Grey World

The leaves had no color.  Aislinn found herself in a forest of black and white.  She bent down and plucked one blade of grass from it's life source.  It was a deep grey.  Everything was shades of grey.

The wind began to play with her hair.  And as she held a few strands in her fingers, Aislinn realized she was grey as well.  No true color graced anything.  Where were they all?  Where were all the pinks and greens?  It seemed that even the sound had been stolen from her ears.  Did not the leaves ruffle?  Did the creatures in this grey world make a sound?

No, something is moving; something is creating noise.  What was it?  Where was it?  Aislinn found herself wondering deeper into the woods.  Everything felt familiar to the touch; everything felt a bit cold.  Her feet moved swiftly over the branches, not one whispering a sound as they broke under her plain dress slippers.  The noise was getting louder though; She was getting closer.  Finally Aislinn's body moved against a tree, trying to sneak a glimpse of the noise creator without herself being seen.  But when her grey eyes rested on the source, the tree didn't feel strong enough to hold her.  It was him! He was right in front of her!  His light brown hair almost looked blonde in the gleam of the sun.  He wore a bright red shirt with black dress pants.  He looked so beautiful.

Aislinn opened her mouth to call out to him, but no sound left her lips.  She tried again only to find herself without a voice.  The young woman ran to him.  Her grey arms wrapped around his strong neck, but he never moved.  As she pulled back, Aislinn realized he was crying.  The sound she had followed was the moans of his weeping.  Why was he crying so? She was right in front of him, but he could not see her. When Aislinn put more space between herself and him, it became obvious he was looking at what lay on the ground. 

It was her.  The grey woman stood there, gazing in astonishment at the redheaded beauty that lay before Aislinn.  She wore a white dress of pure perfection.  It was her wedding dress.  He began to cry harder, his tears sweeping across the body's pale skin.  "No no... Don't cry, I'm right here," she tried to whisper to him.  All the young woman wanted to do was soak in the mere presence and closeness of him, but his eyes would not leave the body he wept over.  Aislinn brushed her colorless fingers against his flushed cheek.  "See," she mouthed, "I'm right here."

He could not feel her.  Staring down at her own body, fear began to leak into her heart.  The color began to leak from the motionless Aislinn.  "What?"

She let her fingers fall on the body's red hair, only to watch the color drip from the strands and disappear into the grey ground.  It was as if Aislinn was watching herself die.  Soon tears began to fall from her own cheeks as the once beautiful white dress began turning the blackest of black.

This day.  She remembered this day.  He was not there though. That is why Aislinn had laid so lifeless in these woods.  Because he was not there and would never be ever again.  And yet in this world lacking color, where brightness only shown on his lovely face, he was there.  He was with her, crying over all that she had lost the day he went away.

The color continued to drain from Aislinn's unmoving figure.  The grey young woman wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to the greatest love she had ever known; the greatest loss she had ever suffered as they both wept over the part of herself she had lost the day he died. 

Aislinn's eyes opened slowly.  She could feel the tears that had streaked her cheeks.  Sitting up on the couch with caution, the lonely woman searched her mind for a way to hold back the deepest sorrow that threatened to consume her whole being.  "Well?" the therapist asked, "What did you see?"

Letting her gaze fall on her hands, Aislinn took no relief in the fact that they carried the tones of pinks and beiges.  In her heart, she knew that all the color had drained from her soul the day in those woods.  "I saw him," she whispered.