The world is in shades of black, white and gray and Gary doesn’t even know it. Whenever he goes to his favourite coffee shop, he doesn’t see the brown of his macchiato or the blue of his suit. He doesn’t see the orange flare of the cigarette whenever he lights one.
He doesn’t see the city lights that brighten up the city whenever night comes or the dark tan of the beer he sips when watching.
He only sees gray.
The first color he sees is pink; pink lips that smiled at him one day when he ordered his macchiato and imparted the name ‘Marie.’
The rest of the world is still gray.
He never sees the yellow of the sun or the green of the grass but he sees the pink of Marie’s lips.
Pink lips smiling,
Pink lips laughing.
Pink lips saying his name,
“Gary.”
As time passes, Marie paints the world for Gary. Sometimes the colors don’t appear right away and sometimes colors that were once visible suddenly disappear but this didn’t stop Marie.
She will hold Gary’s hand when they go out and suddenly the city is alive with different shades and everything becomes bright. Some days they sit together in the quiet gray, and Gary focuses on pink lips, brown eyes, white skin, and that’s enough.
Until he received a call and he rushed to his car.
He doesn’t see the red, yellow, or green on the traffic lights or the city lights reflected on his car’s windshield. He doesn’t see the pink flush of his face or the angry violet lines that marred under his tired eyes as he speeds through the streets, praying that he’s not too late.
He only sees gray- gray hats, gray clothing, gray walls, gray people.
“It was an accident,” gray tears spilled after hearing these words that came out from a drunkard’s mouth that put Marie in a dire situation.
Black blood was spilled all over Marie’s clothes as Gary entered the room Marie was assigned to. He longed to see her soft brown eyes but gray tears clouded his vision as he approached Marie’s bed.
Pink lips smiled gratefully, albeit suffering.
“Thank you,” they say and those were the last words Gary would ever hear from those pink lips and his life will never be the same again.
Gary’s world is like a canvas, and Marie is the brush, her presence like paint.
Without her, he only sees gray.
