Writing Prompts

Writing Prompt #4

You have been completely color blind your entire life and only see in shades of gray. You come across a stranger that appears in total color

It's easy enough to assume what colors look like even though I was never lucky enough to see any hue other than gray. I could tell you what colors should be where they're not: Red apples, green grass, blue skies and a yellow sun. I know, or rather I have a vague understanding of what kind of emotions they should like to them, you can thank Inside Out for that. It was three in the afternoon, my last class had just ended and I was sitting in my favorite cafe, stirring my sugary drink and attempting to catch up on my assigned reading. My fingers traced the elevated logo on the notebook I bought from the bookstore and I gnawed lightly on my upper lips which were a bit chapped from the cold.

"Can I have a Vanilla frappé please?" A voice infiltrated my train of thought. I couldn't catch what the cashier said but the same voice replies with, "Make it extra sweet."

Ah, was my initial thought, a comrade who loves sweets as much as I do. I only wanted a glance at the stranger who would secretly become my ally in a world at war with sweets, sugar, and everything wholesome in the world.

Her hair caught my attention first, the second was the plumpness of her lips. Fire is red and water is blue. I know simple facts like that. Yellow is the sun, or corn or a sunflower. I've read enough children's books.

And if that's the truth then yellow is more than just that. It's messy, curly and still put together even if it's put up in a lazy bun. Red is not only fire but a polite smile that thanks to the cashier for handing back a receipt. Blue... Were her eyes blue? From where I was sitting I couldn't really tell for sure but if they were, blue was anxious, scanning the back of the ingredients on the counter, reading the menu in lightning speed and watching the barista's experienced hands make the drink she was more than impatient to get. I found myself not only staring but gawking with my jaw on the floor. The woman was tall, a whole half a foot taller than me. Her legging covered legs extended a for miles, her curves reminded me of a road with twists and turns. The same logo on my notebook was sprawled on the back of her hoodie.

She wasn't gray or black or white or anything in-between. She was something else, something brighter, something eye-catching, something more enticing.

Homework was forgotten as my eyes observed the woman lean over the counter, shifting her weight from foot to boot-covered foot. I couldn't grasp why she was distinct from everyone else.

Was I suddenly able to see color? I looked around the cafe gradually and found nothing had changed since the moment I saw her. Gray still dominated my vision. Outside was a toddler with overalls and a monkey book bag that doubled as a leash, his chubby face was pushed against the glass of the café, making funny faces at the couple beside me and sticking out his tongue.

Nobody else was as vibrant as she was, they didn't even come close.

When I turned my attention back towards the counter, I was surprised to notice her standing in front of me.

"Is there a problem?" The same voice that ordered the frappé demanded.

I jumped in response, not really sure if she was talking to me or not.  Yet her eyes stared at me, boring holes into my face the same way I had done to her. She held the cold drink, pure white with specs of black, in her left hand as her right hand was placed on her cocked hip, knuckles digging into the exposed skin between her hoodie and her leggings, a yellow-er shade of white.

"I-- uh, it's not li-like that. There's no problem at all." I stuttered, my hands flailing in front of my face. How did I get in this situation? I didn't know if that's what she wanted to hear.

Eyes the color of what I assumed was the ocean scanned my face. "Really? It didn't seem that way by the way you were glaring so openly at me." Her plump lips were the color of what apples should be.

"Glaring? Me?" I spoke but I couldn't hear myself. Blinking was impossible for I wanted to take in all of her, all the colors I never saw and the colors I'll probably never see again. Her head tilted to the side, the yellow curls that cluttered at the top of her head shifted with her. They bounced even after she stopped moving.

She waited patiently for me to speak but I had forgotten everything that I was saying. When her mouth moved, I could see red, her teeth were white and her tongue was some combination of the two. Moving up from her hypnotic mouth, was her nose, straight and narrow as if pointing towards the ground. The freckles on her face were dark and splattered across her nose and the apples of her cheeks, decorating her features. Oh and her eyes? I don't think there was a color for that. None of the books I've ever read. Blue for sure, definitely synonymous with the vastness of the ocean and yet, so much more.

"No..." I said and I heard myself this time. What did she want again? She rose an eyebrow as an invitation to keep going. The longer I stared into her eyes, the more detached from reality I became.

"No?" she finally asked. I watched her lips like apples speak, contorting into a circle then pursuing to the side. "Why are you lying? I could feel you looking at me the whole time I was here! Did you think I wouldn't cause a scene?"

"I mean, yeah I was staring but it was more like cause you're breathtaking, not cause I wanted to start some shit." What am I saying to her? Why couldn't I stop my big fat mouth from talking? Actually, I didn't think I was staring that hard but it's understandable since she's the first time I've ever seen color. I should apologize for making her uncomfortable. "I'm really sorry, really I --," Words began to elude me as the warm color, same shade as her tongue began to creep over her cheeks. I watched in awe as it quickly began to dominate the yellow tint that was once there. Her eyes were no longer on mine, instead, they found solace in my now cold coffee.

"Woah," How much more beautiful can she get? My hands reached out without command, my palms heated up between her cheeks which darkened as result. This isn't a fever, right?

"What are you doing?" she whispered, red lips barely moving.

"Oh...OH!" What was I doing? I yanked my hand from her blushing face and held it against my chest, hopefully restraining it from doing anything else. "I'm so stupid. What the hell is wrong with me?" I shut my eyes tight but I could still see the color she showed me behind my lids. Quickly, I gathered my stuff, shoved them in my bag carelessly, not caring about crinkled papers and folded pages. My chair creaked loudly, the table shook violently as I stood up.

"Look, I gotta go. Sorry about this."

The same traitorous hand attempted to push back a stray yellow curl behind her ear. I stopped myself mid-air, understanding that I shouldn't touch strangers and my compulsion to feel my fingertips on her skin was something I should see a therapist for. It took all of me to tear my gaze from her, take those heavy six steps out the cafe pausing only to throw away my cup, a wasted four dollars.

Outside I could breathe again, a cool breeze blew relaxing me momentarily. Gray cars, gray buildings, and gray people greeted me when I was outside. The toddler with the monkey on his back was now dancing, his mother gossiping with the flower girl next door. I looked down the street until I couldn't anymore, it was everything I've ever seen, the same with the street heading the opposite direction.

Behind me, was the only thing I ever wanted.