Into The Light

When the prestigious Mercer family finally tracked my brother, Shawn, down, he was digging through a dumpster, trying to scrape together enough bottles and cans to pay for my surgery. He didn’t care about the fleet of luxury cars in front of him. His only condition for going with them was that they had to take me, his blind little sister, along too. However, when we arrived at the Mercer estate, their spoiled daughter, Ava—who was Shawn’s biological sister—looked at the two of us in our dirty, tattered clothes with absolute disgust. I couldn’t see it, but I could feel Shawn's protective arms around my shoulders. He leaned down and whispered, "Don't be afraid, El. I'm right here." With his exceptional talent, Shawn quickly outshone Ava in everything, and before long, her disgust for him turned into worship. However, he also left me far behind. Eventually, I could no longer join in on their conversations, and the younger sister Shawn spoke of was no longer me, but her. The breaking point came on the day he officially took over the Mercer family empire, when Ava and I both fell into the river at the same time. "Ava!" Shawn rushed over from a distance. There was a loud splash as he dove into the water and saved her, forgetting I was even there. My heart sank as I drowned in the water. I didn’t even try to struggle. Shawn lied to me. We were never actually family. Chapter 1 I didn’t drown. A split second before the air was sucked out of me, a guard saved me. However, all he did was haul me onto the riverbank and dump me onto the ground. I coughed violently, gasping for air in the pitch-black darkness, my hands trembling as I reached out carefully to feel my surroundings. “Shawn?” No one answered. The only things I could hear were panicked footsteps in the distance, followed by his frantic roar. “Butler! Get a doctor here, now! Ava, wake up! Keep your eyes open. Look at me!” As their voices drifted further and further away, my hand, frozen in mid-air, slowly dropped to the ground. I had no strength left to support my freezing, soaked body. A crowd had gathered around me, their voices lowered into whispers. However, ever since I lost my sight, my hearing had become incredibly sharp. “This whole situation with Ella is just embarrassing. How does the Mercer family have a second daughter like her?” Another voice said with contempt, “Second daughter? She’s not entitled to use the Mercers’ name. When Shawn was brought back to the family, she begged him to let her change her last name!” “That’s so manipulative.” I heard every word. I wanted to scream back at them and tell them that it wasn’t like that at all. When Shawn was brought back to the family, he was the one who told me, “You’re taking my last name, Ella. I’m your older brother. Whatever my last name is, yours is too. We are the only real family we have.” Shawn and I had relied on each other to survive since we were kids. He used to say, “I hope Ella stays sweet forever and lives a life free of hardships.” My name used to be Ella Long, and his was Shawn Long. However, that wasn’t true anymore. I lowered my eyes, hiding the tears welling up in my sightless eyes. My brother’s name was Shawn Mercer now, and he was Ava’s brother. Only after the crowd had thrown enough insults at me did Mrs. Lewis, the servant assigned to care for me, reluctantly stepped forward to help me back to the house. She shoved a cane into my hands and said, “You can get upstairs by yourself, can’t you? What a nuisance.” I nodded. Using the cane to guide myself, I stepped onto the tactile guiding tiles on the floor, feeling the raised bumps beneath my feet. For a moment, I lost myself in the sensation. Shawn had installed these bumps himself when we first arrived at the Mercer estate. He had done it just to make things easier for me, his blind little sister. However, just as I was about to walk into my room, a set of hurried, angry footsteps approached from behind. “Hold it right there!” Shawn grabbed my wrist, twisting it with a force so brutal that it felt like he was going to break my bones. “Why did you push Ava into the river? Do you have any idea that she can’t swim at all? If I hadn’t happened to walk past today, you would’ve murdered her!” He flung my wrist away as his chest heaved. “Ella, when did you become so vicious? This is attempted murder!” My swollen wrist was throbbing with agonizing pain. He didn’t even seem to notice that I was dripping wet, and he didn’t seem to care either. “I didn’t do it,” I said. At my hollow defense, he sneered impatiently. “You didn’t? Ava just told me herself! You tricked her into going down there and deliberately pushed her in!” I gritted my teeth and replied, “You believe her just because she said it? Why won’t you believe me?” He fell silent for a couple of seconds before saying wearily, “You spent your entire childhood conning, cheating, and stealing