The nurses lead me to a room full of other patients. My eyes are immediately filled with the contrast of dark and bright colors around the room. I’m not the only one here who can see. The other patients turn to observe me as I walk down to the bed the nurse pointed out for me.
“Correct!” an older woman with crystal blue eyes jumps up.
“Um, what?” I ask startled by the outburst.
“We can see,” she explains, “and you can see too. They think we are crazy, yes? Wrong my child. We see the colors of emotions. We see people’s thoughts. We see people’s imaginings. We can see. They are blind.” I stare at her, taking in everything she has said, sizing up everyone’s wide eyes in the room.
“Well,” I start, “I think you just summed up all my thoughts. I think you hit the nail on the head.” Her urgent manner fades and a syrupy smile spreads across her face. The steely ice in my eyes fades as the room turns into a pale mint green as the whole mass of patients seems to breathe a sigh of relief.
“I am June,” the woman introduces herself; “I speak for most of the people here. I can see, however, that you are a speaker too.”
“Yes ma’am,” I answer, “I am Lily.” Jane nods and begins to introduce her closest friends as the rest of the people go back to their previous activity. There is Matthew, a wise middle-aged man with dark brown eyes and an olive complexion. His curly brown hair falls in front of his eyes when he speaks of the life he used to have. Maddie is a beautiful twenty year old with porcelain skin and sleek black hair that cascades over her shoulder and down her back. If she couldn’t see, she would probably be a model. When Jane leads me over to the next person, I quickly avert my eyes to the ground and wish he could not see. I become self-aware of my wispy red curls and freckled cheeks; I curse the day I was not born like Maddie. In front of me sits a muscular, tanned, tall, dark, and handsome hunk of teenage boy. Jane chuckles at my pink emotions, introducing Tanner. Tanner half-smiles at me, cool blue.
“Hi,” I squeak.
“Hey,” he returns voice rich and thick like molasses. My hands fumble for my pockets as I forget that I’m no longer wearing my skinny jeans. I am now in the uniform sweatpants and t-shirt for the hospital. He laughs, turning my stomach inside out.
“It takes some getting used to,” he kindly advises, “and to be honest, I completely miss my khakis.”
“Oh,” I smile, “Do you skate?”
“Not anymore,” he frowns, turning a stormy gray, “Apparently it is dangerous for a schizophrenic to be athletic. They took my skateboarding privileges away as soon as I got here last year.”
“That sucks,” I grunt, “This sucks.” He bobs his head and looks away.
“Talk to you later?” I ask hopefully, pale pink.
He bites his lower lip in that way only some guys know how to do and whispers, “Sure.”

The treatment here is incredibly stupid-like beyond comparison. They test our mental health and ask us to describe what we see on a daily basis. It is ridiculous. No matter what we say, the doctors deem us “unfit for society.” As long as I have been here, I’ve never seen anyone that I would consider harmful or actually sick. I’m meeting new people every day, but I still stick with the same people. Tanner, Jane, Maddie, Matthew, and I sit together for every meal. I greet all the new patients now. I’ve learned to keep a pale yellow like Jane taught me, as she grows older by the second. Each day she loses her colors; yesterday she lost pink. It’s dark blue for me when I’m around her as she is the closest thing I’ve ever had to a grandmother. In a strange and perfect way, I love her. Tanner grows more and more like a best friend for me as we sit and talk about skateboarding, what we remember about high school, and complain about this place. Yesterday I saw him turn bright green when I hugged Ken, a nerdy redhead who likes to talk to me about he is currently studying. Matthew teaches me to play chess at exactly 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm every afternoon. He always wins. “You are getting closer,” Matthew comforts me.
“I just don’t get it!” I grumble, “How do you always win?”
“That, my friend, is one of my deepest secrets,” Matthew’s eyes glittered, a sly grin on his face.
“Oh come on! I’m sure you have much deeper secrets than that,” I tantalize him, “Let’s hear it Matthew!” The lunch bell rings. “Ugh. Saved by the bell, literally.” I stand up, fixing my bunched up sweatpants and tugging on my ponytail. “Ready to go, Jane?” Jane smiles up at me, a light purple. I push her wheel chair out of the sitting room and down the long corridor to the dining hall. Once the hallway is almost completely clear, I pick up speed, a blur of excited colors fly around Jane and I. We are both laughing when a sharp voice made us freeze, white.
“Get to the mess hall now,” a harsh featured woman in stilettos commands, black.
“Yes ma’am. Sorry ma’am,” I respond sweetly, pale yellow. The woman nods sharply and struts powerfully to the main office of the building. “Yeesh,” I smirk. I turn into the mess hall and everyone rises to face us. “Please sit,” I smile softly, Jane doing the same. Jane and I take our places at the front table with Tanner, Matthew, and Maddie.
“Who was that?” Maddie asks excitedly, “We heard a sharp voice in the hallway before you came in!”
“I’m not really sure,” I say looking over my shoulder, “But she was midnight black.” Tanner’s eyes widened and his cheeks flush. “What is it Tanner?”
“She’s my mom.”
“Are you serious?” I examine his face. “You are serious. What could she possibly be doing here?” Tanner stands up sharply, turning a panicked green. He marches stiffly out of the room, stopping at the door to motion me to follow him. Colors flash around me in confusion, but settle on a pinkish gray of soft determination takes over when Jane touches my arm. I look down into her eyes, she nods up at me, and I follow Tanner out into the basketball courts.

