Hope

• Jessica Cash, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2021

The year is 3000. Not much has changed. The last millennia passed in a monotonous blur of grey, ever since The Great Loss of the early 2000s, when all colour was stripped from the planet earth, to punish the humans for treating their home with such disrespect. As with most losses, it was shortly followed by more. Soon music and theatre vanished from society, taking with them the last traces of happiness for a fallen species. Everyone fell into a depressive state, going about daily tasks in order to survive, rather than thrive. There was nothing to differ from the grey monotony of life without colour, without joy.

But this story isn’t about misery. It’s not about focusing on the endless cycle of depression. It’s about hope. Specifically, Hope Rue, a young girl born in the midst of this colourless era. A special girl, clear to everyone who laid eyes on her from the day she was born. For her hair was lavender, and her eyes shone with every colour forgotten by humankind. When she first emerged from her mother, word spread fast about her colour and life, and all the world rejoiced, praising the newborn, assuming they had been forgiven.

They were convinced that Hope would spread her colour and revitalise the land. That happiness could once again be felt. But as time went on, and nothing changed, the enthusiasm and anticipation morphed into the bitterest emotion of all: disappointment. Which, as most know well, is the breeding ground for resentment and anger. All towards a mere babe who had done no harm besides being born with a unique appearance, and possessing an ability that she did not know how to use. The bub that used to have blessings sung to it now had curses thrown. The only splash of colour in a bleak world, yet she was shunned for being different. Because the reason she couldn’t spread her colour, was simply because she couldn’t see it herself. She couldn’t see anything, in fact, for young Hope Rue was born blind.

Yet neither the incessant torture of her existence, nor her disability would dampen Hope’s bright outlook on the world. For everything that made her special she was torn down, but still she awoke every day with a smile on her face, and managed to spread joy though she couldn’t spread colour. Despite the initial upset after the discovery of her blindness, the world was a better place with Hope Rue in it.

Maybe the disappointment was premature. Colour did indeed bleed its way back into the world, starting with a beautiful green park where Hope played. Coincidence? Surely not. And funnily enough, the next time colour was discovered it was by a young boy, who had entered the area, transfixed by a beautiful voice. Hope had indeed been spreading colour, with her voice, though she didn’t even know it. Despite lacking the ability to see the change she made, her song brought life back to a fallen world.