Evan's Journey Through the Unknown Chapter 2

It is said that people with leprosy and drunkenness have great strength and heavy bodies, which makes sense. Evan Drake's unreliable father, Leo Vaughn, looks gentle and thin, but he is still a big burden on Evan Drake's thinner back.

Although it was heavy, Evan Drake was still able to carry it steadily, and even took away the umbrella he brought with him. It was obvious that he had done this kind of thing many times and had a lot of experience.

Speaking of which, everyone who has seen them has said that if you look at their faces alone, Evan Drake and Leo Vaughn are only 30% alike. After all, Evan Drake has always had his eyes closed, and there are strange birthmarks around him, which have a significant impact on his appearance. However, if the two stand far away from each other, their overall temperament is like they were made from the same mold...

The premise is that Leo Vaughn didn't speak, and it had to be a non-rainy day...

Evan Drake strode back to the old building, carrying Leo Vaughn, who looked and had the same temperament as his brother but behaved more like a son.

The old building where Evan Drake lived was in a bad location. Although the planning of this residential area was very messy, it still looked particularly abrupt, like a drop of ink accidentally dropped outside a large mass of ink. It was located on the shady side of the entire community, in a row, blocked by long alleys and tall buildings in front and residential buildings in the back. The lighting was a problem. The sunshine time was very short every day. After 4 pm, there was almost no light, which made it look particularly dilapidated and gloomy.

Due to structural problems and the weather, even though it was just dinner time, the corridor of the old building was already so dark that one had to count the steps to go upstairs. If it was one person, it would be fine, as one would know where to step and not fall easily. But if one was carrying another person on his back, one would inevitably stumble. Moreover, in the eyes of the neighbors around him, Evan Drake was still blind. It was naturally unimaginable how difficult it was to carry someone upstairs.

But Evan Drake didn't have any intention of asking for help. He just frowned, stood facing the stairs for a moment, and then lifted the unconscious person on his back upwards.

"Today, it's a little too dark..."

He muttered this in a very low voice, thought for a moment, and then looked up. The doors of other houses were all closed, and there was no sound of anyone coming in or out. They were probably having dinner.

After a moment of silence, Evan Drake retracted his gaze, then sighed, and opened his eyes that had been closed for several years as if he had made some important decision.

A neighbor once secretly speculated that Evan Drake kept his eyes closed all year round, probably because his eyes had not been used for too long and had gradually deformed during his growth and development and could no longer be opened.

But the truth is not so. These eyes that have not been opened for a long time have not shown any signs of shrinkage or turbidity. Instead, they seem to be somewhat bright in the dark corridor. However, if you take another look, you will find that these eyes are more suitable to be closed on weekdays. Because they have no whites at all, the whole eyes are a bright black.

The black was pure and thick, but the light it emitted seemed to be flowing. It seemed that what existed in Evan Drake's eye sockets were not normal eyes at all, but more like two balls of thick black water that were constantly flowing.

On such a stormy night with thunder and lightning, if someone passed by and saw Evan Drake's open eyes, coupled with the image of the father and son still dripping with water, they would definitely be scared to death.

These eyes were not originally like this, but were no different from those of ordinary people.

In Evan Drake's memory, the phrase he heard most often when he was a child was: "The eyes are pretty, but it's a pity..."

What a pity, I can’t see anything.

Since Evan Drake could remember, his world was dark, and he couldn't even feel a little light. He was completely blind. At that time, Leo Vaughn, who was always unreliable, found a place for him to live. Together with a group of blind children and a fat aunt, they learned to adapt to life in their own unique way.

They always learn the same thing slower than normal people, so from the age of three or four to their teenage years, they were always taught by the fat aunt and her friends. I can only say that they taught really well, and the group of children at that time grew up well, were positive and optimistic, and some of them loved to laugh and make noises. Even Evan Drake almost became that kind of person.

What led to his current personality was an incident when he was twelve years old.

Evan Drake couldn't remember why he fainted during class that day. He only remembered that when he woke up, he smelled the smell of disinfectant mixed with alcohol.

Because of his eyes, he is always sensitive to the smell of hospitals.

At that time, he could hear Auntie Pang's unique, shrill voice yelling, "Hey?! He's awake! I saw his fingers move! Zongzi, go get the doctor or nurse to come and have a look!"

Evan Drake subconsciously turned his head towards Auntie Pang, and felt something like a spot of light flash past his eyes, which were not yet open.

In fact, in those years, he felt that his eyes seemed to be developing in a good direction, and the evidence was those vague human-shaped spots of light. He couldn't remember exactly when it started, but his eyes were no longer monotonous and thick black. Instead, some extremely vague and inconspicuous spots of light began to appear.

After he slowly adapted, he found that these spots of light were people who appeared in front of him one after another. As they grew older, these spots of light gradually became brighter and had rough outlines, allowing people to distinguish them.

It is precisely because of the existence of these light spots that Evan Drake's life has become less difficult. The situations of bumping into people while walking or knocking his head against the wall due to dizziness have gradually become less and less frequent, and eventually disappeared from his daily life, so that he even seems to be able to move freely like a normal person.

At that time, Evan Drake didn't know why he didn't tell anyone about the change, and the people around him didn't seem to notice anything different about him. Only Aunt Pang once said casually, "Xiao Ke doesn't seem to be so clumsy lately." Then she took him to try the light sensitivity of his eyes.

