Blind

Blind

When Hal returned home that night, he sensed that something was wrong. He paused before he inserted his key in the lock. For a few seconds he let his remaining senses take stock. Near-silent night noises filled the background of his perception. A mouse scratched at something beneath the porch, a breeze flapped at a cloth left hanging from next door’s washing line. Far away, an owl hooted in the darkness.

But no sound came from inside the house. That, in itself, was unusual but not enough to cause too much concern. He unlocked the front door and entered the house. His hand touched the wall and he knew immediately why he felt so uneasy.

The lights were on.

When touching the wall, his hand had brushed the light switch and found it in the ON position. He never turned the lights on. Apart from the fact that they made no difference for him, he detested the idea of paying for something he did not need.

But they were on now.

He switched them off and made his way quietly to the kitchen. The lights were on there too. Careful not to make a sound, he turned them off.

The gun was in the cutlery drawer, behind the tray and wrapped in a cloth. He checked the magazine and safety catch. Then he moved swiftly and silently to the door to the dining room and listened.

At first he heard nothing but his beating heart. But as his concentration narrowed, he caught the sound of slight movement in the room beyond. A breath held and released, perhaps.

Someone or something was waiting for him in the dining room. Anger began to boil within his heart as he listened, pure disgust that he should be picked on like this, his home invaded, and his apparent weakness exploited. His hand trembled with righteous wrath as he unclicked the safety catch.

Then he stepped right up to the door and threw it open. Taking a step forward, he aimed the gun into the room, at the same time feeling for the light switch. It was off.

So great was his surprise that the intruder had not chosen to use his main advantage, that Hal was frozen in indecision for a moment.

And then the room erupted into many voices, all shouting at the same time and nearly deafening Hal’s alerted hearing. In pure reaction, his finger squeezed the trigger and he began blasting shots at the noises in the darkness. Shouts turned to screams and the thuds of bodies falling to the floor as the magazine emptied and the gun resorted to clicking into the silence that followed.

At the same time, the word that the invaders had been shouting formed itself into sense in Hal’s mind. It was, “SURPRISE!”

Oh, God, it was his birthday, wasn’t it?


Word count: 475
For SCREAMS!!! 06.20.23
Prompt: Write a story in 500 words or less from the perspective of a blind man/woman.