01

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" I said to my mother sitting beside me. It was a rainy September evening in London. I was staring out the cab's window like a wonderstruck child. "Yes dear it is." She replied caressing my hand. Raindrops trickled down on the window one after the other, having a race. It smelled like strawberries, mother was wearing the perfume I made for her. I still couldn't understand why she preferred a fruity perfume when she could have flowery. I assumed she was afraid of smelling a little too fabulous. She seemed calm but I could see her uneasiness flickering underneath her eyes. It was the first time I would be away from home for a duration longer than two weeks. Mother asked me whether I had everything I needed for probably the 10th time.
The dull gray streets were tinted with colours, visual and emotional. Red phone booths, letter boxes, the brilliant blue sky and loud jolly people. The foreignness of the place failed to dwindle its warmth. Being there had been my dream ever since I discovered my love for literature and decided to quench my thirst for knowledge at University of Brooksland. Dreams seldom come true, they say. And I got lucky. We turned around a corner and the cab stopped.
There I stood at the humongous university's gate. The buildings too were gray. But like crayons, the delighted students, the chattering trees and birds, filled colours in the air. I bid my mother goodbye, her emerald eyes returned to their usual calmness and showered me with love. I lightly ruffled her soft golden hair pulling her in for a hug. From her ageless beauty I only inherited the emerald eyes. And long brown hair, a small straight nose, rosy lips and cheeks full of life from my father. She took a long gaze at my happy face and took off, back to Dalisay our hometown.
I turned around and proceeded to enter the campus. After much walking and getting lost 17 times, I finally found my room, all my luggage had already been moved there by the movers. An entrance passage led to the room spacious enough for two people. It was plain with walls of white. There were two beds sticking to the left and right wall, two desks between the beds, dressers for storage at the foot of the beds and closets inside the walls. My roommate wasn't there yet. Being drained I lied down on the left bed assigned to me and I went off into deep sleep awaiting an important seminar. I was worried for mother. I felt bad to leave her alone, but my selfishness was enough to console me. I was going to learn so much. I would finally get what I yearn for. Wouldn't I? I would surely.
****
The next morning I woke up with sunlight warming my face. At first I couldn't recognise my surroundings. And when I did, I couldn't contain myself
I was very happy when I walked back to my room after my first seminar. Never had I imagined myself alone in the city away from home. It was all I ever wanted. I had gotten the map of the university for finding my way around. I loved the amazing library and reading hall on the ground level of my dormitory building. There were also about five nature parks in the campus. I could smell the wet soil while walking past one of the park in the middle. Its fragrance filled up inside me urging me to eat it. I stopped myself and kept walking scanning through the beautiful faces walking by. The students, teacher and staff, unlike my expectations, were all very pleasant. I also made a few acquaintances. Katherine, Bethany, they fascinated me. But the students from the science faculty fascinated me the most. My lack of intelligence in science and my lack of motivation of understanding it proved to be a big obstacle in my little dream of becoming a scientist. But I was glad I had found something that fascinated me equally and something I was ready to work hard for, Literature; which wasn't any less interesting than science.
I happily walked towards my room. Upon entering my eyes fell on the figure sitting cross-legged on the right side bed with her back to the wall. She did not notice me at all. But I noted that she had short auburn hair with bangs resting on her eyebrows, eyes a fusion of hazel and ocean blue, a small snub nose and a round face. After noticing my presence she removed her bright yellow headphones, which were the exact same as mine except for the flowers I had painted on them. She said with a smile, "Hey, how was your first day of here?"
Recognizing her as my roommate Olivia Caraway I replied, "Exciting, very exciting. Now I'm looking forward to everything even more."
She laughed. It was an awfully loud sound. "It's refreshing to be around enthusiastic people, hope the energy lasts long. I'm Olivia, nice to meet you." She held out a firm hand.
I took it gladly " Antheia Deore, didn't expect you to be the one to shake hands." She just shrugged . "And look...." I added showing her my headphones.
She laughed again. "Well, you certainly made them prettier, didn't expect you to be the one to paint." This time I shrugged.
I sat down on my bed after placing my bag on my desk, she said, "Weren't you talking to Katherine earlier?"
"Yes, you two know each other?"
"You bet. High school friends. She's my best friend. We should all hang out together."
"Yes, she seems cool." I said grinning, she gave me a nod and a smile and that was our cue to get back to our unpacking. Katherine was cool. She was realer l than most people I had met in the day. She wasn't fake. I saw it in her eyes. I could tell. Even though I wasn't in the least bit an expert of seeing through people's fake layers covering their actual self , I could still say that she wasn't. She seemed incapable of deceit. On the other hand Olivia seemed like a person full of secrets. Only time would tell if I was right .
