When the Blind Girl Finally Saw

The day my left eye was finally set to receive a cornea transplant and regain sight, the hospital suddenly informed me that the donor's family had withdrawn their donation.

I was so shocked I fell from the hospital bed and cut my head open.

My sister, Lily, walked in with a smirk on her face.

Stella, did the hospital just call to cancel your surgery? Hahaha!

"I told the donor's family you were faking blindness just as a joke, you know."

My vision blurred as I screamed in despair.

"Why would you do this? Because of your joke, I might never see again!"

My mother, Mary, gently stroked Lily's back and scolded me in a soft voice.

"Could you keep it down? You still have one good eye, don't you? Just wait for the next chance."

Watching their tender mother-daughter scene, I suddenly felt the absurdity of it all had no bounds.

Later, Lily was diagnosed with kidney failure. The whole family went bankrupt waiting for a kidney donor.

Right before she went into surgery, I smiled at the doctor and said.

"Lily told me she's given up on treatment. She wants to give her kidney to the old man in the next bed!"

I accepted Lily's "joke."

I climbed out of the hospital bed, pressed my hand against my bleeding forehead, and rushed out of the room.

The hallway was packed with people.

My left eye could barely see anything, and my right eye's peripheral vision could only make out blurry shapes.

I felt my way along the wall, step by step, toward the Organ Donation Coordination office.

I had to find those donor family members.

The cornea hadn't been transported yet maybe there was still time.

"Stella, slow down! With your eyes, you'll fall!" Lily called out loudly.

I ignored her and quickened my pace.

The donor family was a couple in their fifties.

Their son had died from traumatic brain injury in a car accident. He'd signed an organ donation agreement before his death.

I'd been waiting for this cornea for three years.

The day the match came through, I cried all night under my covers.

They were sitting on the bench outside the coordination office.

I dropped to my knees with a thud.

"Sir, ma'am, please I'm really going blind."

"I'm not a con artist. My medical records are all here. You can verify everything with the doctors."

I gripped the bench armrest.

"Please don't cancel the donation. This is my last chance."

The man pulled his wife back half a step. "Your sister already told us you're not really blind at all."

"My son's corneas aren't meant for scammers."

He clenched his fists.

"Do you have any idea how hard this decision was for us?"

"And you're using my son's organs as a tool to scam money?"

I shook my head desperately, tears mixing with blood streaming down my face.

"No, I'm not lying, I really am "

Lily caught up and crouched down, placing her hand on my shoulder.

"Sir, ma'am, I'm so sorry about this."

"Stella's always been like this. At home, she pretends she can't see to get out of chores."

She suddenly covered her mouth. "Oh... I shouldn't have said that."

"Stella's actually pretty pitiful. She's just gotten used to using her bad eyes to take advantage of people."

Her gaze shifted away. "Like that welfare fraud thing before... never mind, I shouldn't say more."

"Welfare fraud? You committed welfare fraud too!" The man pointed at my nose.

"My son is dead. We're donating his organs to save people who truly need them!"

"Not to be wasted on scammers like you!"

The woman grabbed her husband's arm.

"Let's go. We need to find the coordinator. We'd rather not donate this cornea at all than give it to her."

I knelt on the floor, mouth open, unable to utter a single word.

Footsteps approached from behind. Mary had arrived.

I turned my head. "Mary, please tell them I really can't see!"

"Just say something for me!"

Mary pulled me up and brushed off the dust. "Enough, enough. Stop making a scene."

She turned to the couple with an apologetic smile.

"Sir, ma'am, I apologize on behalf of my older daughter."

"This child has loved making up stories since she was little. Sorry for startling you."

"My younger daughter just speaks her mind too honestly. She told the truth."

The couple walked into the coordination office and slammed the door shut.

A nurse approached with files.

"Family of Stella Smith? The coordination office just sent notice."

"The donor party has signed the final refusal form."

She opened the file to check the records.

"According to the sequence, the cornea will be transported to the next matched patient within thirty minutes."

"I'm very sorry. There's nothing more we can do."

Lily sighed behind me.

"Stella, see? It's all because your credibility is so bad."

I said nothing.

Blood dripped from my brow onto the hospital corridor tiles. One drop, two drops.

I stood there for a long time.

Long enough for the cornea that should have been mine to be placed in a transport container and wheeled past me.

I couldn't see anything clearly, but I heard the wheels rolling across the floor.

That was the last time I would ever come close to light.

Back in the ward, I sat on the edge of the bed without saying a word.

Lily leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, watching me.

"Come on, Stella, don't be like this. You're making it seem like I hurt you or something." Lily pouted.

"I really didn't know that family would react so badly."

"I just said it casually. Who knew they'd take it seriously?"

She walked over to the bed.

"Besides, think about it it's not like both your eyes are blind."

"Just wait a bit longer. There'll definitely be another cornea."

I didn't have the energy to argue with her.

My father, John, came in from outside holding a payment receipt.

