Complimentary

I didn't see colour until I saw her. I was walking home when suddenly I saw a girl wearing a dress. Her dress wasn't normal, it was different. I stopped dead in my tracks. I knew what this was, but I've only heard of it from other people. It couldn't be, couldn't it? This was colour.

Living in black and white your whole life, you get used to it. Hearing about colour all your life but only thinking of it as some faraway dream, you get used to it. "Don't worry, Maroon. One day, you'll see how truly red an apple is," they all would say. "It'll all make sense when it happens to you. You'll understand when you're in love." And then I did. I did understand.

"Tell me exactly how it happened," my brother, Cardinal, had demanded. "I want to know how my little brother got Sight!"

"It isn't the greatest of stories, you know. I just saw her walking and said hi. We then started to get to know one another and now here we are, me telling you how I met my soul mate and got Sight."

My brother scowled, "That's boring, tell me a little more detail."

"Okay, well on my way home, I accidently bumped into this girl and she dropped her bag so I picked it up for her and when I looked back up I saw a girl wearing a dress. Car, it was purple. It wasn't vibrant or anything, just a pale purple, but it was there," I huffed out.

"Wow, purple. Most people I know saw red or orange first. You know, some kind of warm colour." He had this incredulous look on his face, but I chose to ignore it.

"Maybe for us it was different. So I walked over to her and I said I thought her dress was pretty, she said thanks and just started to walk away. She then stopped dead in her tracks when I told her I liked the purple on it. We started to walk together and then we talked the whole night. Cardinal, I've never been so happy before," I couldn't help the smile that formed on my lips, I was happy.

"You know, you're horrible at telling stories."

"Thanks Car," I scoffed.

"But the way you saw colour was weird. I've never heard a story where the first colour you saw was on your soul mate. But nevertheless, I'm happy that you're happy, Maroon. I really am." With the way he said that, I should have known. But I simply shrugged and went along with it.

"I am too, happy, I mean. I always thought I wouldn't see colour until I was, like twenty-five or something! And now look at me."

"You're lucky, I'll give you that. Most people don't get the luxury of seeing colour so young. Some may wait until they're fifty." I knew my aunt Blush did.

"I don't think I ever wanna live in black and white ever again."

"Let's hope you don't have to."

"What do you mean?"

"Some people, they lose their Sight when their soul mate dies."

"That can happen? You can just stop seeing colour one day?" Losing Sight? Having to live in black and white again? Why only some? That one sentence had my head spinning.

"Yeah, I've heard it happen many times. When my friend's mom died, her dad was in the supermarket. He dropped everything he was holding to go see his wife. Wanna know how he found out she was dying? He looked over and saw a grey apple."

"I couldn't imagine the pain."

"Neither could I. Losing your soul mate and your Sight? It must be horrible. That's why you need to keep Desire close to you, don't let her go." And I didn't plan to. That is, before I found out the truth.

It took two weeks. Two weeks for me to realize that something was off. And that something wasn't just anything, it was my Sight. It was a subtle change. Well I guess I shouldn't say change, since nothing did. From the moment Desire and I got together, something felt off. I chose to ignore it since I was so happy to see colour. But looking back at it now, I should have listened to how my heart was yelling that something was wrong. I was making my way to school via subway when she came up to me. "Mind if I sit?" she gestured to the seat on my right, which I was blocking access to by sitting on the aisle side. "Yeah, course." I said while standing up so she could sit down. I then noticed that she was wearing a Fall Out Boy t-shirt. "You have a really nice shirt, I love that band." I guessed that she was a shy one considering she looked surprised by what I had said. "Oh, right. Yeah, I love them too." I still remember the way she blushed, the way it formed on her cheeks then made its way up to her the tips of her ears. "Sorry for seeming like a creep. I'm Maroon by the way." I said while holding out my hand for her to shake. "I'm Indigo," she took my hand and suddenly there were more. More light, more sparks, more colours. It was like my life had gone into high definition. I knew by the look in her eyes that she had felt the same way. But then she yanked her arm back and apologized. She got off the next stop. That was the second time she got away from me. Later that day as I was staring at the ceiling above my bed, it came to me. The sudden realization that that girl, Indigo, she was the one I bumped into before I met Desire. How could I forget that face? Was it possible that I had mistaken my soul mate for Desire? No, it couldn't be. Desire saw colour too, right? But why was she so ready to leave after I complimented her dress that day? Why did she only stop when I told her about the purple? Was my relationship with Desire all a lie?