Olivia put her bright yellow headphones back on, doing the same I played Bach at full volume. All my photo frames went on my desk, my pillows on the bed. I stuck my 'Own your magic' and 'Live before you die' posters on the wall. I made my bed and spread out my delicate lavender hued comforter, which likewise possessed the fragrance of lavender. The white drape went on the window close to my bed- the main window of the room. I looked at Olivia who was also opening her boxes and decorating her side- the right side. She had a lot of books arranged on her desk I saw her putting down a wooden frame with the photo of her standing between an old man and woman. I took off my headphones and waved my hands over my head. She noticed me, and burst into her same old laughter. She said "What happened? You could have called, I'm just four feet apart."
I said sheepishly "Yes I suppose that looked very silly. But I wanted to ask. Are those your grandparents?"
"Yes, this is my gramps Christopher," She said pointing to the old gentleman with familiar blue eyes. "-and this is my grandma Georgina." She said pointing to the old woman with hazel eyes. So this was where her eyes came from.
"Ah! That explains everything. Those are some strong genes." I said with an admiring gaze. She grinned at me and I grinned back wider. We went back to work with that.
Soon the sun went down, the sky changed colours, finally having finished all my work I flopped down heavily on my bed not caring about messing it up. I was too tired from all the unpacking and decorating. My breath slowed down and with every breath I watched my chest rise and fall. My eyelids started feeling heavy so I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.
A voice which I assumed was Olivia's woke me up in the morning that had arrived in a flash. "The blue sky and the stars are gifts of the day and night. Not one is greater because once a night magical becomes a day shining bright. Rise and shine Grandma!" I heard her say. Sitting up in my bed I looked out the window, it was a sunny day, my favourite. I tamed my hair down and jumped on my feet. Whispering a quick good morning to Olivia I made my way to the bathroom to get ready for the day, she returned my greetings and continued her conversation. When I got out perfectly dressed in my lemon yellow top and sap green trousers, there she was sitting on her bed having breakfast. Wait that reminds me of something. Aw man! I forgot my cooking supplies, should've listened to mother. I noticed she had made a makeshift kitchen on a shelf in the corner suggesting she made the sandwich and rolls herself. I smiled at her and went to my desk to take my books and bagpack. And there it was, a gorgeous sandwich and some warm rolls for me in my plates I had brought along. My eyes lit up with glee.
"You write poems for your grandma and make your roommate breakfast.This is wonderful. Thank you." I said happily as I grabbed the plate.
"My utmost pleasure. I may be a little cruel but not so cruel that I'd cook something only for myself. Eat up." She said and did a little bow and taking off an imaginary hat. I let out a chuckle amid a delicious bite. Later we went to the library in consonance with our decision to read together. Awaiting us was the Scarlett haired seated comfortably, her grey eyes glued to a book with a peculiarly interesting name, ' ***'. Her eyes were as kind as could be. In any case, it was her hair and its magnificence that fooled everybody into speculation of her being divine. We sat with her and read till afternoon. It felt like I had been in the University for months when I had just been there for two days. When I went to sleep that night I had a dream. In it I was looking at the starry sky. Why? Maybe because stars fascinated me. They made me feel like I was looking at the whole universe. I was singing and dancing with a lot of people from my hometown and some people from the University I had seen during the day. I also spotted Olivia Caraway, her grandparents and an indistinct young man, his eyes, a sea of honey boring into mine. Weird. I felt like I had seen him.
What a weird dream it was! Because nothing abnormal happened in the dream, it felt real and that made it weirder. The next day I remembered a book that I was reading said "Dreams including stars and people might mean a start of new, strong friendships." And I had indeed dreamt about them along with people. Was it maybe a vision of the future? Or maybe I was just stupefied due to excessive reading and read too much into an absurd dream.

Reviews

[Nathan Cavaliere]

A Criticism of All the Colours in One

It’s pretty hard for me to give a review of a story which I only see the first chapter of. I am going to guess that we learn the meaning behind the title later in the story? It also doesn’t make it any easier to review that I am used to a different style of literature and don’t quite relate to your worldview. However, I will do my best to give an assessment anyway.

Is this an autobiography? It certainly has the air of one. I will refrain from talking to much about the plot then, given that this seems like it is based on actual events and not invented from creativity.

Your characters are pretty well drawn out, even in the first chapter. We see a few different dimensions of both Antheia and Olivia, making them seem very real and relatable. I am definitely emotionally invested in them. I wouldn’t recommend any changes there.

The language use here is impressive too. I greatly appreciated the vivid descriptions of many of the things around. I could imagine everything very clearly and could get very immersed in the environment. I feel like that is neglected all too frequently in many pieces of modern literature. I take a great liking to it.

Usually I am a lot more critical, but seeing as how this is only the first chapter of a novel and that it is clearly more autobiographical in style, I can’t think of anything to critique. I get a very joyful and optimistic feeling from this piece, which I never really have associated with writing before. It does physically make me feel better to read it. Thank you for presenting this, and I hope you go on to continue writing it.