Seven knows

Seven had been blind for as long as he could remember. Every night he had the same dream: knocking on a hospital door, footsteps all around him. As the needle from the bedside table dropped and clattered to the floor, he could hear it clearly amongst the chaos, just as clearly as the fly buzzing in the corner.

In the morning, sunlight shone onto his pale face as he opened his eyes. Open and close. He felt so tired, not physically, but mentally. His mother’s footsteps approached, and she opened his door.

“Ready for the first day of school?” she asked quietly.

He nodded. His head throbbed. Everything around him was so loud. The billowing leaves on the oak tree outside his window, the ant climbing up his bedpost, his mother’s heartbeat. He knew what she was thinking, will they accept him?

He was used to getting around by listening carefully but starting at a new school was never easy. After starting his first class he felt the uneasiness of the students around him, the shuffles of their feet and the catch of their breathe. But, strangely, they all began to migrate to him as if he were a magnet.

“Hey, do you need help?” One student said.

“Hey, what’s your name? Want to eat lunch with me?”

This is how the first day went. And by the time his classes were over, he had a group of students walking home with him through the forest path. But that afternoon, something peculiar happened. He felt a tingle, like a shiver running through his bones, even though the air was warm. He stopped, sensing that something was nearby—something dangerous.

He couldn’t see it, but he could feel it. It moved in strange, jerky patterns, its presence like a shadow in his mind. He heard a low growl.

“Everyone! Run!” Seven suddenly screamed.

The students were confused, they hadn’t seen or heard the creature yet.

“What’s going on Seven?”

And just then, a monster jumped from a tree top and landed on a student. Chaos followed suit, as the students ran in all directions, screaming terror.

Seven’s senses were on fire. He kneeled and he tried to focus his mind on the monster’s heartbeat, to find it in his surroundings. Sweat soaked his school shirt and panic froze him. 

A man suddenly stood beside him.

“Let’s see how much you can bear.” He said in a raspy voice. He threw out his cigarette and put it out with his shoe. He clenched a knife in his hands and sped towards the first monster.

Just as fast as that man was moving, there was a loud thud, then silence. Seven felt the air clear. The corpse of the first monster lay on the forest floor.

“Who are you?” Seven asked, scrambling to his feet.

The man looked down at him, eyes sharp. “Name’s Jackson. I hunt monsters. You sensed that creature, didn’t you?”

Seven nodded slowly. “How did you know?”

 “You’ve got a radar for these things. That’s rare. We could use someone like you in the Guard.”

“Guard?” Seven said, frowning. “Like, some sort of monster-fighting club?”

Jackson chuckled. “Something like that. Come on, I’ll explain.”

But Seven shook his head. “I’m not interested. I just want to get through school and... protect my family. I don’t want any trouble.”

Jackson shrugged as Seven grabbed his bag and ran off.

For a few days, Seven tried to ignore what had happened. He lied to his mom and said everything was fine, that he was just sick. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that more monsters were out there.

And when one appeared right outside his home, Seven realized he didn’t have a choice. He sensed it from afar, and it was fast, so it soon began scratching at the windows of his attic. He didn’t want to join the Guard, but he had to protect his mother, and his new home.

Moments later, Jackson and a few other members of the Guard appeared. They fought off the creature together, and after it was gone, Jackson found Seven and said, “Glad you came around.”

He thought that training with the Guard wouldn’t be easy. But he soon realized his sense of hearing was a sort of superpower. He learned to guide his new teammates when they couldn’t see what he could feel. 

Just when Seven thought everything was going okay, a powerful new monster appeared. It was bigger and stronger than any they’d faced before. And it showed up right in front of Seven’s school.

Each member of the team, including Jackson and Seven, were there within seconds and began their battle. The creature hit Seven with a fierce blow. He felt his skin rip. The monster moved on to the others, and Jackson was soon cornered. Seven picked up his sword, sprinted and rammed it into the monster.

 Suffer!” he screamed. Endless divine power surged through his body as he pressed and pressed the blade into the flesh of the monster. Seven’s golden eyes stared into the monster's frightened eyes. 

Seven then crumpled to the ground, and everything went dark.

When he woke up, he was surrounded by his friends from the Guard. Jackson looked down at him with a smile “Kid, you’re stronger than you look.”

Seven sat up, confused but relieved. He couldn’t explain how he’d survived, but he felt stronger than before. He heard that the monster had died, but so had Seven. Miraculously he was revived to see another day. 

In the weeks that followed, Seven realized that he wasn’t alone anymore. He had friends who looked out for him. He was no longer sad about being blind because he had discovered a new way of seeing the world—one that went beyond just sight. His nightmare had even faded to a mere blur of sound and colour.

And most importantly, he knew that he was more than capable of protecting the people he loved.