Night Vision

The soft, white artificial lights in the tunnels turn off at the same moment every night. They do this to signify some sort of change from day to night, from a lighter shade of darkness to an even darker one.

Apollo opened a zipper that leads into a medium-sized, makeshift tent amongst this darkness. His friend Miraj scurried in after him.

“I don’t like when we don’t stick to the plan,” Apollo said.

“I’m sure he’s late for a good reason,” Miraj replied.

They have been living here with their friend Joon for the past year. It’s the best place they’ve found in the multiple years they’ve been banded together.

Miraj pulled over his sleeping mat and placed it between them.

“You’ll be happy to know that I managed to grab a treat for us today,” Miraj said.

The two of them emptied their pockets on the mat to survey the day’s work.

Pickpocketing is not easy. An entire day's work can leave you with nothing but a cracker if you aren’t lucky.

Fortunately, This was not one of those days.

Between them, they put down a handful of coins, a nutritional bar, and a knife.

Miraj then pulled out a small black syringe and gently placed it down last.

Apollo stared at it with awe.

“I hope it’s blue,” Miraj earnestly said. “A tint this size might last us a week.”

Tints are one of the main types of entertainment throughout all the districts. When you intake it, your eyes will absorb it through your blood and start seeing in color instead of black and white. The type of colors depend on the exact tint.

“Joon needs to hurry. Marcus will get here soon,” Apollo said.

Marcus stops by every night to check on them. Every corner of the district with a dense homeless population like this one gets a purveying officer to oversee them. None of them have ever been able to fight Marcus off whenever he harrases them. It’s better not to get on his bad side.

If Marcus were to find a tint on them, he’d take them in immediately. Tints are considered illegal drugs for the poor. Only the rich get to use them daily. Imagine getting to see in color every single day, with no one stopping you.

Apollo and Miraj tried waiting for their friend to get home before proceeding. But, eventually Apollo couldn’t take it anymore.

“Screw it, we just have to do it without him! There’s not enough time,” he wagered.

“Are you sure?” Miraj asked.

Apollo nodded. Miraj then took out two worn out cups and filled them with water from his metal bottle.

You have to take a Tint orally for it to absorb at a pace that works well. If you stick it directly into a vein, it will overwhelm your eyes too fast and blind you instead. Slower absorption through digestion works perfectly.

Miraj carefully injected some of the black liquid into the first cup, mixing thoroughly before adding any more.

As Miraj set up the tint for them, Apollo readied their space. Whenever they take a tint they like to set out all of their things all around the floor. Looking at every individual item in color provides variety for the experience.

Apollo meticulously set out every item they own between the three of them. He spread clothes, scraps, and tools evenly apart around the floor and left an empty space in the middle. That empty space was for Apollo’s most prized asset.

He pulled out a blank medium-sized frame from underneath his sleeping mat. He went to the middle of the floor, propped up the stand on the back of the frame, and placed it gently down. He then sat back down with the frame perfectly facing him.

The frame happens to be the only remnant Apollo has left from his old life. His mother was a painter, and created many tinted paintings for the rich to enjoy. A tinted painting is invisible to the average colorless viewer. However, when looked at with tinted eyes, the new colors reveal the secret painting embedded onto it. The best part is, there’s multiple layers of multiple colors on one tinted painting. Depending on what color Tint you use, a different painting reveals itself on the canvas.

Apollo has still not seen all the different images possible on his mother’s painting. Three of the past four times they’ve found a tint, it’s been the color red. The color red always reveals a painting of a stern man’s face. He’s studied that face with all his might at this point, and sometimes wonders if the curly hair over the eyes came from his own features.

Miraj hid the remaining tint underneath the mat, and handed Apollo one of the cups. The tint had turned the water black.

They nodded to each other, and swung the liquid in.

Then, they simply waited.

Apollo looked around the inside of the tent, at the black and white dullness of it all. The neutrality it exhibits eventually disgusts you. When the human eye evolved to see in darkness, it was as if all of life was now to be lived in a shadow.

Suddenly, his eyes started feeling a little pain. Miraj might have put a little too much into the cup. Apollo started stretching his eyelids and raised his head. He started blinking more and more furiously.

Within the blur of the blinks, some flecks of color started emerging. So small at first he could not even place it. But they kept growing until he could not turn away from it even if he wanted.

Next thing he knew, his vision was overwhelmed with giant flecks and circles representing the entire spectrum of this particular color.

