Derick was raised in a fairly normal home, but lacked any of the stereotypical attributes of a child. He was quiet, reserved, and spent his time in his room, alone. It wasn't until the age of 7 when he actually started doing something meaningful: He started to play guitar. His parents had gotten it for him on his birthday, and he has rarely put it down since. He learned chord after chord, constantly growing as a musician, to the point where he even created a musician club in his high school. It was there that he met sherry.

She was the school's idol. Smart, athletic, talented, and pretty to boot. And she wanted Derick of all people! Derick never felt any romantic kind of attraction towards her, but he was definitely not going to deny her. The two quickly entered into a relationship, with the calm and classy Derick making a perfect match for the similar Sherry. Several months later, in Derick's junior year, the two had sex for the first time. The next morning, Derick was completely blind.

Glaucoma. A strange word. A word you wouldn't want to be in the same room with. Derick had experienced a somewhat rare occurrence: he went blind overnight. His doctors held him in the hospital for what felt like an eternity, and may as well have been. Derick couldn't see the sun anyways. No way to tell what day it was besides the date his (usually sobbing) parents told him. Despite all of the money and time that his parents put into him, Derick still didn't love them. He only felt grateful, and sorry they gave birth to such a useless son.

Gifts and flowers littered his room for weeks. Even the local concert hall had sent him a bouquet, wishing him well. But slowly, like a balloon loosing it's air, the gifts trickled down into nothingness. His visitors, once plentiful, also began to disappear. Sherry was the last to stop coming. All he had now was the unfeeling staff, and the parents he couldn't help but not love.

After 6 months in the hospital, Derick was finally released. It was the beginning of summer. It wasn't like he was kept there for his illness: his parents wanted to keep him away from his old life, all the old memories. But there is only so much a parent can do until the budget runs out. During his stay, he was taught to read and write in braille, and he spent his days strumming on the guitar which he had already imprinted in his muscle memory. He began to learn how to walk with a cane, and he even managed to become a senior in high school. Well... Not his high school. Derick was moved to a school for the blind, where he spent his days coping with the disability he wanted nothing more than to ignore. He never managed to recreate his old club, and graduated from high school with a B-average.

Derick never entered College. He thought it was a stupid waste of time considering his disability. Instead, he successfully became a musician. He played guitar in concert halls, never going for celebrity status or fame, only trying to distract himself from his problems. His music had a feeling, a kind of emotion that other people loved to hear. He became a regular at the local concert hall in New York, and he frequented cafes and restaurants that wanted a musical background. He moved out of his parents home at the age of 20, renting out a small apartment to live in. And all that time, Derick couldn't shake the feeling that everyone cared less about the music than they did about the disabled person playing it. He was worried people only cared about his disadvantage, and how he has become a musician despite this blatant struggle. He was worried no one cared about his music, the one constant that remained throughout his entire life.

Everyone always commented on the emotion behind his music. How it carried a strong sense of longing, how some songs were depressing and melancholic, while others were joyful and gay. No matter what song, everyone always commented on how much they loved it. At 26, Derrick had finally moved into his own house. He never knew what people talked about when they commented on his music. He wanted to understand why his music caused this emotion in others. He didn't even care about finding a relationship, music was the only lover he needed.

Derick began his search to feel love.