Black & White

Entry 1

I was always told that the death of my best friend had been "natural causes," that my traumatized mind would only last a short while. But little did they know I could only see in black & white after.

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I woke up to the same train track rustling outside my window. Some people get to wake up to morning birds, the smell of a home cooked breakfast, vivid colors but not me. I wake up to the dull world of loud sounds and shades of grey.

I've been seeing like this since I was 13. The day after my 13th birthday to be exact, when everything started going downhill. There was the death of my best friend, who I did everything with. Michael was his name. Him and I were part of a trio, with our third being Luke. Everywhere we went, it would be together. We never got tired of each other, which is probably why we had been such best friends for a long time. After Michael's death, Luke and I were left alone. Our best friend was dead. Everything turned into a duo, instead of the trio that we had been with for years. Now that we're sixteen, we've learned to finally get over Michael and move on. But I haven't got over him. Especially what he left behind for me.

The day after my thirteenth birthday was the last day I could see color. 

"Rory, come outside. It's time to go." Luke pulls outside my house to take us to school. Rory was short for Aurora, my name that Michael always complimented. He had a beautiful head of hair too, it was always different colors and that was all I could remember of colors. Doctors have always diagnosed it as color blindness, which was fascinating to them since grief has never brought this upon somebody. But I could only wish it was color blindness, at least I could've been able to see some shades of colors. But no. Michael had to leave the curse of black and white. I couldn't blame him for it, since he had supposedly been taken by "natural causes," but I beg to differ. I believe he had been murdered. My mom was part of the investigation of his death, under my request. This meant I had been able to see the photos and it didn't look like any natural causes. There was blood everywhere and shattered glass, as well as dirt under his nails that showed he hadn't gone down without a fight. I know seeing the photos didn't make me feel any better, but I had to see my best friend one more time before watching him fall six feet under.

"Luke, recently I can't stop thinking of Michael. I miss him. I miss the adventures we used to go on. I just miss everything," I confessed with tears in my eyes. I honestly didn't care if I showed up to school with puffy eyes.

"I know Rory, but you can't let yourself thrive on it. It was 3 years ago. It's just us now," Luke said with a slow slide smile. You could tell he was trying his best to make me feel better. It wasn't only his words, but his beautiful eyes that comforted me. The weird thing was he never really cried. I've always wondered why since we were all close. But I can only assume guys don't like to cry.

We finally arrived at school, which I started to walk to my first period after waving bye to Luke. I wasn't in the mood to sit through a lecture about economics. But is anybody ever in the mood for school?

After my first 3 periods lunch was finally upon us. Luke and I always headed to his car as soon as the bell rang to go off campus. Our usual was to pick up snacks at the local liquor store and sit by the beach. When we picked up our bags of gummy worms and a tea we started driving to the beach and rambled about our school assignments and tests.

When we finally got there he parked in our normal spot, a place overlooking a abandoned part of the beach. It was always fun with Luke there. We started messing around with our gummy worms, trying to throw one into each other's mouths.

"I didn't know you were such a great basketball player Luke," I said with a chuckle.

"Well maybe I can teach you a few tricks some time, like this weekend at my place?"

My stomach fluttered. Was he asking me on a date? Or just the same old hang out? But I couldn't ask myself any more questions because I realized I was staring into his beautiful patterned eyes.

"Is this a date Lucas?" I said while heat built up to my cheeks. I never realized how gorgeous his face was.

"Let's make it one." He said with a wink.

"Maybe we should get going Luke, after all, I do have to make it back for last period in time," I said with a smile. He's never made me feel this way before. I'm not sure why it took this long to make me realize his gorgeous features. He was the only one who really believed me about my vision.

Wait a second.

Blue. As bright as the ocean. As deep as the sea. Luke was looking at me when I started crying.

"L-Luke, I c-can see your eyes." I whispered while trying not to panic with happiness.

"Rory, you can see the color of my eyes?" He sounded ecstatic as he responded.

"Luke I can see your eyes! Your beautiful blue eyes!" I exclaimed. My emotions took over me as we stared at each other with a surprised look.

But that was when I couldn't control myself anymore, and apparently he couldn't either.

In a split second Luke and I leaned in for a passionate kiss.