Chapter One – Hopes And Dreams

Lloyd´s P.O.V.

I have been blind for almost as long as I can remember. I often wish to be able to see the bright blue of the sky or the dark green of the grass. But I´ll never get to see those things again, because of an illness that made me blind when I was only five years old. I´m thirteen now, so I´ve been blind for almost eight years. I never had any friends, so when my mom and dad left me, there was no one to take care of me but myself. I was already hated by Ninjago City when I was five years old, so when news spread around that I was blind, well, that sort of made things worse. I´ve been treated like an outsider for years. I´m used to it now, the name-calling and them throwing rotten tomatoes at me. I’m hated so much because I’m the son of Lord Garmadon, Ninjago´s biggest threat. So, evil dad. Great. Since I´m his son, every time my dad destroys a business or hurts someone, I´m the one who gets blamed for it. There was even a song written about me, called Boo Lloyd. It goes like this: 

L-L-O-Y-D

His dad is bad and so is he

Boo Lloyd

(Clap Clap)

Boo Lloyd

(Clap Clap)

It was a number-one hit till the Garmadon Is The Worst pop song came out. Then it was forgotten. I was glad. Okay, now back on the subject of friends. I´ve only had two friends my entire life, and they were only visiting town for a few days. 

(Flashback: 6 years ago)

I´m sitting on a swing, slowly dragging my feet in the dirt. I hear a sound to my right, and I pull back my face. I immediately felt air going across my face. I think I just barely escaped a hard punch. I started running towards the opposite side of the park because once I get to the woods they won’t be able to find me. I heard a lot of running footsteps behind me, so I assumed that it was Brad and his gang of boys. All of a sudden they weren’t running behind me anymore. I started slowing down, thinking that I was safe. I wasn´t. One of them grabbed my leg, and I fell onto the ground face-first. They started punching me and scratching me with their nails.

¨Now, it’s time for the final piece.¨ I heard someone say. I wasn’t sure what he meant until I felt the cold metal against my cheek. I felt him raise the knife and I braced myself, shutting my eyes so they would be protected. He brought it down in one thick slash, cutting down the side of my face and down to my neck. He started doing that to my arms, my hands, and my feet. Everywhere. After he had done almost every area, he ripped off my shirt and started carving what would later be the green ninja symbol. Just as he finished carving it, one of the guys said, ¨Hey man, let’s just leave him out here to die.¨ I could feel Brad nodding his head.

All of a sudden, an eleven-year-old girl and a thirteen-year-old boy yelled out, ¨Stop!¨ ¨Quit hurting that boy!¨ I guess the boy and the girl must have looked tough and strong because they complied. I felt weak, and the girl was trying to help me up, but finally, I waved her off and said, ¨I can get up by myself. No need to fuss over me.¨ I got up with a lot of effort, and I groaned at the pain that was attacking my body all over. ¨Who are you?¨ the boy asked me kindly. ¨L-L-Lloyd. Lloyd Garmadon. Please don’t hurt me.” I was shaking in fear. The girl I trusted, but this boy… I´m just not sure about him.

I heard him let out a small gasp of surprise. I heard some shuffling feet and for a moment thought they were going to leave me, but I believe that he was looking at the setting sun because of what he said next. ¨Nya, we can treat Lloyd´s wounds when we make camp. We´ll have to be sleeping under the stars tonight because one of the poles to the tent is broken. Also, Lloyd? I would never hurt you.¨ ¨Um,¨ I started saying. ¨We could stay at my place. It’s not much but it would keep us out of the rain that will happen tonight.¨ I offered. ¨How do you know that it will rain?¨ Kai asked suspiciously.

I realized that he wouldn’t hurt me unless he had to but he still doesn’t trust me. ¨There is a slight change in the air pressure outside when it’s about to rain, and I learned of this change when I felt it before it started raining.¨ I explained to him. ¨Okay, Thanks.¨ Was all he said. I started walking towards my tree house. ¨Is it a long walk from town?¨ The boy asked me. ¨It’s a considerable distance for my safety.¨ I told him, but catching on to his worried tone, I added, ¨But not so far that we can´t get to the city in the case of an emergency.¨ He breathed out a sigh of relief. I decided to change the subject. ¨So, what are your names?¨ I asked them. ¨My name is Kai,¨ the boy said. ¨And this is my little sister Nya.¨ ¨Let me guess… two years apart?¨ I chuckled as I´m pretty sure their jaws dropped.

¨How do you know that?¨ Nya asked in amazement. ¨Yeah, how do you know that?¨ Kai asked, suspicion practically dripping in his voice. ¨Well, when you´ve been blind for almost two years, you learn to see with your ears and mind.¨ I told them as I turned my head in their direction. I felt a wooden post I put near the entrance to the clearing. ¨Well, we´re here.¨ I said. I could hear their small gasps of surprise and amazement. ¨You live in a treehouse!¨ Nya practically shrieked. ¨Awesome.¨ Was all Kai said.

(Flashback Ends)

All of us had fun together that night. We shared our hopes and dreams. I even told them of my dream that the ninja would come and take me away from here, and train me to be a ninja so that I would be wanted, and loved. I still hold on to that dream in my heart, hoping for it to happen, although my mind says that it won’t ever happen. Little did I know, my dream was going to come true today…

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