Sight Unseen, 3rd Draft

I primarily changed the ending, so I will only post that in order to avoid having another excessively long post. Draft 4 will be coming within a week hopefully, as I already received enough feedback on Draft 3 to write the next. Of course, additional feedback on any parts of the story are more than welcome, since the more the better!

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Kismet gazed into her reflection in the pond. Slowly, she gently ran her fingers down the thin fur on the side of her face, drawing parted trails with her small, black claws. A pair of yellow cat eyes watched her, unblinking, from the water’s surface...

“Kismet, are you here? Sorry for taking so long,” called Ced’s voice from the trees.

She smiled helplessly as he walked into sight. “It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

“I’m glad you came to visit me today,” he said.

“You say that as if I rarely do.”

He chuckled, “True, but I was really hoping you’d come today.”

“Why’s that?” she asked.

Ced rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately ever since that night we met here and I really wanted to say thank you.”

Kismet looked at him puzzled. “What for?”

“For listening to me. You were right, I can’t let my life be ruined by my blindness. Ever since it happened, I’ve been nothing but frustrated, hoping that one day I’ll wake up and realize it was all some horrible nightmare. But there’s nothing I can do about it. It has happened, and I can’t change that. You words helped me realize that it is something I will just have to live with, and that accepting what has been lost is the only way of moving on.”

“Nearly every day I would come here, resentful at my fate. The people around me live their lives normally, lives like the one I used to have and, because of my blindness, I cannot take part in that. I always felt left behind and spoken to out of pity. But you; you treated me differently. You come all the way out here just to talk with me. You make me feel accepted, as if I’m no different than any other person. And it is because of you that I have finally been able to move on and accept what has happened to me.”

So—” Ced opened his hands, revealing a white silken ribbon with a lotus decorating the center. “—this is for you. I hope you like it.”

“I love it! Did you make it yourself?”

“I sure did! It took me awhile too. I just hope it actually turned out well.”

Ced chuckled whole-heartedly, without the faintest sign of self-pity at not being able to see his efforts himself. His smile warmed Kismet’s heart. First his words, then a gift; never has she felt so much joy.

Kismet carefully took the ribbon from his palms. “It’s absolutely beautiful.”

His face brightened, as if he himself just received something truly precious. “I’m so glad. How I wish I could see how beautiful you’d look with it on.”

A momentary silence filled the air while she marveled at his craftsmanship, despite his handicap. Ced then broke the silence. “There is something that has been bothering me lately.”

Kismet looked up at him. His smile had disappeared. “What is it?”

“Sometimes I cannot help but feel that you’re…afraid of me, or something.”

She looked at him, puzzled. “What? Why would I be afraid?”

“You seem to take extra care in avoiding any sort of contact. Like when we first met you refused to shake my hand, or whenever you visit you tend to sit a ways away; or just now, when you took the ribbon, I didn’t even feel you grab it.”

Hearing those words sent a torrent of sorrow rushing through Kismet’s body. All this time she knew, deep down, that this day would come, but she never wanted to accept it. Hearing those words surfaced the painful truth she can no longer ignore.

Kismet shook her head as if in disbelief that she could no longer live in a dream. She swallowed painfully. “…It’s not that I’m afraid of you.”

Ced takes a step forward insistingly. “Then what is it?”

She breathed laboriously. “I’m…I’m not what you think I am.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not the beautiful girl you think I am. I don’t look anything like how you would imagine me.”

Ced shook his head. “It doesn’t matter to me how you look. I like you for who you are.”

“No, that’s not what I mean.” She paused a moment before continuing, her words quaking, “I’m not even human.”

He looked at her confused and laughed awkwardly. “Funny, but really why—”

“I’m a Catheran,” she blurted.

Ced’s brow furrowed in frustration. “Look, I can handle being disliked or whatever, but now you’re just—”

Kismet grasped his hand in both of hers. She became paralyzed with anxiety as she felt his hand grow rigid in shock. Her soft, yet leathery, palms warmly held his in desperation for acceptance.

He was frozen in disbelief. “This—This must be some kind of joke.”

Kismet slowly guided his hand to her cheek. Ced trembled as he slowly moved his hand over the fur on the side of her face, to her large feline ears.

“Ced. Please don’t be afraid—”

Ced staggered back into a tree. She watched his face contort, as his dreams suddenly became a horrible nightmare. His eyes welled up with tears, his expression filled with horror, as if he saw her murder someone he loved. “Y—You’re…”

Kismet stepped toward him. “Ced, please—!”

“Stay away!” He stumbles backward over roots and brush.

“Ced…” she said more soothingly, trying to calm him.

His voice trembled painfully, “No. This—this can’t be. You…you’re a Catheran? There must be some mistake.”

“I’m sorry, but it’s true. I wanted to tell you, and I should’ve, but I was afraid of how you’d react.”

He shook his head in disbelief as tears ran down his face. “No…no…”

She grabbed his hand desperately. “Please, don’t be afraid—“

“No…” he staggered back violently. “Stay away from me!”

“Ced—!” Kismet reached out helplessly as Ced ran away. She collapsed to her knees and stared into the woods, once again, alone.



Day after day, she returned to the pond in hopes that he would be there. Day after day, she would wait there until the moonlight glistened across the pond. Day after day, she would wait, hoping he would come back. He never did. Every day, she stared at the silk ribbon. She stared at the lotus in the center and caressed its smooth surface. Fashioned with such love and care, she knew the ribbon was never meant for her. It was meant for a young maiden that a misfortunate young man had fallen for, a young maiden fabricated in eternal darkness, but was now lost. A young maiden Kismet longed to, but could never be.