just to get by. Lying is practically in your blood! Ella, you’re blind. Just stay in your lane and be quiet. I’m begging you. Stop causing trouble for everyone else, alright?” With that, he brushed past me and headed straight to Ava’s room. “Shh, it’s okay. I’m right here, Ava. Don’t be scared. As long as I’m here, no one will ever hurt you again.” I stood frozen in the hallway, my face pale and my heart sinking. Conning, cheating, and stealing… Wasn’t all of that just to keep us alive back then? If I hadn’t resorted to stealing medicine to save his life, I wouldn’t have been beaten so badly that I lost my eyesight forever… Back in my room, I pulled out my phone, and the robotic text-to-speech voice of the accessibility mode began reading the incoming notification. “Ella, would you be willing to take part in the clinical trial to treat both your eyes? It’ll take quite a while, though.” My fingers trembled over the screen, and the robotic voice said, “I accept.” Chapter 2 After I replied to the message, a sudden knock on the door broke my thoughts. I felt my way across the room, and when I opened the door, I caught Shawn’s scent. “Why are you sitting in the dark?” he blurted out. I froze, and he, too, paused for a moment before he realized his mistake. “Right… I forgot you’re blind.” The air between us grew quiet. After a long pause, he finally spoke. “Put your hand out.” I held out my hand, bracing for pain. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time over the last few years he had hit me for Ava’s sake. Yet, the pain never came. Instead, a hot mug of chamomile tea and a box of medicine were placed in my hands. My fingers curled slightly, and an overwhelming sense of injustice and sadness washed over me. So, he actually cared whether I was freezing or not. Shawn sighed, then turned on the lights and guided me over to the bed. “Sit down,” he said. “You’re a grown girl, El. You need to start taking care of yourself. If you catch a cold, you’re the one who’s going to suffer.” He grabbed a dry towel and began gently drying my soaking-wet hair, just like he used to. Was he feeling guilty? Did he still care about me as his sister? The tiny spark of warmth had just begun to spread through my chest when he spoke again, his voice filled with helplessness. “El, can you please stop targeting Ava? She’s not like you. You grew up with me by your side, loving you and protecting you. Ava has always been alone in this huge house. It’s sad.” My grip on the mug tightened, and my body went rigid. Slowly, I forced my fingers to loosen, and a bitter, self-deprecating smile crept onto my face. Targeting her? From the moment I stepped into the Mercer estate, Ava had used every opportunity to humiliate and degrade me. In fact, when I told Shawn about it at the start, he would stand up for me. However, somewhere along the way, his loyalty shifted to Ava, and he started spending more time with her. More often than not, I would only get to see him once a week, and when I did, it was nothing but cold, empty pleasantries. Gradually, I stopped telling him anything because I realized that I no longer had support. “Okay,” I whispered, taking a deep breath and giving him the answer he wanted. Shawn let out a sigh of relief and bent down in front of me. “You’re the best, El. You’re such a good girl.” I couldn’t see his face, but his words sent a shiver down my spine. Not long after he left, my door was pushed open again. This time, there was no knock, and only Ava would do that. “Well, you blind little girl, how did today feel?” I lifted my cold, blank eyes and asked, “Why did you frame me? You’re the one who pushed me into the river, and you know damn well how to swim.” As she walked over to me, I could feel the condescending stare she was throwing my way—a look I had become all too familiar with over the years. “Because I need Shawn to become completely disillusioned with you of his own accord. Only when he kicks you out himself will you finally stop trying to compete with me for his affection.” She sneered, “If I were blind like you, I’d kill myself far, far away from here.” With that, she grabbed the mug of chamomile tea from my hands and dumped the entire contents straight into the trash can. “You don’t deserve to drink this.” Then, she walked out. I clenched my fists so hard that my body shook. Overcome by rage, I bolted out, but my footsteps ground to a halt right at the door. I felt all the strength drain out of me. Even if I went to Shawn right now, he wouldn’t believe me. In his mind, I was a manipulative, deceitful liar, while Ava was pure, innocent, and flawless. I could never compete with her. I stood there for a long time before feeling my way to Shawn’s room anyway. I wasn’t going to complain. I just wanted to tell him that I was leaving and that I had been offered a chance to treat my eyes. With me gone for up to five years, he would