As she walked across the room, he smiled to the sound of her voice. He was a different type of teenage boy. He was tall with brown hair and light brown skin. He was a sweet kid who came from a rather wealthy family. He was an excellent student, making the honour roll all four marking periods. If you didn`t see him, you would think he was the perfect teenage boy. However, the sad thing is that he was abused by another kid when he was fourteen years old. He had been punched in the eyes so many times that he eventually went blind. However, being blind did not keep him from loving. His name was Ethan. Ethan had never had a girlfriend, he was mostly turned down because he was blind, but he had loved this girl named Rose for quite some time.
One day he approached Rose, and asked: " do you know who I am?"
"Of course, you`re the hero," answered Rose.
He said, "Me... No! I`m no hero, you`ve got the wrong kid.
She looked at him and said, "No your Ethan Yacojick, the hero... the kid who made people realize that bullying is serious. You`re the kind that I have always dreamt of talking to... you see I am bullied every day, not physically, but verbally.
He put his head down and said, " Why you?"
"You see, you wouldn't know, I am honestly a very ugly person. I have a burn across my face and people make fun of it every day, said Rose.
Ethan said, " Rose, you are not ugly. I know I can`t see you, but beauty comes from within. You are the most beautiful person that I have ever met.
Rose stared at Ethan and said, "you wouldn`t be saying that if you could see me.
Ethan interrupted, "Yes, I would. You are the true hero in the situation my dear. It takes a strong person to withstand bulling and you have done that. I could care less about beauty, but those scars are you, and I love Rose Wilkins.
Rose just didn`t understand. How could a person tell someone was beautiful by not knowing what they looked like. That afternoon as Rose walked home she looked on her porch from a far glance, sitting right there on the second stone step was a piece of red paper. When she finally reached the stairs she unfolded the piece of paper and began to read it. It read:
Rose,
Although every time I approach you all I see is a dark area, I sense a shadow and for some odd reason, I know it`s your shadow. I know you don`t think you're beautiful, but you are. I have had people describe you to me. As I take in all of the descriptions, I picture you like a girl with dirty blonde hair, blue eyes, a red burn that goes from your hairline to your ear, you`re an athlete, and your about 5` 4". Everything about you makes me believe that you are a beautiful person. The beautiful person that will make my world beautiful. Meet me at the maple tree tonight at 5 pm, I have a special evening planned for us, our beautiful journey begins tonight.
- Ethan James Yacojick
Rose had tears falling from her eyes. She had never had such a beautiful letter written to her. She had seen it in the movies and read it in the books, but she thought that life could never be that wonderful. Just reading the letter made her believe that her world was about to be beautiful. When she walked into her house she glanced at the clock, it was 3:45. She had 1 hour and 15 minutes to prepare herself physically and mentally for her first date ever. She couldn't believe that this was happening. She ran up to her bedroom and rummaged through her closet for the perfect spring outfit. After 15 minutes of searching, she decided that nothing was perfect, and she didn't need the perfect spring outfit. So, she threw on a pair of jeans and a track shirt. She knew that Ethan wouldn't mind. At four o`clock she began doing her hair. She brushed it and put it back in a pony talk. Then she grabbed her bag of makeup and she put her mascara on her long eyelashes. She added a final touch of perfume and looked at herself in the mirror. For the first time in her life, she felt beautiful, because she finally had someone who mattered to her, someone who made her feel like she was important, someone who loved her for who she was. At 4:50 she walked to the maple tree. As she approached the tree, there stood Ethan in black shorts and a blue long sleeve shirt. Looking so confident, and full of life although he couldn`t see the beauty in the world.
Rose finally said, "hello." Ethan`s face lit up with a bright smile and said, "hello darling. How are you?"
I am better than ever," replied Rose.
"That`s great. Take my hand, and let us make this a walk to remember," said Ethan.
Rose grabbed his hand and they began to walk. For the first ten minutes, it was dead silent, but both of them felt so comfortable. As they walked a little further, they approached a nature trail. They began to walk on the trail.
"You seem like you know exactly where we're at," said Rose.
"Well, I do! I come back here quite frequently after a while I knew the route in my sleep," said Ethan.
"Do you come here by yourself," asked Rose?
"Yes, all the time. I sense the beauty here, and I'm bringing you here, so you can see the true beauty and describe it for me. Of course, that is if your willing to.," said Ethan.
"Of course I will. I wish you could see. I wish there was some kind of miracle or something," exclaimed Rose.
"People always say that but being blind doesn`t bother m, I get to picture stuff how I want it to be, the only reason why I wish I could see is so I could see your face, so I could kiss you good morning and goodnight. But, being blind is ok, it just might be awkward sometimes," said Ethan.
" Well, I don`t care if it`s awkward, because I have you and that`s all that matters. Anyways, there is a waterfall. The waterfall is causing the water to splash off of big brown rocks, and there is green moss, and the sun is beginning to set across the mountain. It`s true beauty, Ethan," said Rose.
"Yes, it is. Compare that you, now. You are just as beautiful as that. You are the only reason why I am still alive today. After I was bullied, I would dream of dying all the time, until I heard the sound of your voice. Ever since that day, I have loved you Rose Wilkins, and I know your two years older than me, but age shouldn`t matter, because someday I want to marry you. You`re the only girl that I have ever felt this way for. Every day I want to wake up saying I love you Rose Wilkins, so when I am 25 I will ask you to marry me, but starting now I want to begin our beautiful world together.
