Grey

TW: abuse

"Mama, Mama! Look at the flowers!"

"Hold on darling, I'm coming!"

Elly looked at the family as she sat on the park bench. The little boy was gripping onto his mother's pointer finger tightly as he led her to the wildflowers. Her heart ached. She wished her mother was here. She looked around.

"What do you mean Mommy isn't coming? It's my birthday!"

"I'm sorry sweetie, you know Mommy isn't feeling-"

"Isn't feeling what?"

Dad took a step back from me. His hands were shaking.

"The date changed. It's now going to be five years."

"Dad-"

"Miss? Why do you seem so gloomy?"

Elly looked up to see a man who was smiling like his world depended on it. He was wearing a suit with a blue plaid tie. The man had a bowler hat on his head. He looked like something out of the cartoons she used to watch when she was five. She stopped watching them because it reminded her too much of her mom. "I'm fine, sir."

"You can't fool me! Tell me, what's going on?"

The weirdly animated man took a seat next to Elly. She noted that he smelled of coffee and mint. An odd combination to her.

"I told you, sir, I'm okay."

He didn't move. Elly frowned.

"Please go away."

"Not a chance!"

By then the two gained a small crowd. They were all whispering, which made Elly feel very uncomfortable. She wanted to be alone.

"Sir, I-"

"Don't even say it!"

Elly's breathing got heavy. She felt like she was going to be sick.

"Please!"

"I will once you tell me-"

That was when she threw up. To everyone else, it looked like bile. But to Elly, it was the petals and stems of her mother's favorite flowers. Orchids, hydrangeas, but mostly wisterias. All sitting in a pool of beer. Elly's chest felt so heavy she gripped it. With that, she got up and ran through the crowd. Elly pushed people out of the way if they didn't move. She could hear screams, sounds of pure disgust, but she couldn't look back. Her feet took her to an unknown part of the park, where it was darker than usual. But Elly didn't care. Ever since her mom left, the only color Elly saw was grey. Light grey, dark grey, any shade of grey at all. She had forgotten what color looked like. She curled up in a ball and covered her ears.

"Elly, go get me another beer."

"But Dad, you've had seven! Don't you think that's enough-"

"IT WILL BE ENOUGH WHEN MY WIFE COMES HOME!"

Erratically, Elly's dad smashed his beer bottle on the floor. It broke into tiny pieces, creating cuts on Elly's bare feet. She restrained her screams of pain.

"WHERE IS SHE, ELLY?! YOU KNOW WHERE SHE IS!"

"She's at the hospital, D-Dad..."

Her father got up and held her by the throat, raising her into the air. Elly kicked and tried to pry his moist hands off of her neck to no avail. He yelled in her face, spit flying everywhere.

"NO SHE ISN'T, MIDGET! TELL ME-"

There was a pounding on the door. Elly's dad froze mid-sentence, sweat dripping on his forehead. He let her go when the door was broken down. Elly yelped as her head hit the floor. Men and women in bulletproof vests came in, shouting and holding guns. Her dad put his hands up as one of the women went to her. She breathed heavily.

"Are you alright sweetie? What's your name?"

"M-My name is Elly..."

"Your age, hon?"

"E-Eight years old."

"Don't worry, you'll be okay. My name is Jenna."

Jenna extended her hand down to Elly, who grasped it. She was taken to a car and driven off to a police station. As Jenna talked and talked, all Elly was doing was looking back to her former home, and seeing the man she loved and trusted so much forced into another car with his hands handcuffed behind his back, shouting curses angrily.

"Elly?"

Elly's neck whipped around in the direction of the voice. There was her mother, in a lovely lavender dress. The sun fell upon her drained features, her skin paler than daisy petals. And yet, her eyes remained the same shade of wisteria as they did so long ago.

It shocked Elly. It was color.

"Mom?"

Her mother gave a weak smile. Elly ran as fast as she could and enveloped her mom in a hug that was saved for this very moment.

"But I thought-"

"I got out of the coma earlier than the doctors thought. Elly, I-"

Almost like a movie, Elly let out a sob. Tears that could fill the ocean fell out of her like never before. They hit the ground, watering the earth with released sorrow. The world stopped.

"M-Mommy...."

"Shhh.....I'm here..."

It was like her vision cleared. Until then, all Elly saw was snow, thunder, and every shade of grey known to man. But now, it was different. As soon as she felt her mother's love, the gates opened and flooded her world with vibrant, beautiful colors. For the rest of the world, spring had sprung nine days ago. But, for Elly, winter was over. Spring, her spring, was finally here.

~~~~

"Mom, did you see the color of those daffodils?"

"That was the ugliest shade of yellow I have even seen, Elly!"

Her mother laughed, and Elly joined in. They sat on the hill, hands entwined with one another's and the grass. The sky was clear today, and the large birds cast dark shadows to the ground they were never bound to. It was peaceful.

"Elly...."

Elly looked up to her mom. Her azalea-colored sundress rippled from the wind, standing out against her still fragile skin.

"Yeah, Mom?"

"I'm sorry...."

Elly's head tilted to the side in confusion.

"Why, Mom?"

A sniffle escaped from her mom. Elly looked slightly shocked.

"I'm sorry that I wasn't there as you grew up..."

Tears fell to the ground as Elly's mom sat up. Her face became pink, and her eyes became red. Elly held back her own tears.

"Mom, you didn't choose to have your lungs fail. We know that."

"But......"

"No buts."

Elly took her mother's hands into her own.

"I'm ten. I'm still growing. It doesn't matter what time you missed. You are here now and that is what matters to me and to Dad."

Elly's mom's eyes went wide with surprise after they cringed at the mention of her ex-husband. She then smiled and looked to her daughter whom she loved with all of her heart.

"Elly.....you've grown into such a strong young woman."

"No pun intended, right?"

The two's laughter filled the air like roots fill the ground. For the first time in three years, Elly saw no more grey. It has disappeared entirely. As it turns out, love is the most colorful flower of all.