Disclaimer: I own nothing

This was a school project.

Paul's Dad POV

"Do you remember Vincent Castor? From Silver Meadows?"

The words I always hoped I've never hear. Vincent Castor, the boy's face came back to me like a benediction. Not the tallest kid, sandy brown hair, blue eyes and a nose to big for his face. Caroline and I looked at each other. A mistake, Paul knew we remembered now.

"Do you remember him, Mom? Dad? He was the Arthur Bauer of his day."

I saw all of the blood drain from Caroline's face and watch her lips form the words "What's this all about, Paul?"

Trying to regain control of the situation that was going directly in a direction we had worked so hard to avoid I said; "Listen; there are question that need to be answered about tonight." Referring to ruined ceremony.

A big mistake. Paul exploded. "No, No sir!" ripping off is glasses and shaking them at me he continued; "There are questions that need to be answered about these! Am I such a stupid idiot fool that I stared at a solar eclipse for an hour and blinded myself? Am I that idiot?"

We didn't answer him, we couldn't answer him. We couldn't even look at him because we where to ashamed of the mistake we made seven years ago. So I looked down at the legal pad in my lap and said in a voice just above a whisper. "You where five years old, Paul. There was only so much you could understand. All you could understand was that something bad had happened." Knowing it was all a lie, Paul had always been a smart kid, he would have understood.

Caroline in an almost robotic voice continued for me; "I was so terrified that you would be blind. But the news wasn't all bad. They told me you would not be blind. They told me that your eyes would heal, slowly."

After a small pause she started up again.

"They told me that you might lose you peripheral vision. Or you might not. But you would not be blind. That was the good news."

I felt her body tense up and I knew she was crying.

In a lower voice then before he asked her, not me, if she had seen white paint on Erik's hands when she got home from the hospital, she said yes.

Paul, Caroline, me. None of us spoke for what seemed like hours but in reality were merely minutes.

Still looking at the yellow pad I said; "The doctors told us you might never remember. And we figured that was the best way to handle the situation." Shaking my head I finished what I was saying. "We wanted to find a way to keep you from always hating your brother."

And then he uttered the words that would haunt me for years to come. Not in a weak voice like Caroline and mine, a strong voice.

"So you figured it would be better if I just hated myself?"

That was it, I lost all control, I was finished, I broke down. I never even heard him leave us there to wallow in the mistakes we made.