Chapter 2 – Eyes of Blue
I opened my eyes, startled by unfamiliar hard, white sheets surrounding my body. I didn’t feel any better. My head still hurt, and my body ached like never before. I sat up in the bed and realized I was in the nurse’s office.
“How are you feeling?” I heard the familiar voice of the nurse.
“I-I,” I stuttered looking at the nurse.
I blinked, blinked again, and rubbed my eyes; I still saw everything in black and white. The world appeared like an old movie, the plant sitting in the corner was a grey shade, and the nurse’s skin was a light grey, the ceiling was white, the walls—white. My breathing quickened panicked at the thought of being color-blind for the rest of my life.
“I-I can’t see,” I said. “I can’t see color.”
“Calm down, you’re alright,” she soothed.
“I’m not alright, I-I can’t see color, it’s all black and white. Everything! The walls, you, me, the plant. It’s black and white. I can’t see!” I climbed to my feet, a little unsteadily.
“Calm down, Halle, let me have a look.” I stopped fidgeting and throwing my hands around wildly, but my heart remained at it’s quickened pace. The nurse peered into my eyes with a little flashlight, looking for what I knew not, and then stepped back a moment later. “I don’t see anything wrong or out of the ordinary, but you should still have your eyes checked out by a specialist. Your parents are on their way to pick you up, so get some rest until then.” The nurse turned the light off leaving just enough barely to see, and closed the door behind her.
I sat back down on the little flimsy bed. What if I never got my vision back properly—or at all? I would never be the same again; and the nurse acted like it was nothing, like this kind of thing happened everyday! But, I knew better, you don’t just go color blind from nothing, especially when you’re not even born with it, and you have no trace of it in your family. It’s not some kind of disease that just pops up out of nowhere.
I lay back closing my eyes. At least the lack of lighting helped my headache. This kind of stuff doesn’t just happen to me. It doesn’t happen to this kind of person. Bad health doesn’t run in my family, nor does bad luck, then again, good luck didn’t exactly run in my family either. I just wasn’t graced with luck’s presence—ever. So, you could basically call me “on my own in life” when it came to that.
My breathing calmed a bit, but I knew I would not be able to relax until this problem was properly taken care of. And I pray to God, Mom and Dad won’t just make an appointment for me to go to, I want—no, need to go now. Waiting here, in this smelly place was killing me as it was, and staying home “resting” would not just cure this. I brushed my hair back out of my face, obvious to the smeared mascara—which I could feel greasy and powdery at the same time, all over my hand. The smells of the nurse’s office were really beginning to get to me now. The smell of the plastic gloves was the strongest, and I could smell it so vibrantly you would think I would have one shoved down my throat. I opened my eyes and stared up at the ceiling, I dared not look away, for the ceiling always was white and seeing things any other way terrified me. Not only that, but the white ceiling was the only thing familiar for my eyes now, and I recognized nothing, not my surroundings or anything. Noticing my breathing quickening again I closed my eyes trying to calm myself. If I just stay calm, it’ll be alright, I soothed in my mind. But the more I repeated this, the more I went in depth thinking about that, if I “just stay calm” it won’t fix anything. Focusing on “staying calm” would not fix anything except my nerves. If I can’t see again, it won’t “be alright”. Soon, the words didn’t even sooth me, but they caused for more worry than anything else.
“Halle?”
“Mom?” I sat up instantly, so happy to hear Mom’s voice, but for that split second I realized I could only see her in black and white. She didn’t look familiar.
“What happened?” Mom asked sternly, by the tone of her voice, I couldn’t tell if she was angry, upset, or worried.
“I-I don’t know, one minute I was fine, and then I just got this massive headache and the next thing I knew I ended up here, and I can’t see, Mom,” I said with a trembling voice.
Mom sighed. I knew she was upset. “Halle, your eyes are fine, if you wanted to get out of school so bad today, you could have just told me—”
“Mom—Mom,” I tried to cut in while she spoke, but she continued over my voice. “—instead of causing such a scene in this entire school. It’s embarrassing!”
“Why do you think I’m lying to you, Mom? I can’t see. Everything is black and white—everything!” Mom folded her arms. “The nurse told me, Halle, there is nothing wrong with you.”
“I would not lie about this, the plant is grey, my arm is grey, you are grey, everything is grey, Mom.” She remained silent for a moment and I just let her be. She avoided my eyes, and I let her. “Fine if you don’t believe me. Bottom line is, I need to see a doctor, and I need one now. If you are not going to take me, I’ll take myself.” I took another glance at my uncolored surroundings. “There is something wrong with me,” I said with as much power as I could.
Mom rolled her sad doe eyes up at me. “Fine, I’ll take you; just get in the car, now.” After her speaking to me like a little child getting her way, part of me wanted to go alone anyways. I’m not a liar, and no one in my family believed me to be one, so why she assumed that I lied to get out of school was more than beyond me. It was just another something to add to the million other problems in my life.
Maybe my family does believe I am liar, after all, I don’t know what they say about me behind my back—besides what I’ve overheard. Oh yeah, that’s another spectacular thing about my life, my family is always talking about me behind my back. Usually I do overhear their conversations, but there are those that do get over me, or ones that I make a point to block out. Yep, I’m rude, inconsiderate, an eavesdropper, a failure, and now apparently a liar. Add it to my list.
I got in the car seeing the blue sky I saw only earlier this morning through different eyes—though grey eyes. The green trees were a dark shade of grey and I couldn’t stand seeing these colors. Of all of the colors, why grey? Why black and white? I recognized none of my classmates without staring carefully at them.