KZ's and Dragoln's Short Stories [2022 EDITION]

Privilege In Sight

11.10.22

Only the very oldest people remembered a time when humans could see in colour.

Madame Perkins was one of them and luckily for me, she is my great-grandmother. The only problem is that she lies in a nursing home and has lost her capability to interact with people. She doesn't speak or sign. She only gives anyone who attempts to communicate with her in any sort of way an invasive, lifeless stare. 

A thunderous crackle shifts the air and ripples through my shirt.

Peering down from the balcony of my flat, I catch a glimpse of the drone that had just ploughed an axe into the skull of an unsuspecting criminal by the nursing home. The gritty voice coming from the AI's sound system is incomprehensible. A river of grey starts to stream down the road. He was trying to flee.

The drone stiffly turns its head up toward me and gives me a leisurely nod. I stare back into its glowing eyes and unchanging face, bearing a blunt, apathetic expression. After an awkward moment, I turn back heading into my apartment, and slide the door to my balcony closed.

My younger sister returns from school and she is unusually late. A whole hour to be precise.

When the click of the door dies down, I hear her pant in the most animalistic manner.

"Your punctuality is slipping," I remark sternly, offering her a bag of crisps I picked up from the store on the way home.

"I apologise. Everyone in my school was kept behind," she responds, plainly accepting the food I hold as well as pouring herself a glass of water.

"Why?"

"More are being suspected of trying to extract information from the Chromakind like Madame Perkins. Even people from outside my school. They want to see in colour-"

"Quiet." My sharp voice slits the stillness in the room. "If this is about the Chromakind, we do not speak of it."

Getting caught trying to find a way to see colour by a drone will only unfold the worst of the consequences. That is why I stay home. And if I do go out, I would keep myself a good distance from the nursing home. My parents did a good job of teaching me discipline. But with my sister, not so much. She is uneducated and sometimes I wonder how she hasn't been caught under a drone's glowing spotlight yet.

Curiosity only does harm to us all.

—-

I drag the rest of the duvet over my sister so it reaches up to her neck and I draw the curtains shut. I switch the lamp off, blocking out the last of the light in the bedroom when I exit it. 

When I get to my less ornate bedroom, I take incredibly cautious measures before climbing into my bed. It takes me a while to fully layer my walls with soundproofing. I close the blinds, and hold my ears to my keyhole, listening out for even the tiniest pin drop.

There is nothing.

The inviting earpiece on my desk waits for me and I eagerly race to put it on because tonight is the night I ought to make a risky connection with her.

I slip it into my ear, patiently lingering for a signal.

Annoying white noise storms through my brain and I cringe.

Five minutes.

Ten minutes.

On the fifteenth minute, a lively voice presents itself through my device.

"You ready?"

"Yes, Madame," I whisper as I look around in paranoia. It lacks confidence. However, it is enough to convince her that I can take on the gift she will pass on.

"The next lunar eclipse won't arrive until three years. You still have time. And you'll have to be careful not to expose yourself if I do it."

"I want this now," I hiss, breaking out of my emotionless barrier. "I am ready. Trust me."

Soon enough, the sensation of power floods into my bloodstream, coursing through my veins like destructive tides. Intense warmth surrounds me as my vision surges and turns like a whirlpool. 

Madame Perkins' voice lowers in volume though I cannot exactly pick up what she is trying to convey.

I lose track of time when the motion in me fades. 

Switching on the lamp in my room, I feel my heart beginning to leap recklessly at my rib cage. 

"Woah," is all I can utter before the woman on the line speaks again.

"Look outside."

At her command, I obey and see the moon, now a more menacing floating globe in the sky than how I saw it before. "This is the only night it appears red."

Red. The first tone I learn.

I observe my room, everything in it are barely shades of black, grey, and white. They are all...wonderful, grand, and glorious. The sight is certainly something to behold. 

Now I am one of them, maybe one of the very last, having to hide this ability from this point on. Normally, I am good at playing things cool and silencing my emotions. But I have a feeling that I might even get slaughtered before my sister. Drones are quick to learn.

Still, I cannot believe the Chromakind took their vision of colour for granted. I cannot believe this is what they see every day.

~