A Case of Aisiodoxiopia

Alayna woke up before the rooster’s crow, as usual. The small shack she called home was always a little chilly in the morning, but it didn't bother her. She glanced out the window to see the bright field of flowers, with the vivid sun rising behind the trees.

She slowly stood, stretched, and meandered towards the kitchen, smiling at the happy photos on the wall and the beautiful bright blue paint and gorgeous matching wallpaper. She smiled at grammy’s old dog Luna, a small terrier, who always liked to sleep curled up in the corner.

Grammy liked to say that the mornings were the hardest part of the day, but Alayna didn’t understand that sentiment. The sunrise gave her the same warm feeling she’d had when her daddy used to sing while washing dishes, or the way he would laugh after working on the old car, pulling her into his arms for a warm embrace.

She’d never even known her mother who had died bringing Alayna into the world. But she didn’t mind – she loved that she and her daddy had such a special connection and that probably wouldn’t have been possible if her mother had been alive. Alayna was one of those lucky few who had never felt like there was a reason to cry. She constantly overflowed with joy, hope, and optimism.

Even when she lost her daddy in a car accident when she was only 13, she didn’t cry. The day he died, she'd been at school, and when they told her, she’d just stood there, looking at the teacher. She knew it must have happened for a reason.

That same night, she packed her things and eagerly moved into her grammy’s house. She loved her grammy’s house, or some might call it a shack. It was out in the woods on the edge of town. It was surrounded by nature and wildflowers and didn’t even have running water, so Alayna always had a reason to walk to the river to collect water at least once or twice a day – it was one of the many highlights of her days.

When she had arrived, on the night of her daddy’s accident, her grammy was sobbing. Alayna didn’t understand why grammy was so sad – yes her son was no longer with them – but now Alayna would be living with her. This was a wonderful opportunity for both of them. Grammy wasn’t healthy—she was in constant pain from rheumatoid arthritis and congestive heart failure. She seemed to become more frail with every passing year.

Alayna took on the role of caretaker. She loved the opportunity to learn about medicine from the books that had been left behind by doctors and nurses who used to care for grammy. Over the years, it became second nature to take care of her.

By the time she was 16, the money had run out and the doctors and nurses stopped coming. Alayna knew her grammy couldn’t be home alone, so she made the decision to leave high school and take care of her. Many teens would’ve been bothered by this, but not Alayna. She was grateful she would have extra time with her grammy and she knew she could get her GED. For several years, when not cleaning, fetching water, or caring for grammy, she had studied and then earned her GED. She felt so pleased to have such an incredible opportunity to learn about the world in a way that no classroom could have taught her.

It seemed her friends, neighbors and anyone she knew were never happy. Alayna couldn’t understand it. The world was so beautiful. There was so much peace and happiness, so much joy. Why was everyone always unhappy? They complained about everything: money, health, relationships. They said the air was too thick to breathe, the water too polluted to drink, and that the town was slowly dying. But Alayna didn’t see the world like they did. She always saw flowers on every corner. She saw opportunities in every situation, no matter how dark. She was grateful for everything she had. She knew that everything would be great if you just worked hard and kept a positive attitude. Even the bad things made the world better. Her mother’s death meant she had been able to form a special bond with her father. Her father’s death gave her more time with her grammy and taught her about resilience.

At 18, she found a job at a factory that made implantable pacemakers. The pay was enough to pay for someone to stay with grammy while she worked and pay most of their bills. This was exactly what Alayna needed to achieve her big dreams. She planned to study medicine and work at a hospital as a doctor one day. The factory, located in the heart of a town that was slowly being poisoned by years of industrial waste, wasn’t an ideal place, but the pay was enough for her to keep things running. And more than anything, it gave her the chance to finally get grammy a pacemaker—one of those shiny implants that the company made. They’d implant one in her grammy for free after Alayna had worked there for just five years.

As she entered the factory on her first day, she was enthralled with the bright-colored machinery, the unique smell in the air, the people in suits walking around in a hurry. It enhanced her excitement for her new job.  

Her first assignment was a vision test. She’d never had one before. The nurse who led her through the process told her it was mandatory. "Everyone’s vision needs to be checked before they start working with the machinery because the company wants to make sure they can trust you with expensive equipment." The nurse explained. "We need to make sure your eyes are in good enough shape to work here.”

Alayna had never thought twice about her sight. She had always felt like she could see just fine, so, when the doctor told her that her vision test wasn’t quite right, she was surprised. "It seems like you have a problem," he said, "Your vision isn’t what it needs to be to work here. Since the company needs more employees as quickly as possible, they have decided to cover the surgery as an exception. But to be clear, you will need to have this laser surgery before you can start working. You will fully recover within 12 hours. We have an appointment this afternoon. Shall I sign you up?"

While surprised at the announcement, Alayna was grateful that the doctor had found this issue and that the company was willing to pay to fix it. She immediately agreed to the surgery. She was determined to start the job as soon as possible to begin working towards the free pacemaker for her grammy.

