A Lack of Color

Part 1

When you open your eyes for the first time, what greets you is not a jumble of hues. There's no pale blue or pink blanket wrapping you up. There's no silver metal medical equipment. There's no red line telling you your heart rate. There's no color. Everything in your field of vision is in black and white. Every named color is just a shade of gray. They tell us it is normal and that everyone's eyes work that way, but there's something in their tone when they tell us that makes me not believe them. It's like they don't want us to know the truth.

    The bell just rang for the end of second period and the halls fill up almost immediately. I manage to find an open space in the mass of students for me to walk to my next class. It's been 17 years since I've first opened my eyes to the basically developed world, and I know there will be many more years to come. My questions still have never been answered to this day. Slowly, I look around the tight hallway for my classroom. Spotting the science room in the corner, I manage to walk a few feet before colliding with another student.

    "Oh, I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going," the boy apologized as he picked up my pencil case that I dropped.

"No, it's okay. Sorry. Thanks."

    I quickly looked at the person who ran into me as we parted ways. I had never seen him before in my life, I wonder if he's new. Shaking off that though, I continued on the home stretch to my third period class. The halls have cleared out except for a few stragglers, myself included, finishing their way to class. Just as the bell rang, I sat down in my seat already exhausted from the first two periods.

    We were in the middle of taking notes from the board when my vision started tricking me. The marker ink on the whiteboard flashed a faded red before returning to its original state. I quickly blinked my eyes in an attempt to clear whatever might have impaired my vision. For the next few minutes, I studied the board to make sure that my mind isn't failing on me. Nothing happened. I sighed in relief, but that was soon cut short by a long pulse of red appearing in the same spot as before.

"What the," I muttered as my eyes stared at the red that stayed in place.

"Charlotte is there some kind of problem?" my teacher questioned, noticing my surprised expression.

"No, I just thought I saw something weird on the board."

"If you need to go to the nurse I'll write you a pass."

"I'm fine. It's gone now."

That last statement was a lie. The red was still there front and center. I tried to calm my nerves during the rest of science class, but failed to dull the anxiety in the back of my mind. Why is this happening? Am I going crazy?

The day progressed in the same strange manner that unfolded in third period. Every hour or so a new color would appear, then disappear, and then reappear permanently. Orange walls greeted me as I walked to lunch. Yellow pencils were found in my backpack. A vast sea of green and blue filled the space beyond the glass of the windows. Purple shirts were shuffling their way to their last class. By the time eighth period came around, my eyes discovered the beauty of a world we've been missing. I've never expected there to be so much detail in my everyday life. I walked to the doorway of my final class and found my way to my seat in the front of the room. I spent the few free minutes I had before the second bell observing my surroundings. Words couldn't describe how I felt in this moment. It was amazing.

"Charlotte, are you okay? You look like you're at a museum or something," my friend asked, laughing at my actions.

Ignoring him, I continued to explore the new world of color, "It's blue."

"What? What's blue?"

"No-nothing. I was talking to myself."

"You sure you're okay? You normally don't just randomly say colors to yourself, so why are you acting like that Charlotte?"

"Okay. Promise me you won't think I'm crazy," I paused to collect my thoughts, "There's something weird happening to me. I can see colors, like the actual colors not just gray."

My friend was about to reply, but my English teacher beat him to it, "Charlotte please come with me."

I glanced at my friend's concerned face before following my teacher out of the classroom. I kept my eyes to the floor as she guided me towards an empty room by the main office. Even though I couldn't see her, I had the feeling she was glaring at me like I was some criminal. Our pace slowed as we approached one of the secretaries, my teacher nudging me while whispering words I couldn't make out. With a nod, the secretary motioned one of the guidance counselors over as my English teacher led me to a chair by a table in the empty room.

"Stay here. One of the counselors will be here shortly," my teacher told me right before she started walking back to her classroom.