I can’t breathe. I can’t think. Why is everything so dark? I know there was light. Tangibility. Vision. Something. I feel nothing, hear nothing, see nothing, like I’m floating in the air or the depths of space.

Was… Hungry…

AH!

He flailed around as he caught hold of his body, finally reclaiming his breath in a wet gasp, causing him to be thrown into a fit of coughs. He lied back down, feeling his soft, textured, sheets and the indent on his pillow. Everything felt more… detailed now.

What is that voice? I didn’t hear or say anything…

Me… In head. Learn much now.

He felt his eyelids open wide, but saw nothing. No light, no color, no black. Nothing. He was largely mistaken to call it dark. It really was nothing, a resolution he somehow knew would be absolute. He began to sob.

Stop. Wet.

“What is this?! Some sick joke?! Who’s there?! SPEAK?!”

He began to shake his head back and forth, hoping to shake his eyes clear and reclaim his sight so he could see this monster.

QUIET!

He was silent now, besides a cough or sob, utterly shocked by the volume of this unknown consciousness in his head. Was he really just crazy? Had he developed another personality? A disorder perhaps?

Feeling came back in full force now. All of it. A rush of pain flashed up his body, but stayed in his head. His hands shot up, gripping and pressing on his head as the pain grew unbearable.

STOP! HURT! Why?

All he could do to answer this voice was groan as he gave in and drifted into another sleep, induced by the pain.

---

Wake up.

Hnnng.

WAKE YOUR BABY ASS UP

He shot up in his bed, soaked in sweat.

“Huh? Who is there?”

It’s me, I guess. You need water.

The voice stunned him. Pain was all he could remember right now. But he was thirsty. Standing up, he felt his head pound as his pulse quickened, and headache returned. He sat back down on the edge of his bed, waiting for the blood to return. Now he remembered!

“What is going on? Who are you? Why can’t I see?”

You need to orient yourself. You can stand up now. Try to get some water.

He began to feel uneasy without the concept of sight. Just the memory of having it.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“I don’t want to drink! I want to s-“

The drought in his throat kicked in and he coughed blades.

Go. Drink.

I just want to see again…

I know that, but you’ll just have to deal with it for now.

Again, shock rose through him, making his cough worse. In a hoarse voice, he asked audibly,” Can you hear me? Inside and outside?”

I can do more than that. I can dig through all that you are. I am nothing really, at least that’s what I think about me. I can’t really feel or hear or any of the world except through you. I learned to speak, or think I guess, through your brain. I have been studying up.

Not wishing to speak anymore for fear of another coughing fit, he relinquished his astonishment and began to let his mind roll into a slow and determined voice, attempting to gain dominance over this thing.

GET OUT AND LET ME SEE AGAIN

No can do, I’m here to stay. Your eyes are mine. Really your whole occipital lobe and visual track is but I m-

Stop! Just stop! What did you do to me?

He attempted standing once more. No blood-rush. He took a blind step into the unknown of his second-floor apartment bedroom. Solid and stable, he took another, feeling for obstacles and trying to remember the layout of his almost bare apartment.

I did what I came to do, I guess. I don’t really know. I know I was hungry and so I think I ate your eyes and kind of the important pieces meant for vision. That was enough for me apparently, because after that I had the acid trip of a lifetime. I have seen basically all of your life. I learned so much from you.

Trying to take this invader’s explanation in while walking to the kitchen at his painfully slow pace was more difficult than he thought, so he let the thing talk.

I eventually found your language cells and started to copy them somehow. I don’t know much of anything besides you waking up and whining about you being blind. That’s about when I took control of myself. I could decide where to wander and what to do in here. You have a small patch of cells devoted to one of the most disgusting things. You should get a girlfriend dude. Before I got in here, you were pretty close to-

I think I got it. Anyways, you weren’t in control of yourself when you took my sight?

Nope. Not until about halfway through learning your language was I really able to think for myself.

Great.

I am not a basic consciousness you sarcastic ass.

He coughed weakly at him.

After going through his doorway, he heard the T.V., or rather the lack of it. It sounded like the news, but it was just a bunch of clattering and sounds. After listening a bit while walking to the counter, he kicked it.

“OW, stupid blindness. Can I ever see again?” He rasped out

Probably not. Anything vision-related is, how do I put it, gone? It’s… me. Huh.

You? Did my vision just take over and gain consciousness or something?

I can’t see anything myself nitwit. I can sense myself.

You’re sounding like a fake mystic.

‘You’re sounding like a fake mystic’. The consciousness had a tone of sarcasm itself. Stop thinking and get some water.

He agreed, absolutely parched. He started opening cupboards and feeling around for cups, smashing two before he grabbed hold of one.

I’m going to need shoes in the house at all times now, there’s no way I can clean this up.

Sucks. Sorry about that…

No, you aren’t.

I mean, you’re the boss.

Finding the tap and turning on the water, he fills the cup and downs it. Deciding that wasn’t enough, he drains a few more. Satisfied, he feels for the fridge, opening it and finding his Tupperware. He only had a few things of food in there: sandwich stuff, jelly, leftover mac and cheese, and milk. His freezer had two pizzas, but he definitely could not cook those without sight.

What are you doing?

I’m hungry. Can’t you read my mind or something?

I think that was a one-time thing and I found it very unpleasant. Like a bad trip. I picked up your mannerisms though, you hor-

Ok, whatever. I’m eating my mac then I have somewhere I need to go and I will need some help.

What do you need help with?

My memory is hazy right now. I need directions to a friend’s; can you do that?

I mean, I can pull up all your memories in mine. I tested that out while you slept.

Distracted, he asked, how long was I out?

Long enough to be severely dehydrated. Where do you need to go?

My friend Annie’s.

Why?

She can help me out. She was born blind.