Grace Feckterhight

Chapter Twelve

Normally, I don't dream. I go to bed, and my body wakes me up like a timer gone off. Ding! I'm awake, and so are you.

But tonight was.. different.

In one moment, I was surrounded by sheets in my bed, my head on my pillow. The next, I was alone in an empty, black space. Nothing, a plain of darkness as far as the eye could see.

It was strange, to say the least. As a person who rarely dreams, this was a little shocking.

Suddenly, my body started shaking. My limbs started vibrating of their own accord. I couldn't control it.

I tried my best not to panic, but it was hard. My breathing became irregular as my muscles moved without my direction. As my body shook, I first tried to tame my arms. I held them up for me to see if I could regain control.

My veins. They weren't their normal bodily hue; The faint bluish lines under the surface of my skin.

They were teal. My teal. Caribbean tropic.

And it was vibrant. So vibrant that they were making the black nothingness around me glow with its teal light. Like it had awakened from just being the dull pulse of the heart to this new strange light.

I had a feeling it was much more than just light.

In my blood? My arms continued to shake. What the..?

Before I could think a complete thought, the teal in my veins leaped out of my body. I didn't feel any pain. I scarcely felt anything, other than a tingling sensation that spread across my arms.

The teal, my teal, jumped from my body and hovered in the air in front of me. It shaped and reformed.. into a person.

I took a step back. Who..?

"Relax." The voice came from the teal human-like shape. The millisecond after it spoke, the person-shaped blob defined itself. From its head, beautiful silky hair. It was a turquoise so light it could have been white. Then its face: a perfect woman. Her skin tone was a pale teal, only slightly darker than her hair. Her body fanned out into the same color as her face. A flowing dress billowed out from her neckline, where its otherworldly fabric floated around her. It was the darkest teal of the three.

It seemed that this angelic woman-like being didn't obey gravity. She still floated in front of me, and I could only stare in awe. She was the purest image of the teal I'd known my entire life.

She smiled gently at me. "Do not fear. I am a part of you."

"Who..?" I couldn't find the words.

I cleared my throat and tried again. "Who are you?" My eyes went over the color of her skin. "Are you Colored?"
"No. I am color."

My mouth dropped open. "You.. you're my color?"

She gazed at me with soft eyes. "Yes."

With that answer, the black void around us erupted into a colored night. Glowing trees of another kind rose up from the ground, exotic lightning brush exploded into existence. Rolling lime grassy hills rose behind her, and vast lit mountain ridges spiked up in the distance. The sky drifted into new colors, lighting up the night. Lush vegetation exploded from the earth. A shining clear lake filled on one side, where multi-colored fish swam into being. A glimmering crystal moon hung above us, and fluffy diamond clouds drifted in the sky. Stars splattered across the sky like silver color. A forest of luminous trees sprouted behind me, and I turned to watch.

I spun slowly in wonder. "What.. is this place?"

"This is where your kind belongs." The teal floating woman still hovered nearby. She seemed more at ease here, like she could finally breathe. She floated higher, lifting her arms as though absorbing the atmosphere of the landscape. The woman only took deep breaths, now that she was here.