have his peace back. Yet, as I reached his door, I froze at the sound of voices coming from inside. “Shawn, you’re the head of the Mercer family now,” Mr. Mercer said in a lowered voice. “Just write that blind girl a check and send her packing. How long do you plan on being responsible for her? You need to know who your real family is.” Shawn remained silent for a long moment. “I’m sick of it too,” Shawn replied. “Everywhere I go, people know that I have a blind sister. But if I abandon her, the media will tear me apart. Don’t worry, Dad. I won’t let anyone threaten Ava’s position in this family.” I couldn’t hear whatever they said after that. I stumbled back to my room in a daze, shut the door behind me, and slid down the wall until I hit the floor. I lay awake all night, replaying his words in my mind. Chapter 3 The next morning, I opened my door and stepped out, only to immediately realize something was wrong. The tactile guiding tiles on the floor were gone. Seeing me, Mrs. Lewis walked over and reluctantly grabbed my arm to support me. “Where are my tactile guiding tiles?” I asked. Footsteps approached from down the hall. It was Shawn. “I had them removed,” he said. I froze. He continued, “Ava hurt her leg when you pushed her into the river yesterday. She has to use a wheelchair now, and those tactile guiding tiles make it difficult for her to get around.” My body stiffened as I asked, “What about me?” He scowled, as though he had only just remembered that I was blind and also needed accommodation. He said impatiently, “Don’t you have a cane? And if that’s not enough, Mrs. Lewis is here to help you. Do you always have to make everything such a big deal?” Before I could reply, I heard the whirring of an electric wheelchair, followed by Ava’s voice. “Shawn, what’s taking so long? We need to get to the office.” He turned away instantly, without sparing me another glance. “Does your leg still hurt? Don’t let Ella get to you. She grew up on the streets with no education. She doesn’t know any better.” “I know,” Ava replied. “If I let myself get worked up over an uneducated, blind girl, wouldn’t that make me look petty? Besides, how else am I going to be your favorite little sister?” Shawn let out a warm laugh. “You really are a little rascal.” Their voices drifted farther and farther away, and once they were gone, Mrs. Lewis let go of my arm. She said dismissively, “Alright, Miss Ella. You’ve lived in the Mercer estate long enough to feel your way around. I have actual work to do.” I clenched my fists. Instead of heading downstairs, I returned to my room. The Mercer estate was massive. Without my tactile guiding tiles, I couldn’t even find my way to the dining room. At noon, a servant dropped my lunch off at my door. It was just two pieces of cold, stale bread. However, I didn’t find it horrible. Back when Shawn and I were begging on the streets, we couldn’t even afford stale bread. Later that afternoon, I received a message from Dr. Thomas. “Please come by the hospital sometime in the next two days. We need to collect your eye data and upload it to the lab in Meropis.” I had no choice. I had to feel my way out of the mansion, bumping into walls and asking several servants for directions before I finally managed to step outside the gates. Once I arrived at the hospital and contacted Dr. Thomas, he guided me and had me lie down in front of the scanning equipment. “Don’t be nervous. Just try to keep your eyes relaxed.” I nodded. In front of me was pitch black, as dark and empty as my own life. After what felt like an eternity, the humming of the machine stopped. “All done.” I bit my lip nervously. “Dr. Thomas, if I join this clinical trial overseas, will my eyesight return?” He hesitated for a moment. “There’s a ninety percent success rate. They wouldn’t run the trial if they weren’t highly confident.” I let out a sigh of relief. My phone had died during the appointment, so Dr. Thomas kindly called a cab for me. By the time I finally made it back to the Mercer estate, it was nearly ten o’clock at night. “Where the hell have you been?” The moment I stepped through the front door, Shawn’s demanding voice came through. He sounded incredibly annoyed. “Ella, you are a member of the Mercer family now, not Ella Long who could afford to just wander around without a care in the world! Do you have no respect for the house curfew? Where are your manners?” My eyes began to throb with pain. I stood there in silence for two seconds before letting out a bitter, mocking laugh. “I’m not a Mercer, and I have absolutely nothing to do with this family.” His breathing immediately turned heavy as he said, “Say that again. I dare you! Ella, how did you become so stubborn and ungrateful? Everything I do is for your own good!” I blinked. I wanted to cry and scream until my lungs gave out, but my eyes were so dry and painful that not a single tear would