Marvelous Tales Contest #8 - The World Through a Cloud

The doctors told her parents she was blind.

What her parents heard was that she was helpless. Broken.

So they hired a private tutor to handle their daughter then went back to their lives. As far as Lilith could tell, seeing-lives involved driving away to look at a computer screen for eight hours then driving back to look at a television screen that blared commercials too loud.

Lilith pushed the sound to the back of her mind and concentrated on her book. Her fingers stumbled over a word.

“Miss Karen, what is mist?”

Her teacher stopped rustling through her bag, no doubt gathering her things now that Lilith’s parents were home. “Mist… It’s like a cloud that’s close to the ground, made up of millions of tiny water droplets. Why do you ask?”

“It says here that ‘he was blinded by the mist.’” Lilith grabbed Miss Karen’s hand and guided it to the phrase, which she kept marked with a finger. She swallowed a sudden lump of nerves. “Is that what happened to me?”

“Oh, no, Lilith. It’s talking about a temporary blindness. Mist is thick and hard to see through when you’re inside it. When it’s gone, you’ll be able to see again.” Miss Karen cleared her throat. “I mean, he'll be able to see again.”

“So you can stand inside a cloud?” Lilith tilted her face toward the glow of the ceiling lamp. Maybe if she held her breath she could ploof out like a squeaky-skinned balloon and float up to where the clouds lived. “That would be wonderful!”

“It would be,” Miss Karen sighed, so softly Lilith almost missed it. “I’m sorry Lil, I have to go. I loaded a new audiobook onto your tablet. We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”

Her footsteps retreated and disappeared through the front door.

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Press play for a soundtrack

Lilith awoke to the tug of headphones leaving her ears. She’d fallen asleep wearing them again, even though her mother always scolded her for it.

“Good morning,” came a whisper in her now-clear ear. It wasn’t her mom’s voice.

“Miss Karen? What are you doing here? It’s still dark.”

“We’re going on a field trip.”

“Mom said no more field trips after last time.” Lilith yawned to smother the thrill that fluttered in her belly.

“Shhh, I know, that’s why we have to be quiet.” A coat enveloped Lilith, thick and rough. “I’m going to carry you to the car now.”

They drove in silence until the car shuddered to a stop. The back door clicked open.

“Oh, I forgot your shoes!” Miss Karen exclaimed.

Lilith wiggled her bare toes in the air. “It’s ok.”

“I’ll carry you again, the ground is uneven anyway.”

Lilith snuggled her face in the warm curve of Miss Karen’s neck. She smelled clean and fresh, like the flowers her mom put on the kitchen table. And behind her scent… something deep and musty, more akin to a garden.

It felt like they were walking down stairs, then Miss Karen set her down and slipped the coat off her shoulders.

All the hairs on Lilith’s arms stood on end as her skin began to tingle. Little wet sparks electrified her nerves, popping into and out of existence. Damp grass prickled the soles of her feet, and she shivered.

“Can you feel it?” Miss Karen breathed.

Lilith stuck her tongue out to taste the cool, dense air.

“Mist?! We’re standing in a cloud?!” Lilith lifted up onto her toes and spread her arms wide, the dewy hem of her nightgown swirling around her knees. The cloud streamed over every inch of her and buoyed her up a little higher.

“Mhm. All I can see is a soft grey light.”

Lilith squeezed her eyes shut against that light for a moment. Just like me.

“Listen, the birds are waking up!" Miss Karen exclaimed.

The trickle of a stream made a burbling backdrop to the chorus of chirps. The maelstrom of sound made Lilith’s head spin at first, until she started picking out individual calls. A persistent “twee twee twee” over her left shoulder. A cascading trill just ahead. And two lilting whistles that called back and forth over a distance.

“Where are we?” Lilith asked, awed.

“It’s called Morgan’s Vale. During sunrise at this time of year, the valley fills up with mist. Like a cup full of clouds.”

They stood as the featureless world brightened slowly around them. Then the rising sun glinted over the lip of the valley, met the fog, and scattered into a million rays.

“Oh, Lilith! I wish you could see it!” Miss Karen’s voice sounded different, a little ragged. “Everything’s glowing golden. It’s beautiful.”

“I know.” Lilith beamed as the sun warmed her face. She reached out and Miss Karen’s hand met hers halfway. “I can see it too.”

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Thanks for reading my entry to this week's Marvelous Tales Contest by @playfulfoodie! The prompts are the words "mist" and "vale". You can also vote on my 200-word Whaleshares Short Story entry if you're so inclined. Let me know if you're participating, so I can read your entries too!

All words and the photo are mine, and the song is under creative commons license. Also, I admit full igorance on the subject of blindness, though I did a little reading on it and it was fun to write using other senses. Feel free to leave editing suggestions!
- Katie, @therovingreader