When The Light Begins To Fade And The Clock Just Makes The Colours Turn To Grey

Today I chose to take the "free writing" square today and post my creative writing award entry. Enjoy!

Task: Free Writing

This is a chance to write about ANYTHING you want.
It can be a Poem, a Rap, a Song, a Speech, a Story, a Novel… The list is virtually endless!
You can write about whatever sparks your imagination.
Be descriptive!
Be creative!
Use good words!

The Hue Of It All

The little swirls on the ceiling dance around more and more as I stare at them. They wriggle around the roof like little snakes or worms, little creatures, searching, hunting for their daily meal. One thing is bugging me though…. Since when did the school ceilings have swirls on them. I remove my hands from their weaved position on my torso to rub any excess sleep from my eyes. It hardly works, I can tell the dark circles under my eyes are more prominent than ever. That’s obvious, with or without a mirror. I can't remember the last time I slept, properly at least. I don’t know why to be exact. School and life have just stressed me to the point of insomnia, haven't they? It's such... fun... Rolling over, I feel the emptiness of the bed surrounding me. What time is it? 2:52 am. Oh god, classes... My classes tomorrow! And I can’t sleep. Because of one day. I still remember that day. That day that caused all of this.

“If people could just, you know, see life through my eyes, it would be really useful. Make my job a bit easier, would you?” My voice echoes through the almost empty practise room, the dark silhouette sitting by the old grand piano. 
“We get it, Brooke, we get it. Life’s hard being blind. Now, if you would shut up and help me with my science homework, it would be greatly appreciated.”  I roll my eyes and wander over to the dark-haired girl. I sit myself down in the middle of the wood-lined floor. 
“Right, where are we up to?” 
She flips a page, “Chapter 4. Physics. Fun.” Sometimes I wonder about this girl. How is the Mya Branne, top of our year, year eight, in almost every subject, this unenthusiastic about school? 
“All about how colour reaches the eye, huh? Well, I’m sure I can help you with that one,” I scoff as she flips another page. 
“Right. Friends with a blind girl.”

I know, I know, Mya keeps making jokes about me being blind. It’s a little too obvious to say I’m not. However, ask me to define my… disability… and, not to brag but, I could tell you about it perfectly, back to front, even in my sleep. Achromatopsia. A condition characterized by a partial or total absence of colour vision. In English, I’m colourblind. Completely colourblind. My life is completely black and white, literally. I was born this way, I don’t know what yellow actually looks like. All I know is that it’s a different shade of grey to red and blue. At least I got out of those damn tests... While other 5-year-olds learnt how to spell the colour of the sky and the colour of grass, I was learning to remember how to identify and differentiate the different shades of grey, then label them with said words. There’s at least fifty- That was completely unnecessary, I apologise.

“Friends forever, though, right? We stick through our high school years together at this dump of a school,” I nudge Mya’s arm with my elbow, a sly smirk stuck on my face. Totally kidding, by the way, Silver Oak Academy is one of the best intermediate to secondary schools in our area. People say it’s where talent is born. 
With her smile fading, her expression remains stone cold, “Right… About that… Brooke? Please don’t be mad at me…” She closes the book, sitting up, “My parents are expecting a job. In another city… We’re moving in the holidays, Brooke… I’m not coming back to Silver Oak next year.”

A rock drops in my stomach, my eyes glassing over. 
“Oh. Right.” 
Her dark grey eyes widen, the ones that weren’t truly grey, “But! I might be coming back if they don’t get the job! Oh, Brooke, please don’t give me that look, it’s not my fault!” She didn’t understand, did she? Pretty ironic, if you ask me, she was the only person who stuck around long enough because she understood. She understood that it was okay that I was different, that I saw the world differently to everyone else. Nobody else has understood that. Even if they didn’t say it, the way people act about it is so damn obvious these days. And that’s… the light in my pitch black world is... It’s leaving.

Moving on. The hardest challenge you face, ever. God, I’m being so melodramatic. That was three years ago, Brooke! She didn’t come back, you’re starting year twelve this year, and everything is new. Same school, same people, but somehow new. 
“Hel- Oh, I didn’t interrupt, did I?” I close the black diary in my hands and look up, the unfamiliar voice belonging to an unfamiliar face. The girl had light grey hair that lay in waves around her narrow face, fair grey skin, covered in little dark grey freckles, pale grey lips, pale grey eyes who shimmered in the morning light that seeps through my curtains. She was pretty. Like someone out of a film. 

“You’re Brooklyn, right? Brooklyn Motley? Ms Escott said I was meant to meet you at orientation or at dinner but you weren’t at either so she just gave me the dorm number instead, I hope you don’t mind me bursting in,” She smiles, placing her bag on the bed on the opposite side of the small room.  
“Oh no. No, it’s fine, I was just- Don’t worry about it.” Something about her smile was comforting, it made me feel tingly inside. That sounds weird. I didn’t mean it that way…
“I’m Anastasia, by the way. New girl. Like, the only new girl in this year,” her giggle bounces off of the walls. It reminded me of something.

Later that evening, I was having trouble sleeping. Again. 
“Brooklyn? Are you still awake?” 
“Y-Yeah… I-Insomnia… I guess…” I begin to stumble over my words. The springs in the mattress creak with stress as Anastasia sits up in her bed. 
“Right, well, don’t count sheep, that doesn’t help. At all. Best things to do involve relaxing, slowing your breathing, reading, and turning off all electronics at least two hours before sleeping. With the breathing, breathe in for four, hold for seven, breathe out for eight.” Her voice is soothing. Practising the breathing, I already feel a little dazy. 
“Thank you, Anastasia…” 
“Please, call me Ana.”