Tanner sits on the benches that allow us to overlook the bay and the beach. His wavy hair is blown by the warm summer breeze that comes up off the water. “My mom first put me in here so that she wouldn’t have to pay such huge medical bills for medicine,” he laughs, “Not that we don’t have any. My mom works- like all the time. She never wanted me. I was an accident. Believe me, I know. Whenever she would get pissed, she would tell me that. I caused all kinds of trouble in a call for her to pay attention, and in response she throws me in here because I tell her she is “black.” She never got the whole color-seeing thing or the fact that I could read her mind, so I guess she thought putting me into a mental health institution for schizophrenics seemed like a good idea.” His face is red, matching the fire engine red surrounding him. Thank god there were no bulls around here, because they would charge both of us.
“Yeah my mom isn’t that great either,” I reply, “Not to one up you or anything, but both of my parents are druggies who were never ready to be parents. My grandmother took care of me until I could do it myself, and I think I did a pretty good job. Now that I’m in here my mom doesn’t have to worry about Child Protection Services looking into our family.” I look over at Tanner, “Want to see something cool?” Tanner looks over to me and nods. I lift up my shirt to show my now tan stomach (we have a lot of time to lay in the sun and do nothing). “See that scar? My dad held a knife to my stomach just so he could get some free heroin. He accidentally cut me, but it wasn’t bad enough to go to the hospital. Plus, I think the scar makes me look tough.” Tanner smiles at me, tucking a piece of my loose hair behind my hair.
“You’re easy to talk to, you know?” he smiles shyly at me.
“Nah.” I blush, “You are just easy to listen to.”
“That’s where you are mistaken!” Tanner laughs, biting his lip. He leans in closer to me, putting his hand on the side of my neck. I lean into him, slowly closing my eyes and then,
“Tanner!”

We both turn, startled out of our own little universe and back into the real world. Tanner’s mom stands with her hands on her hips, her lips puckered and eyebrows furrowed. Tanner turns stormy gray, “What do you want? I thought you never wanted to see me again.”
“You are getting out of here, mister.” His mom snaps, “Who is this disrespectful young woman?”
“This is my best friend, Lily.” Turner looks at her defiantly, “Soon to be girlfriend actually if you hadn’t so rudely interrupted. I smile down at my shoes as Tanner puts a protective arm around my shoulder. “What do you mean I am leaving?”
“It’s time for you to come back home!” Tanner’s mom smiles icily at me under the protection of Tanner’s muscular arm. “You and I have some catching up to do, and you, sir, have some work.”
“Nice try mom,” Tanner retorts, “We have enough money. Besides, I’m perfectly happy here. Here there are people who understand me, and don’t think I’m a waste of space. I know how the protocol works. I still have to be tested for sanity.” Tanner’s mom’s lips pucker even more until I’m almost convinced they will become stuck like that. “Now if you will excuse me…” Tanner takes my face in his hands, pushing his lips hard against mine. Fireworks explode behind my eyes as I hear his mom gasp, and I can’t help but smile. I numbly hear the click of her heels as she stomps away, but all I can really focus on is the taste of Tanner’s lips. I can feel his heart pounding against my hand as he pulls me closer. Eventually we break our warm embrace to look into each other’s eyes, a swirling mixture of pinks and reds around us. Tanner leans his forehead against mine and lets out a long sigh.
“I kind of really like you,” I whisper.
“Well good,” Tanner laughs, “Because I kind of like you too.”

