Black and White

One day-a day when the Earth stood still and when the wind caught its breath-a lone black girl was given a choice that wasn't really a choice at all.

"Choose between black and white," they bade her.

Senseless and blind they were, but the girl naively obeyed and forced her mouth to open without heeding the repercussions.

"I choose black," she whispered, her voice coming out like a wisp of air.

Hence forth, she went day by day wearing black. Her dark mud-stained skin contrasting against the darkness of her clothes gave her some sense of relief. I'm not that dark, am I? She thought as she self-consciously scrutinized herself in the mirror. Clothed in apparel as dark as night reminded her that she wasn't really black. Her skin may be a sickening dirt color, but at least it wasn't as horrible as being washed over with utter darkness. Still, it was a brown just lighter in tones to her garments which only deepened her insecurities and complexes.

Then she met him. A boy clothed in white contrasting the deep indigo and navy blues of the night sky. His skin was paler than the snowflakes that enraptured her as a child. As he gently trudged through the snow towards her, his skin blended in with the crystalline stars that stippled the night sky.

She hid.

She was found.

Words were exchanged. And she soon was caught within a job to follow and observe his world. A world of marshmallow white and a paleness so bright that her eyes instinctively shied away from the unnatural pallor.

Ah, now I feel blacker than ever. This thought dragged the black girl down to the dirty ground where she belonged. Kneeled down in submission, kneeled down in inferiority, the girl stares hollowly at the snow-stained people slowly gathering to scrutinize her. Her black starker than ever. Suddenly, the boy from before reaches out and touches her frightened hand.

"Don't touch me!" she cried. The black girl scrambled away in fear.

His touch is like fire. It only burns.

The sudden intimate gesture brought a deep-rooted myth to surface within her mind. A silly yet nagging childhood belief that her kind could stain the pure white skin of the others with her darkness. This sudden memory further serves to draw her away from the snow world and make her escape, giving up on her purpose.

Entirely perplexed, the boy follows, curious over every other emotion coursing through his small body. He enters her world with a shock that nearly collapses his heart. Everything resembled a charcoal still-life he had once saw in a museum on a typical grade school field trip years before. Only the mud-stained people broke up the homogeneity of the darkened background. He remains curious, though intimidated, and wanders his way through the crowd in search of the girl. His job was to observe her and her world. Still, he couldn't find her in the blinding darkness and reluctantly retreats back to his world alone.

Days passed in vivid silence. A world only recognizing blackened tones contrasting whitened tones remains divided glaring down the differences. Two opposing souls remain lost and search for the reason why.

Driven by innate insecurities, the blackened girl remains hidden, wishing she had chosen white. Driven by an innate curiosity, the whitened boy continues to search, trying to understand. But they are caught. Caught in a web of lies and mistrust. Too unnerving. Too different. Too alien. Yes, perhaps it is best to stop hiding. To stop searching. The girl and boy remain separated, locked within their respective worlds.

But then why? Why does the girl's thoughts of the boy increase in his absence. Why does the boy's curiosity of the girl grow despite the very act of that being taboo. A slow realization washes over them like the bitterness of the ocean's waves. This is love. Love? Really? This is what it feels like? But, we are different, they ponder, they're too foreign, too alien, for this to work.

And with those thoughts in mind, they stay locked within their own worlds, holding the belief that xenophobia is right. They vow to stay away from each other despite the constant fixation of lying to their hearts.