It was completely new to him. It was soothing. Refreshing, even. As if this color was made specifically to help people rest their eyes before looking at the rest of the colors.

“This must be green!” Miraj exclaimed.

Green? Apollo thought about the word. This color must have come from a different planet.

The green flecks started merging with his surroundings, and the overall blurriness he was surrounded with started getting more and more sharp with each passing moment.

How are we going to describe this to Joon? Apollo wondered how you even describe a color to someone that's never seen it before.

The inside of the tent was eventually entirely green. Everything he looked at was steeped in this enriching, energizing hue.

He took his sweet time to look at every detail around him, starting first with the curvatures on the walls and the roof of the tent.

Then, he made his way to the items on the floor. He enjoyed looking at all of them. They looked like they were their own living, breathing creatures from a different world.

He then put his eyes on his mother’s painting.

God knows when his mother painted it, and with what intention. But right now, it was his last attachment to her. Her last way to communicate with him. He imagined the moments where she was making this layer, and hoped she somehow knew that he would get to look at it one day and appreciate it more deeply than anyone’s appreciated anything.

He looked into the frame, and peered intently at the new image on it. It was a beautiful green painting of an outstretched hand with a necklace wrapped around it. On the necklace hung a heart-shaped Locket.

Apollo stood up and walked over to the frame to pick it up in his hands and touch it. He grazed his fingers over the outstretched hand, almost as if wanting to hold it like a real hand. He then grazed his hands around the necklace, ending at the heart-shaped locket. The letter A was engraved onto the locket. He wondered if that A was for who he thinks it is.

Before he had any more time to think, he heard a yell from outside. Miraj was also startled, and stood up next to Apollo.

The entrance of the tent was zipped open, and into their green paradise walked Marcus.

Joon was in his clutches.

“You boys are in big trouble,” Marcus angrily said. Joon had a look of shame on his face.

Marcus looked threatening, but Apollo didn't know whether to be afraid or be amazed at first. Everything was still incredibly green. He looked like a tall alien creature.

“Your friend here caught himself elbow deep in the pockets of the wrong person,” Marcus continued.

“Just let him go,” Miraj pleaded.

“I don’t think so,” he snarled. “And you’re all coming with him.”

He shoved Joon away and jumped forward to grab Apollo by the arm. He dragged him along as he lunged at Miraj next. Miraj tried to fight away Marcus’s lone arm, but to no avail.

As he started dragging them over to tie them up, Miraj spit in his face.

With intense anger, he shoved Apollo to the ground and used both hands to strangle Miraj. He put both hands over his neck and started squeezing.

“Nobody is going to notice if I only bring two of you in,” Marcus said.

Apollo looked around for some kind of weapon. Although he hesitated, he realized what he had to do.

He grabbed the syringe from underneath the mat and immediately jumped on top of Marcus, stabbing him in the shoulder with it to inject him with the entire thing.

Marcus threw him off, but then started screaming and furiously rubbing his eyes. Joon grabbed Miraj’s metal bottle with both tied up hands and smacked him on the back of the head. Marcus fell to the ground, disoriented.

Joon hit him again to knock him out properly.

The two went and helped Miraj up, who was catching his breath. They all stayed silent for a moment.

“We’re going to have to leave for another district. When he wakes up, it’s not going to be pretty,” Miraj finally said.

They looked at each other with angst and understanding.

Apollo decided to keep enjoying the green color still imbued over his vision while he could.

He walked around his little green home one last time.

Just like the colors from the tint, nothing is permenant.

The green slowly started to lose it's boldness. It started dulling. It started rotting away. The black and white colors started taking back over.

The boys knew they wouldn’t be able to carry too many things with them. Miraj packed a small bag of essentials, Joon picked up the knife, and Apollo grabbed his mother’s painting.

Outside, the cold darkness is waiting.

Nothing but black and white for who knows how long.

Apollo looked at the painting closely again, touching it. The hand and locket slowly faded away until it was just an empty blank space.

“I really thought this place would last us,” Joon said.

Apollo stood at the exit of the tent and looked back one last time. The green color started to dissolve away for good. He peacefully watched it go. He looked at those last pieces of green in his vision like the last few embers of a warm fire. The darkness creeped over his eyes more and more, until finally the color shrunk into small flecks again.

Those flecks kept reducing, until they became nothing.