Overcast
The sound of rain hitting the tin roof mercilessly was mesmerizing It lulled him to sleep as he burrowed further into the warm covers of his bed. The room was cast in a soft, almost clinging grey by the clouds outside and the closed curtains inside. It swept everything within its embrace, as if no colour from the outside world could exist in the room. That suited him just fine.
He rolled over, messy clouded-blonde hair covering tired slate-emerald eyes. He stared at the empty spot beside him, dips and curves from well-worn sleeping illuminated by the dusky shadows. He reached a pale, dove coloured hand out, softly stroking the spot. It was cold, and it only emphasised the feeling of emptiness on the inside.
The rain pelted harder, and the darkening overcast only further covered the room. It started to feel heavy, as leaden as the colour itself. He was drowning, suffocating, choking on the ashen air. With no colour, there was no life. Without his colour, he was without life. There was only grey, just the ever overwhelming shades of grey consuming him.
Pearly tears began to form and wet mousy sobs bubbled up from his chest. Heather lips scrunched up, trying to hold back the emotion. He clutched an iron pillow, finally sinking in and accepting the drab reality of it all. His colour was not coming back. This would be all he would know from now on. This dingy, listless, lifeless existence was all he had now.
Thump, thump, thump...
His ears twitched. Was he hearing things? Was insanity starting to seep in through the cracks of grey?
Thump, thump, thump...
"Artie? Hey, Artie!" The voice, loud and ringing and bright, rang through the quiet.
He dared not breathe, lest he break the illusion. A light flickered on in the hallway, the glow invading under the door. Shadows soon followed, and the thumping grew louder. The door creaked open, the light seeming to chase away the grey. He sat up in bed, his eyes burning from the overload of brightness.
"Alfred...?" Hot tears, welling and collecting before, now streamed down his eyes. His breath hitched as golden wheat and sky blue dominated his vision, a blinding white smile wrapping the sight before him in a pretty bow.
"Artie, what are you doing in the dark? I've only been gone for a month, and here you are pouting." The airy laughter that followed filled his heart with warmth. He watched the door open slightly more, letting more colour, more life in. He heard boots being pulled off and dropped on the floor and felt the bed dip under the new weight.
"A-Alfred..."
"Shush, baby, I'm home now. C'mere." The source of his life scooted up to him and craddled him, making him feel like he was wrapped in a blanket again, one that scared all the grey away and filled him with colour again.
It wasn't before long that he slept, and he dreamed, dreamed without a single shade of grey.