His mother died the moment after she gave birth to him. The son she was so eager to meet and she didn't even get to see his face. The doctors took him, cleaned him off, and wrapped him up in a blanket. And then they stole the precious part of him that would have allowed him to see the beauty of the world.

His eyes.

China spent the first couple years of his life at the hospital nursery, being too young to question the darkness. He always crawled around and felt things, becoming used to the same touch. When he was three or four years old, one of the doctors decided to adopt and take care of him. Adopt and manipulate.

China called him "Papa". He asked his Papa one time, why he saw nothing but darkness. His caretaker simply replied, "It's normal. You are supposed to see nothing but darkness." And China believed him.

The man enjoyed taking advantage of a boy with no eyes. He enjoyed it so much. He would give China dog food, and told him it was rice. China didn't know what it looked like, but he knew rice was yummy, so he ate it. The man would sometimes cook a delicious meal, place it in front of China, and tell him it was dog food. China pushed it away. He wasn't going to eat dog food!...no matter how good it smelt. He ate "rice" that night.

The man told China that he was female, and had to feel for other men. China didn't know what a girl looked like, he couldn't tell his Papa otherwise. China learned how to dress himself. Of course, he didn't know what he was dressing himself into. The man would occasionally lay out a girly dress. China would put it on, and walk around town with his Papa, unaware of what he was wearing.

And even if he did know, he was a girl, right? That's what girls wear.

His Papa home schooled him for a few years, wanting to fill his head with more lies before sending him to public school. And when China finally did go to public school, he was unaware of how broken he was. He went to school in a skirt and pink shirt. All the children stared at him in silence, and he began to get worried. Was someone in the room with him? Was he alone? He began to lightly shake out of fear.

All the children just stared. There were faint whispers of "What's wrong with him?" and "Why does he have bandages over his eyes?"

China thought they were talking about him. Oh no, they weren't. They said "he" and "his". Those are words you use for boys. He was a girl. They weren't talking about him. Probably someone else.

But one day, as he was walking down the hall, he heard someone pass by him. "The poor thing must be blind. That's what the father said." Blind? He had never heard that word before. Were they talking about him? Or someone else? Poor thing? But he was happy! The darkness was normal, didn't they know that?

China was confused. When he went home, he walked up to his papa in the kitchen, who was preparing his "rice".

"Papa?" China squeaked.

"What is it?" the man responded without turning around.

"Papa….what is 'blind'? I heard someone say it today, and I think they were talking about me."

The man stopped and turned around to China.

"Blind? Blind is what people are called when they are not normal. What did I tell you China?"

China looked down.

"Um, you told me I'm special? The darkness is normal?"

"Exactly. And what else did I tell you?"

He swallowed. "Not to listen to anything anybody says. Only to you."

"And why is that?"

"….because Papa knows best."

The man put his hand on China's head.

"Good boy. Now go sit down, the food is almost ready."

China nodded and smiled at his Papa. He went to go sit at the table.

He understood now! Blind people were not normal! And he was normal! No, he was special!

Boy, he sure was glad to have someone like his Papa.

So happy, because the darkness was normal, right?