Yellow

As far as I can remember, my life has always been dull. The colours of happiness, sadness, anger… they were all meaningless to my eyes that only saw nothing but a cloud of grey, and as I grew older, as people change over the course of time. I stood there, unmoving, unfazed of the changes the world around me encounters. I became almost as dull as the world around me stands.

“It’s alright, its fine.”

I mumbled even when I find myself standing in front of a place I have never dreamed of stepping foot into. I look over to the librarian as she looked back at me with her grey pencilled brow raised, her colourless yet lively hues stared at me with interest. “Try the leftmost corner the last shelf at the edge of the library.” She said in a small tune, her voice brimming of her age, yet her voice strangely and unfamiliarly sweet.

Feeling the books by my hands as I passed by one shelves after another, I noticed the presence of people decreasing and decreasing as I got closer to the place she told me about. I’m new to the library the sensation of leather cover on my hands, the sound of the books being flipped pages after pages with the whispers and silent laughs the people around creates even the scent of ink and paper around is all so very different to me which may be no surprise that I follow the librarians advice.

With nothing but black and a few hints of grey, my eyes scan the books as I looked around the last shelf at the corner of the room, old and a tas bit different than the other shelfs at the entrance of the library, and compared to the books that was placed there, the book here smells more kind and eerie.

Grey, grey, grey my eyes trailed over the sets of books.

“What was that?!” I almost in a yell stated as my eyes glazed over at a certain book. A series of 'shhh' and murmurs immediately made me cover my mouth and slowly look back to the same book my eyes flashed on, and immediately a glowing bright yellow touch my line of vision.

Yellow.

A colour other than grey and black.

With shaking hands I reached out to touch the book, hesitant that my eyes are only playing games at me and that my hand would only pass through.

“It’s light.” I said as I held the book gently, fiddling over its leather cover, the smell of ink stronger than before. With a sharp pause of my breath I opened the book, and letters started flying,dancing as laughter, cheers, and pleasant sounds could be heard around me. My eyes didn’t leave the pages, and before I knew it my fingertips touch the last page of the book and the laughter died down, everything was once again silent, and I was back in the library. My eyes slowly looked up at the shelves and to my surprise, colours other than amber came popping. This time, I wasn’t scared. I was elated.

The next day, I found myself greeting the librarian with the same awkward look I have given her like the last time, but my eyes were purely looking at her hues and to the words coming out of her mouth.

“You’re here again.” She said, her hues glowing yellow as she smiled. “I see that you like my recommendation.”

With only nothing but a curt nod I once again rushed to the same shelf, this time in my hand, a green, a blue and red books. And like the first one, I finished it before I even noticed. It felt a little lonesome whenever I close a book that made you feel giddy, it was lonely but at the same time I felt the need to close it, so that I can open another one. Looking over at the decreasing people around me I decided to also stop and walk out of the library passing by the librarian who was holding a book white of colour. I paused in my tracks and slowly glance at her direction.

“Uhm…” The old lady stopped from skimming through her white book and look over to my direction. “Thank you for recommending the last shelf.”

The instant my small voice let out a sound of gratefulness, everything around her lit up, a mixture of white and gold was casted around her as she gave me a smile in return. A smile I wasn’t expecting to be the last one I received from her.

The next day I was greeted by a younger woman clad in pink, she was unlike the old woman has a more sparkly aura that no one seemed to overlooked. “Hi, I’ve never seen you here before.”

I look at her in confusion. She’s the one I’ve never seen before. My eyes met the girl’s pink hues and immediately went to avert it as she met mine. Afraid that she'll say something offensive.

“You have such lovely eyes.” She said in a quiet yet cheerful tone. “They’re brimming with joy.”

“My eyes?” I asked, reaching over to touch the skin near it. My eyes were always dull. It has always been like that. “Thank you.” I said, although I was confused I decided to walk over to the last shelf once again. And to my surprise, the book filled colourful shelf has nothing but one book left. Yellow on its cover.

“It’s light.” I said once again as I picked it up. Yes, it was the same first book I ever opened.

At another end of the room I saw once again the old lady. She was looking back at me, eyes of gold, brimming with joy indeed and younger. I look at her and smiled as she smile back. Clutching the book tighter I walked back to the same librarian.

“I see that you walked over to the last shelf. Did you like the mirror we placed at the other side of the shelf?” The librarian asked as she processed the book I decided to borrow.

I look up to her and smiled. “Oh… yes. It was pretty.”