DANIELLA
by Specfiend
Daniella had really been looking forward to getting her eyesight "ruined". She was hoping desperately for one of the two operations - how great would it be to come around after the anasthetic had worn off to find her surroundings foggy, only to clear as she slipped a pair of glasses on her nose?
Unfortunately, she had been told that morning that she was to be placed in the room where process four was taking place. How tedious, she thought, rolling her eyes as she walked into the room.
It was a mini-cinema, which contained about ten other people. As she went in, the assistant informed her that on this first day, they would be spending four hours in the room, having a break, and then six hours. She refused to explain the exact process - "you'll find out as you go along."
Another assistant took a hold of her and brought her over to a chair in the back row of three rows. She was placed in a strange contraption of a chair, and a bar was placed over her waist and locked securely. "Last chance to get off," the man said grimly, without even a trace of irony in his voice. "You still want to go ahead."
Daniella nodded. "Yes," she said firmly. It was the only way.
The man nodded, then pushed her head back, fitting it into a contraption to hold her head up, and straight ahead. "This is so you stare at the screen at all times," he explained, when she looked questioningly at him. "And we've proven that it's more difficult to fall asleep if your head is permanently forced upright."
He left her alone and the lights in the theatre dimmed. In front of them, strange patterns appeared on the screen, colours and patterns which hurt the eyes intensely to look at. They were instructed to stare at them, and try to only blink when they really had to. It was boring and painful. Why couldn't they just have given her an operation? Daniella wondered. Or goggles, like that girl Maria. Or strange eyedrops like Eric? Why did she have to get the most boring process of all?
After about two hours of eyestrain, some assistants processed into the room, and began to move among their "clients". Daniella saw one approach out of the corner of her eye, and next thing she knew, something cool and heavy was being slipped on her face. The minute she felt the pressure on her nose, she knew it was a pair of glasses. An extremely strong pair.
"How strong are these?" she asked the assistant, the same man who had placed her in the chair. "Are they minus or plus?"
"How strong are these?" she asked the assistant, the same man who had placed her in the chair. "Are they minus or plus?"
"They're neither," he said, much to her surprise. "They are simply special thick lenses, which distort images and place further strain on the eyes. One of the scientists here developed them. When combined with these images, they tend to increase the progression of myopia."
"Oh." The man left her alone, and she continued to stare at the images, which were now blurry and even harder to look at. She had to keep staring - she couldn't even go into a daydream because she'd forget to focus then.
Just before they got their break, the assistant came around again, removed the glasses and replaced them with a weaker pair, which they were instructed to keep on during the break. These glasses had a strange tint, which was a very weird shade of yellow. Her legs feeling like jelly, Daniella carefully walked outside.
"Hey!" She turned to see a very attractive guy of her own age standing beside her, the strange glasses over his eyes too. "I noticed you come in the theatre before, but then my head was clamped and I couldn't look at you anymore." He was Irish, she noticed immediately. And very attractive didn't come close to describing him . . . he was male model material.
Daniella giggled, feeling shy. "That sounds so freaky, doesn't it?" she said, smiling at him, and wondering what colour his eyes were behind the tinted specs. It was so hard to tell.
"My name's Aidan," he said, extending a hand for her to shake.
"Daniella. So what degree of myopia or hyperopia are you aiming for?"
"About minus four," he replied, much to her delight.
"Hey, me too." She glanced at him hesistantly. "You - um - want to come to the canteen, grab some lunch?"
"Sure," he replied with a wide dazzling grin. "I'd love to."
Daniella glanced around the canteen. "My vision feels a little blurry," she commented. "But I don't know if it's me or these glasses. You know what I mean?"
"I know exactly what you mean," he said, glancing around the room himself.
At that moment, Daniella noticed Eric and Maria. Maria was still wearing the thick lenses goggles, although her eyes now looked less sore and red behind them. And Eric . . . wow! Eric was wearing glasses now. They were only about half the strength that he had told her he was going to need, but he looked incredible! Amazing enough without glasses, his appeal had at least doubled since her previous sighting of him when he'd been bare-eyed. Shame he's married, she thought, and turned back to Aidan. Then the thought struck her that he would soon be wearing glasses too. Not those stupid yellow ones - real, and quite strong, glasses. And if he could pull off the horrendous specs they were sporting now so impeccably - then he was going to look even better than Eric in his real glasses.
Aidan smiled at her and she felt a little tremble in the pit of her stomach. Not only had she found a nice guy, one who was totally gorgeous and could, from the sounds of it, be interested in her, but he also seemed to share her glasses fetish.
This was too much to hope for!
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