You Need Only See

• Courtney Diggins, Grade 12
• Short Story
• 2015

You sit in a room.
A small room. A hollow room.
The room has no windows, no light and no door.
The walls are cast with grey, the floor a dull wool square and the scent of lemon pine'o'cleen straggles the air.

But the room does not have to be so hollow, so dark and suffocated of glee. The room can be anything, you need only see.

From the corner of your eye you catch a tiny slither of glimmering emerald, a small sprout has grown from the ground of grey, alive and vibrant with mingling shades of green spread across its leaves. This sprout continues to grow reaching up towards the ceiling and flowering into a brilliant array of crimson rose, purple violet and tulip yellow.

This isn't the only thing to grow, because while you were distracted, thousands had shot from the ground, intertwining and weaving their stems in a spectacular net of lush green that fills the room.

A light appears to shine, the source unknown, but everything you touch appears to glow. You stand on your feet for the first time in years and breath in the warming floral air, the fresh scent lingering on your nose. The ground beneath your feet suddenly feels cold and wet, the dirty grey carpet replaced with the iridescent blue of a salt sea. You walk along the water, your feet never submerged but bare and free to wonder this new world.

The walls have disappeared, toppled into nothingness allowing the light to shine in and the blending colours of the sunset are cast onto the clouds above. You look out to the horizon and see glorious structures of white and gold emerge from the surface of the tranquil sea, with staircases that appear to wind forever, with towers that stand tall windows aglow, and bridges that twist and bend like you've never seen.

You stand in a world.
A large world. A bright world.
You stand on an island of flowers and trees, surrounded by the sea where golden white castles tower to the sky.

A room can be boring, a room can be small and if you find yourself stuck in one your days sure do feel long. But the room is a canvas, blank and bare, ready for your brush and the paint you wear.
It may seem childish, a little off-key, but in a world so full of grey, you need only see.