt the friction of the pillow beneath his head as he shifted restlessly.
Despite the comfort of the situation; his mate, Judy, dozing peacefully at his side, and the fact that they managed to turn off that annoying monitor: He just couldn't fall asleep.
Too many thoughts ran rampant in his head.
What if I can't see?
What if I lose my job because I can't see?
What if I'm so hideous that Judy doesn't want to be with me anymore?
They all spoke at once to Nick, refusing to let him escape his problems through sleep, no matter how desperately he wished so.
Unable to sleep,
Unable to see,
Unable to get these thoughts out of his head,
Nick Wilde was miserable.
So to take sleep's place, he instead occupied himself by replaying his favorite song in his head, over and over. It did little to drown out the woeful thoughts from his conscience, and it didn't help him sleep any, but he still took pleasure in the soothing melodies and notes that swished to and fro.
Nick had heard stories about other animals who had lost a sense, and suddenly found their remaining senses enhanced. As the Fox lay there in bed, he was keenly aware of every little detail that he could detect.
The feeling of Judy's chest mushing against his as she breathed in and out, claimed by peaceful sleep.
The sound of her breaths as she inhaled and exhaled steadily. Breathing.
The unnatural, yet surprisingly enticing scent of the Lemon 'FurBreeze' Canister, accompanied by the soft psssh it emitted every couple minutes.
In a near-desperate attempt to grasp something he could listen to to pass the time, he stilled himself and focused on the noise the canister gave off, counting the seconds in between each release.
Psssshhh
Again and again.
Psssshhh
Then out of nowhere, another sound: one he had hoped would stay away for the night.
Beep
Nick groaned as soon as the sound made contact with his eardrums. Thankfully, he didn't wake the still-sleeping Bunny.
Beep
Nick grit his teeth in irritation. To distract himself from the pestilent sound, he resorted to lightly caressing Judy's ears, and attempting to focus on the sound of her breathing.
This is gonna be a long night, isn't it carrots?
He asked himself, but no reply came. He smiled to himself as he stroked her fur, but the moment was interrupted by his least favorite sound.
Beep
Ugghh...
...
Morning came the same way it did every other day. The Sun rose from behind the mountains in the east of the city, shining light upon the land.
Nick's tight bandages prevented him from visually witnessing such an event, but he still felt the warmth of the Sun's rays beaming through the window. He lay there as still as could be, not wanting to wake Judy, who still lay asleep at his side. The rays leaking in from the window were warm, and as they shined upon his body, he grew uncomfortable, shifting his body as far away from the shine of the Sun as he could without disturbing Judy.
He managed to find a cozy spot, and relaxed at the cool feeling of the shade as it enveloped his form. He couldn't help but think of the Sun though... He wanted to be able to see it: He didn't care weather or not it strained his vision. He longed to be able to see.
Because that's just nature. Naivety was still present in their society. Nick reminisced back to the whole fiasco with the Night Howlers, and how the whole of society had lost its marbles over the likes of a simple, blue flower. How they compared civilized, modern-day predators to that of their savage and blood-thirsty ancestors.
Carrots is right, He pondered in his head. We do make mistakes, don't we?
As he silently asked that last question, he ran his hands up and down Judy's back. He was beyond grateful for her company.
He smiled once more, content with keeping his thoughts on Judy. After some time, his eyelids began to feel heavy, and he surrendered himself to the pull of sleep.
At last.
...
"Alright Mr. Wilde, are you ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be, Doc..."
9:30. It had been some time since Nick had aroused himself from the folds of his bed. He was appreciative that he had finally managed to fall asleep, but was still disappointed from the lack of it. He was tired.
But the moment the doctor came knocking on his door, he was charged with renewed energy,
His blindfolds were about to be removed: And he severely hoped that he would be able to see. All the pain and suffering had led up to this moment, and he was as ready as he'd ever be.
"Alright, here' goes." The doctor murmured as he began unwrapping the strips of cloth from Nick's head. Judy sat by his side, her paws clasped around his in a reaffirming gesture.
As Nick felt layer after layer of cloth remove itself from his face, he became increasingly worried: He still wasn't seeing anything. His vision was as plumbless as it had been before.
Suddenly, the darkness encompassing his right eye suddenly became... not so dark. The blackness stripped itself away from his vision as fast as the cloths from his eyes.
But there was something different about what he saw, at least compared to the way his old eyes had functioned.
It was blurry. He tried focusing his eye again and again, but his vision was met with only muddy brown haze.
Finally, the last of the blindfolds fell from his face. He opened his one good eye slowly.
He heard his mate whisper from his side, "Nick... do you see anything?"
Nick squinted from the intensity of the lights around him: Days of being bound to that blindfold made the light hard on his sensitive eye.
He looked around the room.
He saw the doctor, whom indeed was a Bison as Judy had told him, standing tall beside his bed, the blindfold that had previously enveloped his face wrapped around his arms.
He turned his head to the left, and saw what he feared he would never see again.
There, his mate reclined on the bed beside him. Her face was beaming with joy, but tears started to well themselves in her own amethyst eyes as soon as Nick made direct eye-contact with her. She somehow managed to smile even wider.
"I see my beautiful mate... does that count?" He asked her with a cocky grin plastered on his face.
Judy threw her arms around Nick, gripping him in a hug. Nick heard her say behind his field of view, "Thank you," though he wasn't sure who she was thanking:
Perhaps the doctor,
Perhaps Nick,
It didn't matter.
Nick could see. He wasn't blind.
He muttered his own mental prayer, to whom, he need not know or care. He was grateful to the whole world for being able to see.
The doctor cleared his throat after some time, and the couple pulled away as they directed their attention towards the Bison.
"You can see! Excellent! But, your good eye... Tell me, how clear is your vision?"
Nick's train of thought braked hard once the question reached him. For the first time, he tried to focus his vision.
Nothing happened.
He tried again.
Nothing.
Nick could see, but at a price...
"It's all fuzzy... I can see... but it's slightly distorted..." He responded to the doctor, who nodded at the mention of his eyesight.
He sighed before beginning, "Yes, we feared something of this sort might happen. The procedure to repair your right eye was very difficult. Perhaps over time, your eye will adjust to it's new state, and focus. I'm sorry we couldn't completely fix everything."
Nick just smiled and responded with the truth, "It's alright Doc... I'm just glad I can see at all. I'll take this over being blind any day!" Then he looked to Judy, still smiling herself, and spoke, "I think I have some catching up to do, though."
...
After several more hours of tests and paperwork, Nick was released from the hospital.
Life realigned itself to the way it was before the accident.
Though his vision was not as good as it had been, he took it with appreciation on his part.
He was thankful for pulling through.
He took his experience with a spoon of salt: He had learned much from the whole ordeal.
Lessons were learnt.
His vision may have been broken, but in the end...
His heart was stronger then it had ever been before.
...
Hey Everyone!
I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
I'm trying to decide weather or not I want to add another chapter dealing with Nick's experience with his altered vision.
If you guys have any suggestions/thoughts/ideas... Feel free to PM them to me or leave them in a review! I'm open to any and all suggestions!
Time will tell when I add a new chapter or not. Stay tuned... I just might!
But for now, I hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it!
Reviews are most welcome! Please leave one explaining your thoughts, I read them all.
Peace