Colourblind

Walking through the park was nothing more than exercise to David. A way to stay fit. Something to do while listening to a podcast. Nothing special. There was nothing to see. Everything was just different shades of grey.

Not that he wasn't used to that, it had always been that way. He hadn't met "the one" after all. It was said that when you met "the one" everything changed forever.

He continued walking, but put on the last bit of a podcast he hadn't been able to listen to earlier that day. After finishing that, David started his way home.

He got home, took a shower, and went to bed. He wondered if it was almost his time. Time to meet "the one". He hoped so, but wouldn't know what to do with her, or him.

Would it be expected of him to immediately ask them out? Would he even need to make the first move? What if it was in a crowded place and he couldn't figure out who it was?

Thinking about this, his future, always kept him awake, making him grow very tired, so when the embrace of sleep finally came, David welcomed it with open arms.

The next morning he got up, got dressed in his grey sweatpants and a grey t-shirt. He liked taking a run before work, which he so often did. He looked up to the grey skies and guessed it wasn't going to rain, so he went to the park.

He ran his usual lap. Following the path underneath the grey trees, past the grey bushes, to the grey lake.

There was something different this time. On the usually abandoned benches in the park, sat a young woman, just about his age, with a grey book. She was wearing a grey dress. Or... No. She was wearing a dress in a colour David had never seen before. Her book was another colour, as was the grass and the bench she sat on. He saw so many new colours. The sky had a similar colour to the dress, but less vibrant. He saw that trees had two colours. One the same as grass, for the leaves, and one different colour. Everything looked stunning.

Overwhelmed as he was by this sudden appearance of colour, he impulsively went up to the woman, whose hair was a more beautiful version of the lower parts of the trees, and said

"What are you reading?"

"Oh, nothing special really, it's a book about ancient architecture."

"Sounds interesting. Can I take a look?"

"Yeah sure."

After that, he just went on autopilot. He had a conversation with the woman, got her name, Emily, and had gotten her number.

When David continued his run, he looked around. Everything was in colour, every one more beautiful than the last. He not only loved the colours, he loved how Emily had opened the way for him to see them. He loved her sky dress, and her tree hair.

After getting home, he had to take a shower, to go to work straight after.

In the subway, he texted Emily.

"Hey, wanna go for dinner tonight?"

"Yeah sure, what time?"

"Around 8 PM? Meet up at the bench?"

"Okay, see you then :)"

David was glad she wanted to have dinner that night, but he'd kind of expected it. You didn't turn down "the one" when he asked you out.

The second he arrived at his work, time slowed to a crawl. Every time he looked at the clock, fewer minutes seemed to have passed. Then, after what seemed like an eternity, he heard the bells of the clock tower. BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG. 6 PM. He could go home, and get ready for tonight.

David arrived in the park 5 minutes early, so he could look around at the beautiful colours, this time at dusk. The sky was a different colour than before. It had more of the colour of the bench than before.

"Hey David." he heard behind him.

"Hey Emily. Ready for tonight?"

"Yeah, let's go."

"First, I want to take a walk here with you, to see, and discover the colours."

"Colours? David, the whole park is grey."