The next morning, I was feeling a little strange. Things just seemed different. Though, it was quite apparent when I opened my eyes. 
“Brooklyn… Time to wake up…” My eyes flutter open, I gasp at the sight. Above me were two pale eyes, they weren’t grey, however. In fact, they weren’t the only things that weren’t grey. 
“Y-Your- Your eyes… They’re…” I sit up, my chest rising and falling rapidly. 
“Blue? Brooklyn… Are you alright?” She seems concerned, genuinely concerned. 
“Your eyes are… blue? And… I can see that? H-Hold on… I gotta- I gotta go…” I jump up, brushing past Ana on my way. 
“Brooklyn! Brooklyn, wait!” I ignore the distressed voice.
“Leave me alone!” I sprint down the halls, my short legs not carrying me very far. She didn’t understand, she didn’t even know me. Desperate, I stumble my way into the headmaster's office.

“Ah, Ms Motley. What a pleasant surp-”
“Blue! I- can- Blue! Ana! Eyes.... blue...” Words tumble out of my mouth like broken pieces of glass, confusing the older man with jumbled and unintelligible nonsense. His hair and clothing were the only familiar things to me, short strands of grey hair with a black and white suit to pair.
“Ms Motley, are you okay?” His concerned eyes matched the darker wood of his desk. They were like the earth… Brown…? 
“I’m- I’m fine… Sort of… Not really, actually. I- I woke up and could see… I could see colour, sir! The… the blue of my roommate's eyes! What’s going on… I though achromatopsia couldn’t be cured!?” My chest begins rising and falling rapidly, it felt like I couldn’t breathe. A heavy… weight crushing my chest. I was dizzy, my head throbbing.

“Ms Motley? Ms Motley!?” Everything fades to black, I couldn’t see anything but it was almost as if my hearing had doubled. As light as a feather, I start falling. Not landing. Falling. Into the void, nothing but darkness.
“Oh my god! Brooklyn! Is she okay, sir?” A soothing voice enters my void, the butterflies returning to my once empty stomach.
“She’s breathing, that’s good.”
“What happened? She ran out of the dorm, then came here, I couldn’t catch up with her.”
“That doesn’t matter right now. Here, Ms…?”
“Pixton. Anastasia Pixton, sir.”
“Right, Ms Pixton. If you would please help me transport her to the nurse's office?”

My eyes flutter open, blinking a few times to adjust. Bright lights that will blind you if you stare at them for too long. White walls that make you feel insane after a while. That daydreamy feeling you have after you leave a movie theatre. Where am I? Why am I here? 
“Oh! Brooke! You’re awake!” I sit up as an eager voice echoes around the small room. Ana’s face seemed so concerned. Why is she concerned about me? What happened!? 
“You fainted in my office, Brooklyn, we brought you to the nurse's office,” I swear Mr Haley can read minds… I look around, taking in my surroundings. Nothing was monochrome anymore… What is actually happening?

“Ms Motley? Ana was telling me about why you fainted? Is it true you can see colour?” A nurse appears through the doorway, already asking questions. Her hair was black, the only thing about her that was black… Everything was colourful again. My head throbs as I think of an answer.
“Y-Yes… I think so… I can see things I couldn’t see before… does that make sense? The only problem is… It only happened when I met... Ana...” My gaze falls on the blonde, now hiding in the corner. Right… Right… She’s the missing link here… How much of a coincidence is it that my ability to see colour comes back the day after I met her? It sounds almost… unrealistic. The nurse nods, writing something down on the clipboard in her hands.
“Right… Well… Obviously, your doctor will need to do a few tests but by the sounds of it, you may no longer be colour blind.”
“What?!”


~A few months later~

Right. Where were we? I no longer have Achromatopsia. My parents and I talked to a doctor. Even they said it was strange, unrealistic. In what world does it take a girl to cure being colour blind? It’s taken me a few months to get used to it but with a lot of Anastasia’s help, I’ve figured out most colours perfectly. Girls who would previously make fun of me would now straight up bully me but I dealt with it. I still feel like a baby in art class though, surrounded by people who have known these colours for 15 or 16 years now. Term 3 is starting today, Anastasia and I haven’t seen each other for two weeks and, considering we’ve become basically inseparable these last few terms, that’s too long.

“Brooklyn! Brooke! Over here!” A familiar voice echoes through the courtyard. I wave a quick goodbye to my parents and head over to the owner, clicking up the handles on my suitcases and dragging them lifelessly behind me.
“Ana! It’s so good to see you again!” We drop our bags, desperately wrapping our arms around each other in some sort of bear hug. As I said, two weeks is way too long. “So, how have you been? How were your holidays? What did you do? Did you go anywhere?!” She giggles at my childlike behaviour, clicking up the handles on her own bags.
“Calm it, will you?” The blonde chuckles to herself, the loose curls around her face bouncing as she strides alongside me. “I’ll tell you everything at dinner… But… We kinda have a surprise first.”

There was noise coming from our dorm, confusing me. The door slowly creaks open, revealing a dark brown haired girl wearing the light green blouse, dark green socks and skirt that make up our uniform. When she looks towards us, I recognise her face instantly. Those eyes, those dark green eyes that I could now actually see in their true colours.
“Mya?! Oh my god!” Her smile widens, her eyes glistening in the morning light. I drop my bags and race to her side.
“Long time, no see, huh, Motley?” Mya giggles. I practically lunge towards her, pulling her into a bone-crushing hug. When I finally let go, she smirks, “Hey? You wanna help me with my science homework? It’s all about how colour reaches the eye. Physics. Fun!”