CANAISIS ∞ Chronicle Two: A Captain's Journey

88 ∞ From Fire to Black Hole

Shortlisted – Day 0019 to Day 0038 

Blue.

Gareth became aware of the color blue first. Before he discerned whether he was seeing with his eyes or mind's eye, fire ran through his nerves. Awareness of his body as pain made him see shades of yellow to red.

His scream echoed a shade of dark crystal blue in his ears. Clenching his fists, he strained against restraints of yellow-orange holding his arms, heart pounding. His body reflexively tried to pull up his legs to curl into a ball, but orange-yellow kept him from moving. The fire in his nerves climbed in intensity, and he tried to roll his body both ways to break free. Yellow-orange around his waist and chest pinned him in place, flaring in brightness with each movement, each heaving breath of his chest.

Powder blue sounds came from above his head as yellow flared on his shoulders, holding him down. The powder blue repeated, and he opened his eyes. He recognized the face in a haloed haze just above him. She was looking down at him as she pressed his shoulders down. Her mouth spoke words at him, and powder blue colors washed over him.

His nerves burned with fire again and he screamed in her face. Dark crystal blue flooded him and faded with the end of his scream.

His gaze flitted past the doctor as he turned his head from side to side. He was in a white room. Several other people stood around the bed he lay upon. One was a man holding a computing pad with wires draping down to Gareth's chest. Another sat on a stool with a stand of equipment, intently watching a monitor.

The powder blue washed over Gareth again, and his eyes jerked back to Dr. Travaine above him to see her lips moving. She was speaking, but all he heard were shades of powder blue. He sucked in deep lungfuls of air, trying to not panic.

Travaine placed her hand on his sweaty cheek as she spoke. He could see the compassion in her eyes, but the yellow of her touch and the blue of her voice made his mind recoil.

Everything was wrong. The wrongness of the world and the neon yellow spikes of his pounding heartbeat, his rising panic, challenged his self-control. She spoke again, more firmly this time, but the blue did not translate to any semblance of words. He broke eye contact, letting his head drop back onto the bed. His eyes rolled as he watched the ceiling roll with him.

The dark pastel of her words almost made sense, but he couldn't grasp the meaning as his nerves burned. Waves of fire coursed through his whole body, a searing ebb and flow. He feared the next wave. It came with scarlet red, and his body arched upward, nails digging into his clenched fists and teeth grinding. The spectrum of red, orange, and yellow flared in his mind, the surge of fire peaking. He knew his mind was on the brink of snapping from the torment when it ebbed, and he sucked rapid gulps of air into his lungs.

Dr. Travaine was still pressing yellow down on his shoulders when he looked up. He tried to read her lips as she spoke, shades of pastel and powder blue washing over him, cooling him. She looked over her shoulder, and this time the sky-blue words she spoke had meaning.

"Hurry up and get those calibration readings!" she said to the man holding the computer pad.

"Almost got them! I need a few more moments," spoke the man in sandy brown colors.

"He can't take a few more moments—look at his heart rate! Put him under now!" Travaine turned back and looked into Gareth's eyes as another wave of fire began rising. "If you can understand me, Gareth, I need you to hold on a little longer."

The pale shades of blue in her voice confused him. Then the wave crescendoed and fire pulsed through his veins and nerves. He screamed dark blue pieces of shattered glass, his whole body jerking left and right. He tried to curl into a ball, but the different shades of yellow still restrained him. His muscles were scarlet red streaks of fire as they strained, his tendons lightning yellow.