Fading Black and White

Allison remembers the moment it happened, almost anyone who it has happened to does. It's not every day when the world around you goes from black and white to screaming colors.

It happened to her back in third grade, when she first stepped in the classroom. Suddenly the black and grays were brilliant reds, blues, and greens and the whites were yellows and pinks. The grass visible outside was now bright and the sky breath taking. Little Allison knew what this meant-she had learned about it the previous year. Her future lied within the room.

At the same time this happened to Allison, the world of a young girl named Emelina also exploded with color. She sat in the back of the classroom, and unlike Allison, kept the phenomenon to herself. She was a smart girl, with brown hair only a bit darker than her skin. She was smart enough to know not to say aloud that her future was the eccentric girl sitting awe-struck in front of the window.

The two girls travelled through the years together, and soon became inseparable. They laughed together and talked with each other, the two personalities a perfect song. Emelina had told Allison everything except the one secret she held close since that first day of color. One night when the two girls were sat across from each other, Allison's curiosity took over her. "Lina, can you see colors yet?"

Emelina's breathing became shaky. She always knew the question would come, but she was afraid of losing the one thing she had and trusted. The one person who didn't treat her as fragile because she was bruised by anxiety. "Well, the thing is....I've been able to see them for a while."

"Wait, really? How long? Do you know who it is? Or are you as stuck as me?" Allison could not contain herself, curiosity poured out of her.

"Since the first day of third grade," Emelina responded.

"Same as m-" Allison realized what it meant mid-sentece, and stuttered. Shocked.

"I know it's a lot to take in and maybe it's not us like each other us or-" She was cut off in her messy attempt of a sentence by a burst of laughter from Allison.

"You're face is red as hell. You know I'm happy about this, right?"

The two girls spent an unbelievable amount of time together, but nothing changed. They loved each other despite the fact that it resulted in harassment. From the public towards both of them, and Allison from the hand of her mother.

But that was then, and this is today. Allison still has a scar on her arm from when her mother first found out, but all it is is a scar. As Allison always says, scars can fade.

Allison is in the store and reaches into her pocket to grab her phone. It is five o'clock, just the time Emelina would be leaving work in the city. She calls Emelina to find out what she wished to have for dinner, prepared for an answer that is in no way helpful.

"Hey Lina, how was work?"

"Long, but not too horrid. I'm heading to my car now, and I'm in a desperate search for my keys. I should really clean my purse. What do you need?"

"Do you have any idea of what you want for dinner?"

"Surprise me." Emelina giggles as she says it.

"You bitch!! What do you want??" Allison laughs too.

"Get salad or pasta or something okay? Love you."

"Love you t-Lina? Lina??" There's a loud bang on the other side of the line. A shout. And a police siren.

A vague "I love you" is heard by Allison along with complete chaos. Then it happens. The colors around her begin to mute. It's as though someone is placing a gray screen over her eyes.

"LINA?? Emelina please answer..." She cries out. But Emelina doesn't. And the colors in Allison's world are gone.

Allison runs to the front of the store and stares blankly at the screen where they play the news, unaware of how much time is passing until the screen reads "BREAKING NEWS". A woman was shot because of 'suspicious activity' in the city. It can't be Emelina. It can't be. The colors will come back, it's just some sort of glitch. It has to be.

She forgets about the groceries still sitting in some isle and the employee who will be incredibly irritated about their extra job later on. Her feet hit the floor hard, and Allison is to her car in an instant, the sky now dark. Was it dark earlier? She couldn't remember.

When she arrives home, Emelina isn't there. Traffic, it has to be. Allison paces, then she sits. Pacing, sitting, pacing, sitting. A constant cycle all done in the vicious black and white world around her. It continues until a knock echoes through the house. Her heart flutters.

With hope in hand she swings open the door, only to feel as if she's been punched when her eyes land on the badge.

"Are you Allison Rosas?" the man asks.

"Yes," she responds.

"And you are the wife of Emelina Rosas, correct?"

"Yes," she says with a shaky voice.

"I'm sorry to tell you that there's been an accident."