A Game of Colours

Chapter 30 Part 1: Hope in the Dark

You can't explain how colours look to a blind man.

Red is red.

Blue is blue.

And black, is well,

he knows how black will look like well enough.

But you can tell him how the colours make you feel.

Red is empowering, like when you escape your chains.

Blue is calming, like looking into the eyes of someone you love.

And black, is well,

Me, I suppose.

That's how it is here, right now. I don't see anything. But I know the colours are there--I feel it. They're all around me. I feel him, too. I can tell he's showing one of his rare smiles. I can feel a weight lifted off his shoulders. He's excited--for the first in a long time. I try and follow him, eager to share in his enthusiasm, but he pushes me back every time.

"No," he says.

His voice is different, too.

Lighter?

I carry on despite his protests, and still he refuses to let me come with him.

"No, you aren't done yet, Alice."

"But I am," I insist, though not particularly sure what I mean myself.

"Please," he says, "go back. You haven't finished yet."

I feel frustrated, and he begins to shake my shoulders harder.

"Please, Alice."

I tug away to no avail.

"Please," he repeats, "wake up."

Everything is blurry for a few moments. My eyes squint open a tad, sensitive to the light, to face Lewis, shaking me insistently as tears roll down her cheeks.

"Please," she cries, "wake up."

I open my eyes further, and find myself in an unknown room. It hurts to focus on anything, so I close them again.

"Alice! You're awake!" she almost shouts in relief. "Arnie, she's awake!"

"It can't be," says a voice, almost bored, from another room, "we got to her too late. Face it, they were waiting for something like this just to go on another one of their 'purges'. She's nothing but another victim. No attachments, remember?"

"Aye, they were, but for the love of God shut your trap and come quick if you don't believe me, damn it!"

Lewis squeezes my hand again.

"Alice, love, you still with me? Come on, you hang in there. Ah, I knew you were strong since the day I met you! A little roughed up in prison is all, but you had it in you, I knew it!" she smiles.

My head is throbbing painfully, so I only pretend to be paying attention. I open my eyes and smile weakly. Arnie, the man she called, comes into the room. He's much leaner and younger than I'd expected. He has light brown hair and a quizzical, suspicious look on his face. His nose his scrunched up and his eyes are squinting. He oddly reminds me of a mouse

"Well would'ya look at that. You're a strong one." He pauses. "You'd be good for the cause, you know?"

I mumble something, but at this point can barely keep up with the conversation. I try to sit up, when I feel a searing pain in my side and immediately lie back down.