He glanced at the bandage on my forehead, then looked down at the receipt.

"The pre-surgery examination cost twelve thousand dollars this time. Since the cornea surgery didn't happen, can we get a refund?"

Mary shook her head. "I asked. They won't refund it."

John slammed the receipt on the bedside table. "Twelve thousand dollars down the drain!"

"If you'd offended fewer people out there, would Lily have said those things to them?"

I looked up at him. "John, those are my eyes."

"I know they're your eyes." John cut me off.

"But think about it Lily just made a joke, and this is what happened to you?"

"Don't you bear any responsibility yourself? If you'd been nicer to Lily normally "

"Enough, enough." Mary patted Lily's back.

"Let's not fight, family. Lily didn't mean it."

"Stella, calm down. If we can't do the left eye for now, just rest it. We'll wait slowly for next time."

Lily nodded and burrowed into Mary's arms.

I watched their mother-daughter embrace and suddenly remembered something.

"Mary, the wound on my forehead keeps hurting. A bandage isn't enough it needs stitches."

Mary didn't even look up. "What stitches? It's not like you broke an arm."

"You've always exaggerated things since you were little."

That night, the wound on my forehead started to feel hot.

The next day when I woke up, the entire right side of my face was swollen.

I told the nurse my head hurt unbearably.

The nurse removed the bandage. "The wound is seriously infected. Why didn't you get it treated earlier?"

"This won't work. We need to do debridement immediately, and you need an eye nerve examination."

When the test results came back, the attending physician called my parents into the office.

I couldn't hear what they said.

But when my parents came out, Mary's eyes were red.

She glanced at me and spoke. "The doctor said the infection spread into your orbital cavity."

"Your right eye's optic nerve... is damaged."

I froze. "What does that mean?"

"It means your right eye is going blind too."

My left eye had started degenerating three years ago. Now it only had a faint light perception.

My right eye was my last light.

"That's impossible my right eye was fine just because I bumped it?"

The doctor came out holding the report.

"The infection spread from the wound to the optic nerve, causing inflammation."

"If we'd done debridement and anti-inflammatory treatment immediately, it wouldn't have developed to this point."

"But you waited an entire day."

He looked at my parents. "Why didn't the family bring her in for treatment right away?"

My parents were silent for two seconds.

Lily sat on a chair in the hallway, legs crossed, eating yogurt.

"Well, Stella's always made mountains out of molehills. How were we supposed to know this time it was real?"

No one responded to her.

I sat in the examination room, watching the last bit of light perception in my eyes slowly dimming.

Not even the last faint glimmer of light no one was willing to help me keep it.

I gripped the bed sheet tightly.

I didn't cry or make a scene.

I was just thinking about one thing something I would never have considered before.

My right eye's vision dropped to near-total blindness within two weeks.

The doctor said that with orbital decompression surgery combined with anti-inflammatory treatment, I might be able to preserve light perception.

John asked, "How much?"

"About eighty thousand dollars initially."

John said nothing.

Mary said, "Where would we get that kind of money? We borrowed the money for Stella's cornea surgery."

"We still haven't paid it back."

She glanced at Lily, then at me.

"Stella, get discharged for now. Rest at home. Every day we can save counts."

I was discharged.

Standing at the hospital entrance, it was raining.

I couldn't tell if what was ahead was a road or stairs. I stepped out and immediately missed a step.

I fell hard on the ground.

I got up, walked less than ten steps, and crashed into a trash can.

My knees and palms were covered in scrapes.

My parents left right after dropping me at the hospital entrance. Lily didn't come.

I crouched in the rain, suddenly remembering many things.

In high school, I worked part-time while studying.

With my bad eyes, I couldn't find normal part-time work, so I went to help at a massage parlor for the blind off campus.

I washed towels and mopped floors.

Lily came to pick me up from school once.

The next day, she went around telling everyone with a smile.

"Stella works at one of those massage parlors off campus. You know what I mean, right?"

My classmates started avoiding me. The way the boys looked at me completely changed.

The homeroom teacher called me into the office.

In front of other teachers, she asked me.

"Stella Smith, are you engaged in inappropriate work after school?"

I said no, I was just helping with odd jobs at a massage parlor for the blind.

The teacher said, "That's not what Lily says."

Later, I had my first boyfriend.

The boy knew about my bad eyes. Every day after school, he held my hand and walked me home.

He said it was okay he could be my eyes.

After Lily found out, she asked the boy out for coffee.

She stirred her straw.

"That massage parlor where Stella works doesn't just do massages they provide special services."

"Plus, her eye condition is hereditary. Your future children will go blind too."

The next day, the boy blocked me on everything.

I begged him to let me explain. I sent him dozens of messages. All of them went unanswered.

I went crying to confront Lily.

She rolled her eyes. "I just said it casually. If he believed it, is that my fault?"

"Bottom line is he didn't love you enough."

Mary tossed the vegetables she'd picked into a basin.