fall. “For my own good?” I asked. “Let’s be honest, Shawn. I’m just a burden to you, the great CEO of the Mercer Group.” His bewilderment was followed by a sudden outburst of anger. “You ungrateful brat! You’re going to stand here and reflect on your actions until tomorrow morning, and we’ll see if you still have the nerve to talk back to me!” I didn't fight him. I stood there, feeling the cold of the night seep through my skin, freezing what was left of my heart. Sometime in the middle of the night, a fever took hold of my body. Eventually, I couldn't hold myself up any longer, and I collapsed onto the floor. Chapter 4 When I woke up again, I was lying in a soft bed with an IV drip hooked to my arm. The spot where the needle entered stung a little. Just as I tried to shift around, a pair of large hands gently pinned me down. Shawn’s voice, filled with a mix of helplessness and heartache, echoed in my ear. “Don’t move. It’s not done yet.” As he spoke, he placed a warm towel over my arm. “The family doctor said this helps ease the swelling and pain. Does it feel any better?” I gave a slow nod. I couldn’t quite put into words what I was feeling right now. He let out a sigh. “I don’t know who you inherited this stubborn streak from. I’m your brother. Would it really kill you to just give in to me for once?” I pursed my dry lips. “Shawn, I…” I was just about to tell him about my upcoming trip to the Meropis for my eye treatment when he cut me off. “El, you know about the strategic marriage between the Sterling family and the Mercers, right?” I frowned in confusion. I didn’t understand why he was bringing this up now, but it made me feel a sudden sense of unease. In the very next second, my whole body went rigid. “Originally, Ava was supposed to marry the Sterlings’ second son. But just last night, he got into a fatal car crash, and they couldn’t save him. So, by default, Ava’s fiancé is now the eldest Sterling son.” I stayed silent as he continued to speak. He sounded conflicted. “But the eldest Sterling son is already nearing forty, and Ava is still so young, so…” Suddenly, it all became clear to me, and my heart sank. A sharp, throbbing pain shot through the back of my hand from the IV. “So, we need you to take Ava’s place in this marriage.” My blank eyes widened in shock, and I choked, saying, “Don’t you know that the eldest Sterling son is a monster who domestically abused his last three wives? Shawn…” When he didn’t say a word, I started laughing bitterly. He knew exactly what kind of man he was, yet he was still fully prepared to throw me to the wolves just to protect Ava, even if it meant I would be abused, broken, and literally beaten to death… “I won’t do it. I’m not marrying him.” He instantly stood up and growled impatiently, “Ella, can you stop being so selfish? Ava is the only true daughter of the Mercer family. Do you honestly expect us to force her into a marriage like that?” He took a deep breath, trying his best to soften his tone. “Look, just relax. The eldest Sterling son has changed his ways and turned over a new leaf. Besides, you’re my sister. With me backing you up, how would he ever dare to lay a hand on you? On top of that, I showed him your picture, and he fell for you at first sight. What’s so bad about that?” So this was how it was. He had been using this carrot-and-stick approach on me for years, and I was truly sick of it. I ripped the IV needle straight out of my hand, throwing the warm towel right along with it. I didn’t care about the blood that began to spurt from the open wound. My voice trembled. “If he’s so great, make Ava marry him! Shawn Mercer, I’m not the one who changed. You are!” I could never bring myself to treat him as my brother again. He was so angry that he was breathing heavily. Staring at the towel on the floor, his expression turned ugly. “You’re marrying him whether you want to or not! You don’t have a choice! Tomorrow, you’re coming with me to the Sterlings!” My eyes widened in horror. A look of pure, agonizing disbelief flooded my sightless eyes. “What did you just say?” He said nothing more. In the end, he left the room, slamming the door after muttering, “Behave yourself.” The bedroom fell into a suffocating silence. I sat on the bed for a very long time. On that night, my longing for a family faded, and my love for my brother turned cold. As for Shawn, he would never know the real truth behind why I went blind in the first place. Late at night, when all was quiet, I grabbed my documents and my passport, carefully feeling my way toward the back exit of the Mercer estate. There was a small gate there that had no guards posted. Leaving the Mercer estate behind, I headed straight for the airport. The moment the plane took off, I no longer had a brother. Twelve hours later, the plane touched down in Meropis. The instant I turned my phone back on, countless messages began flooding in.