INEFABBLE - Short Stories Collection #2

Monochrome

When was the last time you ever felt like everything you saw was screaming in color?

Mine was last March.

It was almost 6 P.M. in the evening. One by one, the stars were shining brightly above me. I was under them, observing quietly how the once light blue sky turned into a much darker shade as night quickly enveloped the day. The sight was breathtaking. The majestic crescent moon completed the view. It was the very first time in a while that I'd seen such a beautiful sky.

You see, I was a huge fan of stars. When I had the chance, I'd go outside our house just to view them. I'd point out to myself the planets that outshone the farthest star. I'd trace constellations from memory and try finding those that I hadn't seen yet. I couldn't see some of them clearly though, thanks to light pollution, but at least I saw most of them. For me, that was enough.

I was at a friend's house when I saw the sky. I agreed to help her for a project so I left school early even if we had an event going on. We were already packing up the stuff we used when I saw the stars. I stopped and observed for a bit while she finished up cleaning. She told me she didn't get why I was too mesmerized with stars when they were too far away to grasp but I told her I loved the stars despite the distance.

Just then, I felt my phone vibrate from the pocket of my school uniform.

When I opened it, I saw messages from my classmates, saying we won two awards from the event, making my heart leap from joy. Everything became more colorful to me despite the darkness of the surroundings. I smiled in glee just by seeing their continuous messages flooding my cellphone. They were happy and it was enough to make me feel happy, too.

Too bad, I wasn't there to celebrate with them. But it's okay.

A few minutes passed and it was time for me to go. I bid good bye to my friend and said, "See you tomorrow!" to her gleefully. I even skipped my way out of my friend's house like a toddler. My eyes wandered to everything it could see. The vendors nearby were giving school kids their freshly made Japanese cakes. The kids accepted the treats with wide grins across their faces. Their auras were screaming with colors. It was colorful. It lit up the whole street.

I walked past them and finally saw that everyone had colors of their own. It was screaming out of them, filling up the night sky with vibrance. The colors mixed up with the stars amazingly. It could almost look like a galaxy.

Mesmerizing.

When I got home, the sky was still painted with colors. I decided to stay outside for a bit, not bothering if I was still wearing my school uniform. I felt the breeze that carried the colors towards the nightsky. I heard the colorful laughter from everyone inside the house. Everything was colorful. It was peaceful.

That was six months ago.

Now, I have all the chances to view the nightsky, to view the stars from a safe place. Everything continues to shine from above. The stars still glow. The moon still rises.

But the colors disappeared.

All I can see is black, white, and gray. People wear black on the television because someone important has died. Gray is how other people's faces are painted that mourns because of how they miss their friends or their loved ones. White gathers all of the other colors into one color that blinds everyone despite its supposed to be peace.

For some, it may be beautiful and aesthetically pleasing to see these colors, but not at 2020. It's chaotic. It's screaming with agony within everyone.

I can still see the vibrant colors from that day last March. Not just that, but everyone's smiling faces as well. I can still hear the laughter and the chatter. Now, I can only hear the deafening silence that gets louder as each day passes. No one is heard.

A lot of questions come to me everyday. The uncertainty is certainly killing me. Who knows when the colors will return once more to fill up the sky? Who knows when will we be heard? Who knows when will this end?

When was the last time you saw everything look happy?

Mine was last March, when everything still screamed with color.