Colourless

“In sad news, today scientists have confirmed that we have completely lost the colour red. While it has been fading for the last month, it has been announced today that it is not just no longer visible to the human eye, but they are unable to detect or create the wavelength of light that is responsible for this colour. They have also predicted that at the current rate of fade that green will have disappeared by the end of 2020, leaving us in a colourless world”.

She sighed and flicked off her TV, she didn’t know why she bothered to try and watch it anymore. With blue totally gone and now red, it wasn’t as if she got much of a picture anyway. She couldn’t afford a black and white TV either, as they were way out of her price range.

She grabbed her phone off the counter to check the weather before she headed out, it was only when she was confronted with a totally green screen did her brain click into gear and reminded her of the situation. She left the latest smartphone she’d saved for plugged in, a small part of her hoping one day she’d wake up, and this had all fixed itself.

“Beep, beep, beep, beep”.

She whipped her head around, trying to work out where the beeping was coming from. She’d been hearing it intermittently for ages, ever since the colours started fading. She checked every corner of her flat for what felt like the millionth time to try and work out what was making the noise. But like every previous time she came up empty, it was so strange it was never louder or quieter anywhere, it was always exactly the same volume, and she couldn’t pinpoint what was causing it. She’d debated seeing her doctor about it, thinking maybe she was delusional. But when she’d tried to make an appointment, they told her it was a six-month wait, as they were so busy with severe depression from the lack of colour

“Beep....... beep.... beep.”

Well, this was new. The beeps were slowing down and getting lower in pitch. Although thinking back, maybe that had been happening for the last few weeks.

She grabbed her jacket and nearly ran out the front door, hoping the beeping noise wouldn’t follow her, and headed to get something to eat from the local shop. She power walked there, keen to put as much distance between herself and the beeping that was now ringing in her head as possible.

She was only halfway there, cutting through the local park, when she developed a stitch severe enough to leave her so breathless she had to sit down on the nearest bench to rest. She breathed as deeply as she could, waiting for the pain to pass. She watched the kids run past her playing tag, they were now a sickly green colour as that was all that was left.

The pain in her chest suddenly amplified, she’d never felt anything like it before. Reaching up, she clutched her left shoulder, rubbing it and hoping it would improve.

“Beep...........beep............beep.”

She grabbed at her head and covered her ears, this was the first time the sound had followed her out of her flat. She looked around for help, but no one was nearby, and her useless smartphone was back at her flat. She didn’t think it was possible, but the pain got worse again, it took her breath away and caused her vision to start to fade to black. She squeezed her eyes shut and lay herself down on the bench, desperately trying not to pass out in the park

She felt a squeeze on her hand and managed to tilt her head towards the person holding it. She tried to open her eyes, but they felt so heavy. She tried again and finally managed to pry them open. The pressure on her hand increased again, and she started to make out the face looking at her.

“Oh god, she’s awake. Look, she’s trying to open her eyes”.

Her brain was foggy, and she couldn’t figure out how her mum was in the park. She blinked a few times, trying to work out what was wrong with her moms face. Then it hit her, colour, all the colours were back.

“Mrs Anderson, we’ve shocked her back into her normal rhythm, but the episodes of ventricular fibrillation are getting more frequent. I’m so sorry to have to tell you this, but she’s now too sick for the heart transplant list. She wouldn’t survive the anaesthetic. I’m so sorry.”

“And that means what exactly, Doctor?”

She could hear the steal in her mum’s voice as she spoke.

“I’m afraid I can’t in all good consciousness defibrillate her again. It’s futile and is prolonging her suffering and causing her harm.”

She heard footsteps walking away from the bed as the grip on her hand tightened.

“Anna, sweetheart. I don’t know if you can hear me, but it’s fine to let go. I’m not going anywhere, but you must be so tired. I’ll be here as you go to sleep.”

She could hear the sobs in her mum’s voice over the ever pervading beep of the cardiac monitoring. She listened to the beeps getting slower and slower and the pitch of the sound lower and lower.

She managed to open her eyes one more time and look around the hospital room that she’d spent the last year in, every wall, every chip of paint was so familiar.

She finally looked back to the face of her mum, who had tears streaming down it, she looked into her mum’s eyes as one by one the colours faded from her vision. First it was the blues, then it was the reds, and finally the greens. When there was no colour left in her world, her vision started to fade away to blackness, and she finally closed her eyes. She could no longer hear what she’d longed for, the cardiac monitor was now silent