Highly Commended Story - The Dreams Of Colours!

“The Dreams Of Colours!” by Pachipala Aishwarya, Chij Secondary School, Singapore, is the Highly Commended story in the senior category of the second biannual Short Story Contest 2020.

The Dreams Of Colours!

All my life, I waited for this moment. It finally came true. I saw colours in the world. You might think this is ridiculous but from where I come from, it is believed that the world is discoloured. My parents used to say, “life is only coloured with problems and circumstances but nothing else”. Their words rang in my eardrums as I lay happily beside their photo with a bunch of colourful flowers beside it. They left me alone in that world at the age of 3 when I was oblivious. Today I am proud to say that their statement is wrong as I can see the colourful world in another view if you were happy and spread love.

Black! The colour I always hated. But that was the only colour I saw in everything and every activity I did. I always dreamt of seeing colours in the world and believed that it would happen if everyone were happy.

Since my parents had very little connections with my relatives and cousins, no one was interested in accepting me as one of their children as they knew nothing about my family’s whereabouts. Thus, I was sent to an orphanage at that age when I knew nothing much. I struggled 12 years of my life in the treacherous orphanage dealing with all the elder and big-sized kids who used to always bully and threaten me if I hadn’t done their work: the dishes, washing their clothes and housekeeping matters. Their threats and mocks had disturbed me greatly and affected my academic results. My academic results plunged down which was a downfall in my life.

Finally, when I turned 15, a generous family was ready to adopt me. I was glad and beamed with happiness as now I had a chance to get rid of all those mean kids. My new parents enrolled me in a private school and gave me luxurious facilities. They treated me as their own child, but the drawback was that since I had many siblings, they did not really care about me. We did not have much bonding time together. That night I slept thinking of how corrupted the world was, filled with sadness and revenge.

While sleeping that night, many things flashed before my eyes: roses, strawberries, cherries, watermelons and many other things. When I woke up that morning, my tears welled up in my eyes as my dream did not come true. I was very disappointed but despite the fact, I did not give up hope of achieving my goal. From that day, I made posters and encouraged people to be happy with one another and spread love which would allow us to see colours. My first few attempts were all futile as people thought that I was being stupid. I realised that every single one of them gave up hope on seeing colours.

That night, things of orange colour faded in my mind: carrots, oranges, basketballs and many more. Unfortunately, the next morning I woke up to see an unwilling colour: BLACK. I was very disheartened that another day passed imagining things which never came true. I just continued to do my things the rest of the day anticipating on what I would dream of that night. Finally, when I slept and that night, my mind was filled the goodies of yellow: sunflowers, ducks, lemons, corn, bananas, etc. I woke up another morning depressed of the same topic.

It was one of those days… my mind was restless. Trying to free it, I left the house, allowing my wandering consciousness to search for peace, condolence and relief. One of my favourite places to visit when I needed time alone was the seashore. Its immensity was of no concern to me, but the ocean was calm, tranquil and vast. The rolling waves crashing onto the beach below reached in lightly touching the feet of the children playing in the sand before drawing its hand back into its body. Though I was not at the water’s side, it too reached deep into me for something unidentifiable. As I was leaving, I observed again, the splendorous blue of the magnificent sea. But in reality; everything was in the shades of BLACK in my view.

A few nights passed as I dreamt of things of different colours: green, blue, purple and pink. As nights passed, days also passed as I persuaded and encouraged people to believe that we can see colours. A spark of hope was developed in people and they soon were with me. Everyone slowly let revenge, sadness and negativity to go and made a new place for happiness, love and positivity. I was glad that people started to believe me but still let down by the fact that colours were making us wait.

One night, I slept with the colour BLACK swaying through my mind. After all black was also a colour. Today I woke up slowly opening my eyes as a ray of colour flashed in front of my eyes. Tears of joy welled up in my eyes as they rolled down my cheek. I could not contain my joy within me. I finally had a view of all the colours. I saw the city with all the various shades and tones of the different colours in the world. I was over the moon and on cloud nine. I was grinning from year to year. The moment had finally come true. I had waited all my life for this auspicious moment. Now everything was colourful and not black…

So, I just wanted to tell all of you that “you are allowed to scream, you are allowed to cry, but no matter what you are not to give up” and lastly “ never give up on something that you can’t go a day without thinking about.”