Tanner and I walk hand in hand back into the building. Everyone stares at us as we make our way back to the table, where Maddie is practically vibrating in her seat. “I just knew you guys were meant to be!” She squeals.
“Okay, sure Maddie,” I giggle and smile at Jane. Jane doesn’t smile back. “Jane? Are you okay?” Jane doesn’t move. “Oh gosh, Jane! How long as she been unresponsive?” I ask panicked. Maddie’s face drops from delighted to terrified.
“I just thought she fell asleep!” Maddie squeaks.
“Get a nurse. Now,” I order, turning dark blue.

Jane’s funeral is on a rainy Saturday the next week. Tanner holds me as my body is wracked with sobs as we watch our leader lowered into the cold wet earth. Maddie comes up to me, placing her small pale hand on my back. “I’m sorry,” she whispers, “I’m so sorry. I should have known something was wrong. I…” I lift my hand to silent her.
“You are not to blame for this. You couldn’t have known. At least she died peacefully, let us just be grateful for that.” Maddie nods silently and slips her hand into mine. Matthew walks up beside Maddie and takes her hand. Piece by piece, all of us takes each other’s’ hands, a sign of unity. “We will stay together,” I mouth to Jane. She knows. She can see.

A new girl walks into the room today. I stand confidently and say, “We can see,” I explain, “and you can see too. They think we are crazy, yes? Wrong my dear. We see the colors of emotions. We see people’s thoughts. We see people’s imaginings. We can see. They are blind.” The girl stares at me, and then slowly begins to nod. I smile at her, pale yellow.
“I’m Cass,” she introduces herself.
“I’m Lily, I am a speaker.” The young girl nods and begins to walk into an empty corner of the room. “No please,” I command, “Come sit with us.” I gesture toward Tanner, Maddie, and Matthew. I watch her eyes widen when she sees Tanner, so I walk over to him and kiss his forehead. Her eyes shrink back to normal size until she sees Ken.
“Oh. My. Gosh!” Cass squeals. “I can’t believe it! Ken Metworth!” Ken’s face turns the color of his hair as well as his surroundings.
“You two know each other?” I ask in disbelief. The chances of knowing someone else here from pre-sight years are like one in a million.
“Um, yeah,” Ken explains, “We had biology together freshman year of college.” I look at him, curious. “And we also kind of dated that year. That was the year before my parents sent me here.” Cass runs over to Ken and throws her arms around his neck, giving him a sloppy kiss.
“I missed you so much...” Cass begins to gush, but I tune them out and focus on the debate I am having with Maddie.
“No but seriously, how could there ever be a chicken without the egg.”
“How could there be and egg without a chicken?”
“Easy,” I reply, “If there is a mutation in the egg of another bird, then the chicken could eventually be made aka evolution.”
“You got me there,” Maddie laughed. Tanner took my hand and motioned with his eyes for us to go outside for a private talk.
“Hey guys, Tanner and I have to talk; I’ll talk to you guys tomorrow.” Everyone waves and calls, “Goodnight!” in unison. Tanner and I sit in silence as we watch the sun set, painting the sky the colors that we see. “So… what did you want to talk to me about?” Tanner takes a deep breath as he is surrounded by bright yellow. He stands up slowly, moves in front of me and gets down on one knee. “Tanner…”
“Will you marry me?” Tanner asks shakily.

The hospital staff did their best when it came to decorations for the wedding. They even cleaned out a room once used for storage so that Tanner and I can have our own room. Needless to say, it is not fairy tale, but it is still the happiest day of my life. Matthew walked me down the aisle to my handsome husband in his hospital-institute sweatpants and white t-shirt and me in a plain white skirt a nurse brought in and a white blouse. The priest from the institute made us official, but Tanner and I wrote our own vows. We wrote about what it was like to see. We wrote about what we see. We wrote about how it was a loss to be blind to all the colors. I’m sure Jane would have cried.