Rose looked at Ethan and said, " Ethan James Yacojick, you, my dear, are what I call an angel. Age would never matter because love is love. If you love someone then go after it. I want you to know that I would begin a beautiful journey with you, but I can`t. You deserve someone who will be there for you for the next 80 years, and that`s not me. You see when I got burnt, through testing`s they found a cancerous brain tumour, and the doctors said I would die before the age of 20. I don`t want to waste your time, and I certainly do not want to ruin your beautiful world."
Ethan was speechless. " Why didn`t you tell me beforehand," asked Ethan?
"I was scared, I didn`t want something as great as you to be gone," replied Rose.
Babe, it`s fine. You?aren't?going to waste my time, and you certainly aren`t going to ruin my beautiful world. It`s hard to put into words, but for some reason, you`re the only person who makes my world beautiful. Without you everything is dark, but when you are around I can sense different colours I just don`t know what objects they are. And you are not going to lose me, because God has a plan, someday your tumour will be gone, and someday you and I will be married. I promise. I will be by your side until your last day no matter what. Without you, I have nothing to live for. You`re my hope, my inspiration, my life," said Ethan.
Rose began to cry. She was 19 years old. She had less than seven months to live. She knew nothing that good was going to happen that fast, but she wanted Ethan by her said, so she looked up at him and said, " I believe in you and I believe in us."
So the two ended the night there, and for the rest of that spring and summer, they were together every day.
********
At this point, Rose had 1 month until she would be twenty. Nothing had yet to happen. That night she cried herself to sleep, thinking about Ethan. She didn`t want to die. She wanted to live a long life in the arms of Ethan, but she knew that God had a plan for her, and it wasn`t on earth. She thought to herself maybe she was supposed to be an angel, and maybe she was supposed to be Ethan`s angel, maybe she was supposed to be the one who could make him see again.
The following day Ethan came over to Rose`s house. " Hey beautiful, I have to leave for about two weeks. I`m going to miss you so much," said Ethan.
"Why do you have you leave? You promised that you would stay by my side until the day that I die, and I only have three weeks and six days left until I am 20. I don`t understand. Are you trying to get the easy way out? Leave me right when all the pain begins, and come back as I die peacefully. I should have known better, I knew you were too good to be true," cried Rose.
" Babe, no! I don`t want to know the easy way out. There is no easy way out. Every night I think about you, I think about how the days are just ticking away. But, you know what I have faith and I have hope. I know if God is great, he won`t let you go. I have had enough bad things happen to me, and hopefully, some good things like you will eventually cancel them out. I will call you every night to check on you, but you have to remember you are a hero, have hope. I love you!" Ethan said with tears running down his face.
" There is only a certain amount of time before you lose all hope, but I guess goodbye until next Tuesday," replied Rose.
" No. Do not ever say goodbye, just say see you soon! I love you, Rose," exclaimed Ethan.
" I love you too Ethan" mumbled Rose.
Ethan kissed Rose`s forehead and walked out the door. Little did Rose know, that Ethan and his best friend were on their way to find a doctor that could save Rose`s life. He was going to John Hopkins Hospital, to find a way to be able to live his beautiful world with Rose. A man by the name of Tyre Wallace had just performed surgery on a little girl who had a cancerous tumour and he saved her life. The only thing is if Dr. Wallace performed this surgery on Rose, she could die because she was much more developed then the little girl. Ethan was full of hope though, so full of hope that he paid for the doctor to fly from Maryland to South Carolina as soon as possible to save Rose`s life. If the doctor made it in the right timing all would work out great, because Rose had a check-up every two weeks.
************
The doctor reached South Carolina and headed right to the hospital. He found Rose`s doctor and began to talk to him. He asked the doctor everything he needed to know about Rose and asked if he could perform the surgery. The doctor wasn`t sure about this, be he said if the young man (Ethan) had so much hope, that he would agree to the surgery, so Rose`s doctor welcomed Dr. Wallace and said that he might have the surgery to save her life, but explained the risks.
" Ethan told me to have hope because I`m a hero, I believe in him and us. I`ll have the surgery performed, but if I do not withstand the surgery tell Ethan I said see you soon," said Rose.
At 3:15 Dr. Wallace began the surgery, Rose had no clue that Ethan was in the hospital, let alone that he was the one who found the doctor to perform the surgery. Ethan sat down right next to her and held her hand through the whole surgery. After seven hours Rose finally woke up.
"Ethan you were only gone a day," said Rose.
"Yes, I know. I went to find Dr. Wallace and flew him here as soon as possible, said Ethan.
"I mean that much to you? Ethan, you are an amazing person. I love you so much," replied Rose.
" I love you too. Now, look in the mirror," mumbled Ethan.
Rose looked in the mirror and began to smile. After the surgery, Ethan paid for them to remove Rose`s burn. He loved her the way she was, but he wanted her to love herself and didn`t want her to get bullied every again.
That`s exactly how things went, except now Rose got picked on for dating the blind boy. However, that didn`t bother Rose or Ethan. Rose knew that Ethan was the man of her dreams, and Ethan knew that everyone else was jealous because even though he was blind, he and Rose had a fairytale relationship.
************
At the age of twenty-five, Ethan asked Rose to marry him. At that point that wasn`t even a question, and of course Rose said yes. Ethan has already had the date planned out. He wanted to marry Rose on September 19th the same day that Rose got the surgery because that was the day he knew he was going to marry her and be by her side until they died. And he knew that they were going to die old together. On September 19th Rose Wilkins married Ethan James Yacojick. They lived the rest of their life together until they reached 92 and 94. They both died on September 19th.
As crazy as that is, they lived a beautiful life in a beautiful world for 67 years married, and 75 years dating. For 75 years he found the beauty within his wife, even though he was blind. That is what I call a true hero!