He Gave Her My Eyes A Story of Final Sight novel Chapter 17

Patti pressed a trembling hand to her cheek, eyes wide with real fear. “Theresia, what are you doing?”

This time, the panic wasn’t an act. Patti had always seen Theresia as someone she could push around, someone weak and easy to control. But today… something was different. Had Theresia finally snapped?

She must have gone crazy.

Without a word, Theresia moved forward, calm and deliberate. She reached out, picked up a vase from the stand with perfect precision, and hurled it in Patti’s direction, not even pausing to think.

Patti screamed, pain and shock twisting her voice. She never thought Theresia would hit her, let alone attack her with a vase.

She tried to move, but she was too slow. The vase crashed against her forehead, and blood spattered everywhere.

Lawrence finally snapped out of his daze. He saw Theresia gripping a jagged half of the broken vase, ready to swing again.

Just as the sharp edge was about to strike, he grabbed Theresia’s wrist. At the same moment, he slapped her hard across the face.

Lawrence’s eyes burned with anger. “Theresia, this is how you apologize? Or did you plan this from the second you agreed to come here?”

Theresia didn’t even flinch. She turned and slapped him right back.

Lawrence stared at her in shock, completely unprepared.

Before he could react, she slapped him on the other cheek.

His face twisted with rage. He looked like he wanted to explode. “Theresia!”

She had put everything she had into those slaps. Her palm was tingling, numb from the force.

Her expression stayed cool, her eyes icy and distant. “That’s for you, Lawrence,” she said quietly.

She owed him two slaps. One from yesterday, one from today. Now things were even.

Lawrence’s eyes widened. Maybe it was just his imagination, but Theresia seemed like a different person. He used to think he had her all figured out, that she was easy to handle. Now, he couldn’t read her at all.

He hated that feeling. He was just about to say something when Patti’s weak voice broke the tension.

“Lawrence, it hurts…”

Lawrence had no choice but to focus on her. Blood was streaming down Patti’s face. His heart skipped a beat. He lifted her up and rushed for the door.

“Age.”

“Twenty-five.”

The officer glanced at her file, then muttered something to his partner. After a pause, he asked, “You dropped out of college… Was it because you wanted to get married?”

All she could see was endless darkness.

She’d been a junior in college the year of the accident. Her future had looked so bright. But in a single moment, she became blind. She would never see colors again.

She remembered how, less than a month after the crash, a painting she’d prepared for a competition went missing. Not long after, Patti won first prize at that same competition.

Later, Theresia found out Patti had submitted her artwork as her own. When Theresia tried to confront her, Leila had screamed, eyes wild with fury.

“You stole eighteen years of Patti’s life! So what if she took one lousy painting? You’re blind now. You’ll never paint again. You should be grateful she even used your work. Don’t be so ungrateful!”

The very next day, Leila went to her school and withdrew Theresia from the Harrisburg Academy of Fine Arts.

She had only one year left until graduation.