Nightspell || Michael Clifford

Chapter 19

But, if you can only see green and blue...how do you decide what clothes look good together?' Michael asked, taking a bite of his dinner.
We had been laying on the beach for a few hours and had now finally made our way back to the cabin to eat dinner. The sun had set completely so the only source of light we had was the fire.
I looked at it as it burned away in front of us. It was still a little weird for me to talk about my color blindness.
'I just kind of guessed at first. We used to have a chef, Steven, who always made dinner for us. He'd come in in the mornings to put away his groceries and he'd always stop by my bedroom.' I replied, stirring my food around in the coconutshell bowl to try and make it cool down faster.
'My parents never bothered making sure I got to school on time so he'd show up in the morning to make sure I was awake. My mom spent the first 10 years of my life picking out what clothes I had to wear because that's the only thing she liked about having kids. And then she stopped and I picked some clothes by myself. She told me I looked ridiculous and that she couldn't even look at me. So I went back to my room and Steven showed up and he helped me pick out some clothes to wear. He helped me ever since.'
'That must've been hard.' Michael said, giving me a sympathetic look.
'It was. Especially when I turned 13 and decided I wanted to pick my own clothes to wear but I knew I couldn't. One day I told Steven about this and we came up with a plan together. Like a strategy. We rearranged my entire closet and he hung the things that would look good together in a certain place. It's hard to explain now but it worked. He still came to check up on me everyday but he only told me to change something a few times.' I smiled.
I remembered our chef perfectly. He had lightbrown hair that reached just above his shoulders. He had piercing blue eyes and a few tattoos hidden under his shirt.
'How did your parents find out you're colorblind?' Michael asked. He put his bowl to the side, reminding me of the fact that my food was probably cold enough by now.
'Steven got fired. My mom was in a bad mood and he was just...in the wrong place at the wrong time.' I replied.
I looked down at my bowl of food and grabbed a piece of the fish.
'We also had a maid. She always did our laundry but Steven and I had told her to drop my clothes on my bed instead of hanging it back in my closet. That way Steven would be able to hang it in the right place and I would continue being able to pick my own clothes. But obviously, once he got fired I had to put my clothes into my own closet and it didn't go very smoothly.' I explained, grabbing a piece of carrot and putting in my mouth. 'So eventually I had to tell my parents that I was colorblind and that Steven had been helping me all this time. They weren't very happy with that news.'
'But they didn't do anything to help you with it?' Michael frowned.
He grabbed a stick and poked the fire to make sure it didn't burn out.
'No. They're those people that you look at and think:"They'll never have any kids". Except they got me, and then adopted my brother.'
Michael looked at me. Confused and surprised by all the things I just told him.
'Then why'd they have kids? I mean, I have no idea what it's like to have kids but...when you have them you've got to take care of them. No matter what the problem is.'
I nodded in agreement and swallowed my food, I was starting to get used to the fish but it was still disgusting. 'I agree. But their definition of taking care of someone is different than ours apparently.'
Michael nodded and we both went quiet for a few minutes.
Nightspell was beautiful. Even when it was dark outside and you couldn't see anything it had a certain beauty.
In the world of the living nothing would ever be this dark and quiet.
Nothing would ever be this peaceful.
Being in a quiet place like this was like going to bed on Christmas eve. It was exciting to me.
It made me happy and I didn't want to go to sleep because I didn't want to miss a thing.
Though at the same time I did want to go to sleep because the faster the next 2 weeks would be over, the faster I'd know if my parents and brother were safe.
They were getting everyone in lifeboats so surely they'd be okay...right?
I tried to keep telling myself that but everytime I thought about it for too long I'd get this feeling in my stomach. That feeling you sometimes get that tells you something's wrong. But then again, if they actually are fine, they're now sitting at home mourning because they think I'm dead.
I sighed, taking the last bite of my food but keeping the coconutshell in my hands. I was in such a messed up situation it almost made me want to burst into tears again.
I couldn't let them know I was okay. They couldn't let me know that they were okay, so I was constantly worried but at the same time I couldn't deny the fact that it was actually kind of fun here.
Not to mention the fact that for once, I had the feeling that I was accepted, even though I had only been here for a week and we really didn't know that much about each other. Michael did somehow seem to accept everything I am.
'I'm sorry that I yelled at you by the way.'
Michael shook his head and put his hand on my knee. 'Don't worry about it.'