Everything was black and white. Winter didn't know why they did this to her, all she knew was that it was that she had been sent out into the world having no clue how to survive. She was grown in that lab, a test-tube baby, she had no knowledge of the world outside. Sure she was smart, but all that knowledge was put into her head before she was even fully grown. She'd woken up and been able to do math equations that even Harvard students would find difficult. She'd also woken up to find the world in black and white, like an old television screen. With Winter's knowledge, she knew something was wrong, but the scientists didn't, they thought she was perfect. Until she was a few months old and finally able to communicate through words. The first thing she said was, "Where are the colors?"
They were about to take her outside and leave her on a doorstep for someone else to deal with. Just for that little imperfection, they were ready to kill her. But some of them took mercy on the little girl with no parents, no siblings, no home, no toys other than the computers and other electronics in the building, nothing except the knowledge in her head, the girl without color. That's what they called her before she earned the name Winter, the nickname fit all right, like a custom-made glove. With her thick, black hair and skin so pale that scientists worried she had died while sleeping when they went to wake her, and all-knowing, black eyes she truly was without color. The plain dress she was given did nothing to add to the colorless aura that followed her wherever she went.
The dress was a long, victorian style dress that flowed down her body when she awoke and she was given a larger, but identical, dress when she outgrew the previous. Those dresses were the few things she could call her own, she slept in them, ate in them, only taking them off to bathe and exercise. Although exercise might be the wrong term for her daily 4 hour workout forced by the lab, but we'll get into that later. The dress was washed every day while she was 'exercising' and returned to her room before she arrived back. The dress was always black, never any variation, always black as a moonless night. For all Winter knew it could have been dark blue, purple, or green, but it wasn't, it was black. A color that seems so empty and cold, but also soft and loving depending on how you saw it. Winter saw it as the most annoying thing in the world, because, for her, it was everywhere and anywhere.
Winter's life had never been normal, not even growing-up-in-a-lab normal, which was pretty weird. 21 years of waking up every morning and exercising for hours on end at a level that would probable make a normal person pass out was bound to make anyone, even the most sane person, want to rip their brain out. The exercise paired with the fact that she wasn't treated like a human but instead like a dangerous weapon, which I guess she was. Her entire life was spent building up her strength and learning to use her telepathy without making herself too tired to do anything else. She was made to be used as a weapon of war, in the case of a nuclear attack she was supposed to be the one sent into enemy territory and stop any further attacks from happening. Everybody in the country who knew of her existence, so basically only the highest people in the government and the scientists in the lab, hoped she would never have to be used, but you never know.
So, her life was her version of normal, everything going smoothly and no accidents happening. Until her 22nd birthday, that day started out normal, her going to training and arriving back at her room, only to find the head scientist, Dr. Hartwell, standing in the middle of the 10x12 room. Upon inquiring why he was there, as no one ever visited her unless taking her to be tested, which she knew was not the case seen as she had just had her monthly tests done a week or so ago, he replied with some highly shocking news.
"Winter, we have decide that as of now you will be residing in New York City, where some other labs will be studying your powers and the mechanics of your body. You will be housed in an apartment by yourself. Your food and utilities will be paid for by the government along with the apartment. We apologize for the sudden announcement and are sad to see you go." Lie, they never liked her, not since she spoke of the absence of color in her vision. "Once in New York you are free to do as you please, within the law of course."
She studied his face to search for any signs of him lying, there were none. She even risked diving into the depths of his brain to search for the slightest bit in insincerity, but came up blank, he was telling the truth. She frowned, delicate creases in her forehead forming, her eye squinted in confusion, 'Why would they send her away, don't they need her?' Apparently not, apparently they didn't need her as much as she believed they did. Maybe the threat was gone. No, that's ridiculous, the threat is never gone, it will always be there, hanging over the countries heads. She was normally quiet, didn't speak out to the scientists, just went with the crazy ideas of theirs without question, but this time she couldn't stay silent.
"Why? Did I do something wrong, fail a test?" Her voice rose with worry. She couldn't fail, she was made to be perfect. "Why do I have to go? I like it here!" Winter's voice was cracking now, tears forming in her obsidian eyes. She always strove to succeed in the tasks set before her by the lab, and she did. She never failed, and that was wonderful. She asked her final question, "Is the threat gone, are we safe now?"
"No, it was nothing you did nor is the threat gone, it is present as usual. We just think it would be better for your well being to...enter the real world, get out of this laboratory. Live your life like a normal 22 year old would, make friends, go to parties, do whatever." Hartwell said with a small laugh at the end, none of the staff knew what would happen to the young woman they had watched grow from a single cell, out there in the big, dangerous world. But they knew she would be safe, seen as she couldn't be killed with normal weapons. They were more worried for anybody who made her mad.
