The World Inside My Head

I live in a world where red is all I see. There are shades and tints of it of course but if it’s not related to red I can’t see it. Is this odd to you? Well it’s just the way my life is, I can’t help it. It’s all I know and up until now I never thought seeing black, white, purple, green, blue, etc. was possible. It sounds sad, it sounds strange, but this story is true.

My story starts on a Tuesday, at a train station in the summer. I’m going to see my grandma for my annual visit. She lives in Milestone, a small, nonexistent town in the boondocks. I love my grandma to death I really do, but why couldn’t she come visit my family instead of me going to visit her in that tiny town? I’m an only child so it’s just me, my grandma and my grandpa when I come to visit. It gets lonely after a week and I start longing to see my friends again. Even texting doesn’t seem to ease the ache.

So as I wait I take out a book I’ve been reading and burrow myself into it. I barely notice when the train pulls up. My first indication that it’s arrived is the smoke of coal and the hurried footsteps. I close my book and hop onto the train. The door closes behind me and I find a spot to sit at. It’s by the window and as other people arrive I take out my book again.

The train ride is monotonous after I finish my book. There’s just hill after boring scarlet hill. Just when I think I can’t take any more of this repetitive scenery the train squeals to a stop and I pick my head up, glancing out the window. There’s a sign that says, Milestone. I notice the population has actually gone down since the last time I came here. How odd I think. Then again Milestone’s not the most interesting place in the world. A lot of older people live there so I can understand why the population has decreased. The doors open and I get up to leave.

I see my grandparents in a sea of people. I wave and jump up and down until they see me. They make their way over to me. My grandparents smile at me when they see me. “That’s a lovely dress, Anna,” my grandpa says.

I glance down at myself it’s a light red with sparkles. “Thanks,” I respond exuberantly.

“Come on let’s go home,” my grandma replies.

I nod and we all go toward the car. The car is a blood red sedan. We all get in and my grandpa drives off toward home. When we get home my grandparents walk into the house. I follow them inside. My grandparents plop down on the couch and I look around the living room for a book. My grandpa loves to read so he usually has something I can look at to pass the time. Going over to the crimson bookshelf, I scan the titles of the books. My eyes run through the books, processing the titles and deducing if they would be interesting. I finally settle on a classic, Dracula.

Plopping down in a burgundy chair, I open the red book and glance through the pale red pages. The sun starts to go down when I’m halfway through the book. My grandparents call me for dinner and I put the book down on the arm rest. When I arrive everything is set up and it looks great. We sit down and eat. The rest of the days all blur together until I meet him, I’m outside, sitting on a swing, kicking my feet up in the air, a glass of lemonade in my hands, when he appears. He approaches me and I nearly drop my glass.

“Hello,” he says.

“Hi,” I utter.

“Who are you?” I inquire.

“My name’s Jamie. I’m your neighbor. I’ve never seen you here before,” he states.

I laugh, “I’m visiting.”

“Oh that must be why,” he mutters.

I nod and take a sip of my lemonade. Jamie is ruffling through his pockets. He takes something out of them and is clutching it behind his back.

“What have you got there?” I ask.

“Promise you won’t tell?” He questions.

I frown, “I guess.”

Jamie shakes his head, “Nu-uh. You’ve got to mean it or I won’t show you.”

I sigh and reply, “Okay I promise.”

Jamie grins and brings his hand forward. My eyes widen when I see a strange color. It isn’t red that’s for sure. It looks lighter but dark at the same time. “Wha-t is that?” I stammer afraid.

Jamie chuckles, “You don’t know do you? They’ve got you brainwashed haven’t they?”

“Who are they?” I ask indignantly.

“The eyes of this world, the Watchers,” he states simply as if it were common knowledge.

I frown, “I don’t understand.”

Jamie laughs softly, “Of course you don’t. You’ve never seen the color purple before have you?”

“Purple? Is that fabric you have that color?”

Jamie nods and then shakes his head, “It’s sad. They’ve completely programmed you to believe red is the only color that exists.”

“I don’t get it,” I say curtly.

“The watchers are the enemy. They put a bunch of red lights above the dome of your world, persuading you to believe that no other colors existed.”

“What dome? Where are the red lights?”

Jamie laughs sadly, “You poor deluded girl…Don’t you realize you’ve been deluded?”

I blink rapidly and then respond, “I need more proof. Show me the truth.”

“If you can handle it I’d be happy to,” he replies.

I nod, “I can.”

Jamie grins, “All right. Come with me.” He puts the purple cloth in his pocket and starts walking to the left. I follow him.

Jamie takes me to the observatory in the town’s center. He looks through the telescope and then tells me to look into it. I do as he says. I nearly scream. There’s a huge crystal dome surrounding the world I live in. But it gets worse. I actually see the red lights. They’re clinging to the corners of the dome at an angle. I can see the light that shines down on the unsuspecting citizens. I gulp, has my whole life been a joke?

“Why did the watchers do this?” I ask my voice scared.

Jamie turns to me, “Because they don’t want anyone to see the other colors. They think that those colors bring individuality and creativeness.”

I am horror-stricken, “But why would they want to stifle creativeness?”

Jamie sighs, “Don’t you get it? The watchers are just like bullies. They don’t want individuality because it brings out ideas and ideas bring out revolts and protests.”

I frown but he continues. “Red signals passion and strength but in this situation its meaning is a joke. The watchers want to cripple us so we don’t overthrow them.”

I am petrified. Who knew this was the reason no one could see regular colors. “What can we do?”

“The only thing, we can do right now is leave and get reinforcements. Don’t worry about revolting just yet. That will come later, when we have enough people.”

I nod, “Where do we go now?”

“Follow me,” Jamie states.

We leave the observatory and walk normally until we get to the outskirts of town. There I see the dome, it’s faint but I can see the edge of it. I put a hand on it and rub up and down. I feel the cold, hard surface of the dome. Jamie is watching me examining it.

He then says, “There’s a hole around here.”

I nod and he goes over to the right. After a hundred or so steps he crouches and points at the apparent hole. It’s low and just big enough for me and Jamie. Jamie goes through first then I join him on the other side. What I see astonishes me. There are a myriad of colors that I never knew existed before. Everything looks so beautiful, healthy and unreal.

Jamie turns to me then, “Come one, we need to get into the heart of the rebel city. Your grandparents are bound to notice you missing sooner or later and when they do the Watchers will send out search parties. If we aren’t far enough in they’ll catch us, erase our memories and drag us back into that hell hole.”

“Okay,” I reply and we start walking. My last thought is, I think I could get used to this kind of world.