The Special.

Colin didn't bother with the previews. Devin sat there with his eyes closed, practicing. He'd have to get used to seeing movies this way sooner or later. Or, rather, not seeing.

"You know what I was wondering?" Colin said in a hushed tone, not waiting for a reply. "Why do blind people wear glasses? Sunglasses, I mean. It's not like they gotta worry about UV rays or anything."

Unamused, Devin grumbled, "It's to let people like you know that they're blind. So they don't get asked stupid fucking questions when they accidentally bump into something."

"Oh." Try as he might, Colin couldn't help turning those rusty cogs inside his brain. "You know what else I was wondering? Why do blind people even open their eyes at all? It's not like they're gonna see anything with 'em."

"Force of habit, probably."

"But, what if you're blind from birth? You're born and you've never seen a thing!"

Devin rolled his eyes ... then realized that act might bring about another batch of inane questions and said, "Maybe it's because when you're blind, you never stop hoping that one day you'll open your eyes and everything will come into focus." He turned and looked at the last person he'd ever physically see and said, "Or maybe they're just fucking delusional."

"Oh."

The last of the previews flashed the screen and then the room went dark. Devin tied a bandana around his eyes and the opening credits started to roll.

"What's this movie called again?" Devin asked.

"'The Special'."

"And what's it about?"

"I dunno. Some kind of thriller."

"Why are we seeing this again?"

"You said you wanted to see what it's gonna be like to go to the movies -"

"I know that, but why this movie?"

"I dunno. It looked all right in the commercials."

"What kind of movie is called 'The Special' anyway?"

"It's made over a hundred million so far."

"Really?"

"Shhh!" The Tuesday matinee crowd in attendance - consisting of a couple high schoolers playing hooky and making out in the back row, three middle-aged ladies on leave from caring for their Little Ones thanks to a baby-sitting service, and an elderly gentleman wearing a 30 year old brown suit that hung off of him like loose skin - didn't appreciate the continuous conversation from the two twenty-somethings, one of whom would be blinded before day's end.

Colin brought it down to a whisper. "OK, so we're opening on this overweight, greasy-looking Italian guy. Probably hasn't bathed in a month, definitely hasn't met a carb he hasn't inhaled. And, he's in this dark pizza shack tossing some dough in the air, real slo-mo stuff - ooo, Giovanni Ribisi's in this!

"OK, so he's working the dough, kneading, rolling out. You know, making a pie. Making some kind of midnight pie, apparently. The music's real dark and spooky -"

"Dude, I'm not deaf!" Devin said.

"Oh. Oh yeah. Well, anyway, it's just an opening montage thing."

"Shhh!" The old man, holding his hat on his lap, turned from two rows up and five seats over to show them the finger he held to his aggrivated lips.

"Fuck off, old man! My friend's blind; I'm telling him the fucking movie!" Colin stood up, ready for an Old Man Pounding; Devin put a hand against Colin's stomach from his seat and eased the situation.

"He's not blind! He's got a blindfold on!" The old man pointed a rage-quivering arm in Devin's direction. This brought the Shhh-birds from the mommy group on the aisle towards the back; the teenagers continued making out.

"He's gettin' ready for being blind, old man! And you better sit your ass down and watch the fuckin' movie before you're next!"

This got the old man in his place and Colin back to whispering. "OK, where are we? OK, so the Italian, he's got a big knife ... he's still in that dirty wife-beater and apron combo ... and we're looking at him walk down a dark alley from behind with the knife hidden from view from whoever he's stalking. Looks like some ... ooo! Right in the neck! Oh wow, he's really wailin' on him; you should see this!" Colin pulled the bandana up over Devin's eyes.

Devin saw the murder. He saw it all. He didn't mean to, didn't want to, but he was just sitting there as it happened. Right in front of him - though they didn't know he was there. Colin's employer held the knife. Colin stood look-out by the front door. The guy pled and screamed and took eight or nine stabs to the chest with Colin's employer straddling, plunging straight down. Sometimes he scraped bone - making Devin cringe - sometimes the blade went all the way through, hitting the floor at the tip.

Devin saw the whole thing. Once Colin's employer found out he was the one testifying at the trial, a deal was forced upon him. Devin and Colin had been friends for years; in that sense he was lucky. Otherwise, he'd be a dead man.

Colin put the blindfold back over Devin's eyes with a smile and a nudge to his chest. "Looked kinda familiar, huh?"