A few hours later, after the procedure, she woke up with a strange sensation. She felt... sad and slightly blue. She hadn’t felt this feeling before and attributed it to being part of the healing process from the surgery. She wore a cloth over her eyes and had been instructed not to take it off until the following morning. She was led to the taxi that the company had hired to take her back home to avoid the expense of an overnight stay.

The next day, the rooster woke her up and she immediately knew something wasn’t right. She had never slept in that late. She removed the blindfold. The bright colors that usually surrounded her were gone. Her world was now in grayscale. She looked at her hand. It looked different, as if the brightness of the skin had been washed away. Confused, she stood up and peered out the window. The trees were dull, the sky an endless gloomy expanse. Her stomach dropped. Everything felt wrong.

She left her room, stumbled to the kitchen in a daze and then into the backyard, hoping something would be as vivid as normal, but all had changed. This new world was a dull reflection of the world she had known. While walking down the hall, she noticed something she had never seen before.

On the wall there was the photo Alayna had seen a million times – the one of her very pregnant mother, grinning and clearly already in labor, in front of the hospital where she was going to give birth to Alayna. But the smile didn’t look as happy as Alayna had seen before. The woman looked exhausted, sad. The edges of the photo were cracked, and the picture seemed to be suffocated by shadows.

She was taken aback and paused as she glanced to the left where she saw another photo on the wall – one of her favorites of her daddy, laughing. She had always loved this photo because it was shortly after he had finished the long process of replacing the transmission in his car. Alayna remembered him coming in, ecstatic about the outcome, hugging her and swinging her around. She had been in her photography exploration phase and had asked him to stop for a photo with the cheap digital camara she had picked up from the pawn shop down the road. But when she looked at the photo now, she could see he actually wasn’t happy in the photo. He looked so deeply sad and so exhausted. There was a hollow look in his eyes, as if the laughter didn’t reach his heart.

The shadows, the darkness—she hadn’t seen them before. But now, they were everywhere. The paint in the house that she admired each morning was actually a dull light gray, it was chipped and the matching wallpaper was peeled up in spots all around the room. She glanced over at grammy’s dog and realized with shock that Luna wasn’t breathing. She got closer and saw that Luna’s body had become completely dehydrated. From her science books she knew that Luna must have been dead for weeks. Alayna felt all the life drain out of her and she sunk to the ground. She didn’t understand what was happening. After a few moments of processing, she jumped up with a gasp and ran to her grammy’s room.

“Grammy?” She asked, holding her breath.  

“Yes, love?” Grammy answered with a note of exhaustion.

Alayna let out a breath of relief. She didn’t want to worry grammy with her issues, especially with her grammy’s heart problems, so she shoved down her feelings and quickly changed the goal of the conversation. “I just wanted to see what I could get you before I head into work, I am going to head in a little early today.”

After preparing her grammy’s breakfast and getting dressed for work, she quickly headed out to the factory. When she got there, she noticed that the machines looked dangerous and the unique smell she had noticed actually smelt toxic. She plugged her nose as she raced into the on-site doctor’s office.

The nurse stopped her, “What’s going on, dear? Are you having complications from the surgery?”

“No – I don’t – I - I just need to talk to the doctor. I have a question about my eyes.”

The nurse smiled sadly at her and gave a sympathetic nod. “He has a small gap before his first appointment, I’ll show you back. We thought we might see you today.”

The moment the doctor walked into the room, a soft sob escaped Alayna’s throat. “What happened to me?” she asked. “Why is everything so different?”

The doctor studied her with solemn eyes. “You had Aisiodoxiopia,” he explained. “It’s a rare condition. Essentially, you’ve lived your entire life seeing the world through a physical filter of constant positivity. This filter on your eyes had been altering the way you perceived the world. You saw everything through a literal ‘lens of optimism’. Aisiodoxiopia isn’t very common, so most people don’t know about it.” He smiled. “But you’re fixed now. Now you can see the world is as it truly is.”

Alayna frantically shook her head, her heart racing, tears streaming down her face. “Please - I don’t want to see the world like this. I want to go back. Please. I can’t live like this. Please fix it.”

The doctor sighed. “I don’t think you understand – I fixed you. Your perspective was wrong – now you can see the world in its true state.”

Alayna paused, tears streaming down her face. “I liked the way the world was before. I don’t want this. Please – please – put the lenses back on. I’m fine being different.”

A hint of compassion entered the old doctor’s face. “I’m sorry, but once the change has been made, it can’t be undone. This is how you will see the world now.”

And that was the truth that broke her. She slowly left the doctor’s office, her hands shaking, everything foggy around her. The world that had once been beautiful and full of color and life was now suffocating.

People looked tired and defeated. The colors had all vanished. She had once believed that life was full of good things—that even the worst moments had a purpose. But now she could see everything clearly, and it was too much. Too much pain, too much sadness. The world around her was nothing like it was before, just a shadow of a life she could never experience again.

Her manager called out to her, “Alayna, now that your eyes are fixed, we really need you to get to work. Your station is all set up for you.” He gestured to the station to his left. In a daze, she walked over to the colorless station and began to follow the monotonous instructions on the screen.