"Lily's not wrong. If he was truly committed, would a few words break you up?"

"You're so grown up and still dating? What about your studies?"

Every time, they told me to be magnanimous, blamed me a blind person for caring about these things.

I got up from the rain and felt my way home through the darkness.

From that day on, I never mentioned my eyes to anyone again.

And I stopped holding expectations of anyone.

I put on sunglasses and went to work at the massage parlor for the blind.

Three thousand dollars a month. I kept fifteen hundred and gave the rest to my family.

My parents actually thought I'd finally matured.

Lily occasionally came to the shop to see me and mock how little I earned.

I smiled and agreed.

I was waiting.

One year and three months later, Lily suddenly collapsed at home.

She was rushed to the hospital and diagnosed with bilateral kidney failure, late stage. She needed a transplant.

Mary cried in the hospital hallway, calling everyone to borrow money.

She went through every relative and friend in her contacts.

John sold the family car, then listed our small two-bedroom apartment with a realtor.

They scraped together just enough for compatibility testing and preliminary treatment.

Then came the wait for a kidney donor.

They waited three months.

During those three months, Lily's temper grew worse and worse.

She smashed a water glass in front of the attending physician.

"What kind of garbage hospital is this! I'm dying and you can't find one faster?"

My parents always stood beside her. Mary hugged her with heartache.

"Sweetheart, I know you're suffering."

And every day after work, I took a two-hour bus ride to the hospital.

I brought her meals, stayed overnight, wiped her down.

Sometimes Lily would look me over.

"Stella, do you think this is all your life will ever be?"

"Eyes gone blind, massaging people's feet what's the point of you being alive?"

I smiled faintly.

"Yeah, there's no point, so you have to get better."

"The family's counting on you."

She was satisfied with my answer.

She had no idea that every time I came to the hospital, I wasn't just bringing her meals.

After three months and nine days of waiting.

One afternoon, the attending physician rushed through the ward door.

"Family of Lily Smith, we've matched a donor kidney in the same city."

"Perfect compatibility. We can schedule the surgery."

The room went silent for a second, then erupted in loud crying.

Mary held Lily and sobbed.

John crouched in the corner, hands covering his face, shoulders shaking.

Lily turned to look at me. "Stella, see? God still loves me."

She wiped her tears.

"Forget about your cornea. You've already adapted to darkness anyway."

"But I'm still young. I can't die."

I sat on the caregiver's chair beside her bed and smiled at her.

"Yeah, you're really lucky."

I picked up a comb and brushed her hair. She closed her eyes and hummed a tune.

The surgery was scheduled for three days later.

During those three days, I was more gentle than I'd ever been.

I bought Lily her favorite brownie, trimmed her nails.

At night I chatted with her until she fell asleep, then collapsed on the caregiver bed myself.

Mary patted my shoulder.

"Stella, once Lily's body recovers, she definitely won't forget you."

I nodded without speaking.

On the day of surgery, nurses came early for pre-op preparation.

At ten o'clock, the transport gurney arrived.

The nurse asked, "Which family member will accompany her to the operating room door?"

The nurse flipped through another page.

"Sorry, we're still short forty-eight thousand dollars on the surgery deposit."

"A family member needs to go to the first-floor manual payment window."

My parents looked at each other, then both looked at me.

"Stella, you watch Lily. We'll go downstairs to pay. We'll be quick."

I nodded. "Don't worry, Mary. I'm here."

My parents hurried off.

Only Lily on the gurney, the nurse, and I remained in the hallway.

The operating room door stood open, light streaming through.

Lily clutched the edge of the sheet and turned to look at me.

"Stella, do you think something might go wrong with the surgery?"

I crouched down and leaned close to her ear. "No, don't be scared."

She let out a long breath.

Just then, the old man from the next bed was wheeled out by his family.

He also had kidney failure and had been admitted six months before Lily.

But he'd never received a donor kidney.

The old man's wife sat beside the gurney, writing something a will.

The old man spoke in fragments while his wife wrote it down.

"Leave the old house to our grandson... the bankbook is in the second drawer..."

With each sentence, his wife lowered her head to wipe tears.

Lily glanced over and frowned.

"How unlucky. Can't you do this somewhere else instead of in the hallway? It's ruining my mood."

The old man's wife heard her, looked up, but said nothing.

She quietly moved the gurney to the other side.

I looked at that scene too.

Then I stood up and stopped the nurse who was about to wheel Lily into the operating room.

"Wait."

Lily froze and looked up at me.

"Stella? What are you doing?"

"Give me some encouragement. Say something nice so I can go in with peace of mind."

I took off my sunglasses.

I couldn't see anything clearly anymore.

But I could hear Lily lying on the gurney.

Completely defenseless, waiting for me to send her on her final journey.

I smiled. This time, I truly smiled.

I turned toward where I heard the nurse.

"Excuse me, Lily just told me she doesn't want the surgery anymore."

"Give the kidney to the old man in the next bed."