But at that time, these spots of light could only be seen when he opened his eyes.

So, when he closed his eyes in the hospital but still saw the two human-shaped light spots symbolizing Aunt Fat and Zongzi, and they were much clearer than before, Evan Drake was completely stunned.

Evan Drake used to be able to see these with his eyes open, and he thought it was because his eyes were slowly returning to normal. But now that he can see these with his eyes closed, Evan Drake feels that it is not that simple - even if there is no problem with one's eyes, one will never be able to see such clear images with their eyes closed. At most, one can only sense light.

After a few seconds, he discovered something even more surprising - he could not only see people, but he could even see the outlines of surrounding objects, although compared to people, they were extremely unclear and dim, almost blending into the black background...

But so what? !

This did not affect his mood at all - he could see!

No matter how unusual the method was, at least he could see it!

If you can see so many things with your eyes closed, then wouldn't it be even more difficult to see them with your eyes open...

At that time, Evan Drake opened his eyes carefully with mixed emotions of surprise, panic and expectation...

Sure enough! All people and objects were much clearer than when I closed my eyes. But --- it wasn't just these changes...

Evan Drake stared with wide eyes at the two expressionless people who suddenly appeared in the ward, as well as some scattered spots of light around them, not knowing what to do.

At that time, Zongzi had already gone out to call the nurse, and Auntie Pang also walked to the door of the ward to greet them. No one noticed that Evan Drake had opened his eyes and looked surprised.

The nurse led the way in, saying "The doctor will be here soon", and walked to Evan Drake's bedside, bent down... and then, as if she had seen something extremely scary, she screamed and took two steps back. Fatty and Zongzi, who were following behind, quickly supported the nurse, then took a step forward and looked at Evan Drake lying on the bed.

Then there was chaos... When Evan Drake thought back on it many years later, he could no longer remember the exact scene.

He only remembered that the frightened little nurse wanted to run out of the ward like crazy, yelling words like "eyes...monster...", and the short Zongzi almost jumped up, rushed over to close the door, and then helped Aunt Fat to grab the struggling little nurse.

When Evan Drake was looking at the chaos in front of him, not knowing what to do, Auntie Pang turned around and said to Evan Drake: "Close your eyes, Xiao Ke! Close your eyes!"

Because of his blindness, Evan Drake lacked a sense of security. He rarely trusted anyone completely, but Auntie Pang was one of the few. He closed his eyes reflexively almost as soon as he heard Auntie Pang speak. Then the surroundings returned to the way they were when he just woke up - the two strangers standing in the ward with expressionless faces disappeared silently, just as they appeared silently.

Evan Drake didn't remember what Auntie Pang and Zongzi said to the nurse. He only knew that when the nurse came into the ward again that afternoon, her tone was normal and warm, and she was not the same person as the one in the morning. Auntie Pang and Zongzi were only a little surprised at first, but soon returned to normal and only asked Evan Drake some questions in detail.

Evan Drake told them about the changes in his eyes in recent years, but ignored the two expressionless people who appeared out of nowhere.

That incident was like a stone thrown into a pond, which created a few ripples and then became silent. Fatty and Zongzi, who witnessed the whole incident, did not treat Evan Drake any differently after that, except that they would occasionally ask Evan Drake about his eyes when they were alone.

But since then, Evan Drake never opened his eyes in front of anyone again.

However, not opening his eyes in front of others does not mean that he will not open his eyes when he is alone. In the next two or three years, Evan Drake would often open his eyes for a while when he was alone or no one was paying attention to him. Then he would see a completely different world - the outlines of all the dead objects were dim, but brighter than when he closed his eyes;

All living things, including people, are always bright and dark. For example, Auntie Fatty, Zongzi, and her other friends are obviously much brighter than the people around them. Not only are their outlines clear, but their facial features can even be seen clearly. His crazy dad is much darker than Auntie Fatty and the others, but a little brighter than most people. Evan Drake has also seen some people who are similar to Leo Vaughn, but most people still only have an outline, which is darker than the old tree and clearer than the tables and chairs.

However, apart from these, Evan Drake also saw a special kind of ---

Like Aunt Fat, they also had vague facial features, and Evan Drake could even make out the expressions of some of them, but most of them were extremely dim, worse than many people, just like the two he saw in the hospital.

At first, Evan Drake only thought they were special, but he didn't know who they were. As he got older, he heard more and more things, and Evan Drake had some vague guesses in his mind. Until one day, Evan Drake saw Granny Chen, who had passed away two days ago, under the residential building behind him. She stared at him blankly with a pair of empty eyes, then hesitantly raised her trembling hand and waved at him twice. Then he vaguely heard an almost inaudible voice: "Xiao Ke, come to Granny Chen, Granny Chen has something to say..."

He hesitated for a while, but still walked over. However, as soon as he walked in front of her and lowered his head, he heard a "ho ho" sound of gasping, and then Granny Chen appeared in front of him, with an expression of pain that was almost hideous. Then, as if someone had broken her apart and shattered her, she turned into countless flying catkins like paper ash and disappeared. The visual shock caused him to have nightmares for many days.

From then until now, for nearly three or four years, Evan Drake rarely opened his eyes even when he was alone or no one was paying attention to him.