Random Short Stories

The World in Black and White

I stand there looking through the window at a grey sky. The grey raindrops fall on the grey houses that stand in an orderly line. Even the mist blends in with the grey world. Everyone the same means everyone is special. The black street stands out with its white lines the way my black dress stands out against the crowd of grey surrounding me. I wish above all else that there was something else. Another color besides the three we have grown to know and are told to love.

Grey Black and White

I know there is something out there that is more. I thought I saw it once when I was 9. A flash of something not white, black, or grey. My mother told me I was imagining things and not to let it slip away. My father whispered into my ear that I should hold onto thta memory forever.

Slowly I turn my head away from the window. My paper stands irresolute on the desk. The pencil next to it. The black ink shines brightly against the white paper. It is still glistening. I have always loved the way the ink glistens on a paper. It means that it is set in stone, although what a stone is I do not know. My world has everything I want. Food, shelter, water, family, safety. Is it bad for me to crave more? I don't think I should yet I do. My backpack sits waiting for me like an obidient puppy. I used to have a puppy. Now he is a full grown beast whose only job is to gaurd the wall that surrounds us.

"Come your late for school!" I hear a vouce shout from behind my head. The loudspeaker above my bed constantly yells at me for being late.

"Coming!" I call and grab my bag at the door. Sliding down the banister is the quickest way to go.

"Young ladies should not slide down banisters!" The voice calls back and I flick my eyes upwards the the ceiling.

"Hurry your late!" I sprint to catch up with the other line of girls that are walking at a crisp march towards the learning center. The learning center is a large rectangular building with no windows and only one door which is guarded by a man holding a large gun. We are very familiar with guns.

"Allison, why were you late?" Claire, my best (and only) friend whispers as we stop.

"I stayed up late finishing maths." I whisper back trying to put a look of convincing tiredness on my face.

"Al don't fool with me I know perfectly well your great at maths now why were you really lat?" Darn, she knows me well.

"I..." I yawn loudly, "I just overslept ok? That's all."

"Children are not to speak unless they are spoken to, is that clear? Especially young ladies." Mr. Youngish says glaring at me. I bow my head and murmer and apology.

"Please follow me," He says and leads us into the Learning Center. I used to like it, the walls kept me safe and the guard meant to guard always gave me a feeling of assurance. Now it made me uneasy knowing that no one could get in or out. No one can escape I read that somewhere. I have no clue where though.

We walk in boys through one door to their classroom taught by Ms. Youngish and the girls through another which is taught by Mr. Youngish. Our principal's name is Dr. Youngish and the nurse is Mrs. Youngish. It is always odd that our entire staff is the Youngish family.

In the first room we have to quickly walk through scanners to make sure we are healthy. If we aren't then they escort us to Mrs. Youngish before anyone else gets sick. I hate this part and always try to get through it as quickly as possible.

In the second we put our hands palm down on a machine which injects a small amount of medicine into our vein. That part always made me sad for some reason. I felt a sense of longing before the injection after it was gone and I couldn't replace it no matter what. I do it and this time is no different than every other time.
"Good morning class."
"Hello Mr. Youngish. How are you?" This is the standard greeting. I personally find it monotone and boring but we have to be the same to be unique.
"Please stand for the reciting of the motto." We all stand and I brush the sensor in the back of my neck almost subconsciously. It is small and dark grey the same shade as my hair.
"We the people feel that sameness is the path to unity. That being identical makes us the unique. We believe that the strive to perfection is complete and the only thing left to do is perfect ourselves." We all say it and then at down waiting for our lesson to begin.
"Today we will be doing a lesson on our founding mothers." He stands up and taps the screen. A robotic voice begins to talk.
"Our founding mothers were made up of 19 women all with a goal. To change the world run by men. At the time only one woman had ever been leader of America and they wanted more. They overthrew the government and made it so woman had power. They gave them to much power however and the leaders became greedy. So two people a man and a woman got together and made an alliance that saved hundreds of thousands from dying. They created towns, cities, a nation. They realized that what made us do things was jealousy. Our strive to be the same and our strive above all to be perfect. So they created identicality. Now we live peacefully in a perfect society."
There was no noise in the room. Their never was. We just stared out at the screen seeing but not seeing.
The rest of the day past without big event. A boy walked up to me after school. He said four words to me.
"Don't take your injection tomorrow." I nodded and he said another three words before walking away.
"It's called color." I just stared at him completely confused. I wondered what color was. It had to be one of the forbidden words. There was a list of them we were shown at age 9. Some of the words I still remember, like red or blue. Those were strange words there was also happy or sad or angry. I thought those were a food for a long time.
They told us words are just letters with power. I don't believe them. All words have power. We gave it to them the day the letters were created. The same way the government has power.
I walk home my head buzzing with ideas. At dinner I steal an orange to fake the injection. I wonder what will happen if I get caught. I never really wondered that before. I am guessing it will be drawn out and painful. If it is then I don't know how I'll avoid it. All I can do is hope to god that I won't.
I wake up and look out at the stormy grey sky. It is darker and than yesterday and the grey drops fall harder. The orange is concealed in my bag. I am ready. Right?
Walking to school the boy comes up to me.
"Hi my name is Trent. What's yours?"
"I'm Allison," I reply primly.
"Ok..." he says and we walk together in silence. I am staring at the ground and he is staring at the sky.
We part at the door bidding farewell and I pull out the orange. I hope that I don't get caught. The crashing reality that my world will never be the same is here. Trying to act natural I am last in line again. The orange has a small bit of my blood on it. I put instead of my palm and amazingly it works. I walk into class and look around. The world is slowly coming into clearer focus. Like the day I put my mother's glasses on.
I think I know what color is now. Red. Blue. Yellow. Green. I know now all those. Waves of emotions crash into the shore of my blank mind. I see now. Color was hidden inside the world of black and white.