[Ginger]

I can't believe I wrote this my Freshmen year of high school. I am copying this word-for-word from the paper I typed out for the assignment. My English teacher that year didn't grade journal entries based on spelling and grammer. Don't mind the errors =)

This dates back to September 27, 2007, the day before my birthday.

Here goes:

As I lay in bed, I watch the red digits on my clock change to higher, then lower numbers, wishing time didn't have to go by so fast. Usually, when a person falls asleep they don't notice the exact time of wonderment. For some reason, I tried knowing the exact time of my mind shutting down for the night. It is now 9:46 p.m. on a Sunday evening. I still haven't finished that journal entry from second period English, and it begins to disturb me. Finally, I decide to give up on knowing what time I doze off. Almost instantly, rest is swept upon me like a wave crashing into the ocean.

I found myself laying in the grass of what looked like paradise, only without people and without color. Everything including the sun seemed to appear as a medium gray tone. I wondered why there was no color in such a beautiful looking place. Studying the exciting world around me, I found an inviting playground swing set. Whenever I swing on the swings it always makes me feel free and everything around me seems calm. It's my way of meditation.

A person appeared just as I started toward the swings. He seemed like an amazingly happy being, who had no care whatsoever that the sky wasn't blue or the grass wasn't green. Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" sounded as he danced in my direction, with the biggest smile on his face. I waited to see where he was going, which happened to be the swing set. I decided to swing, anyway. As I approached, he greeted me with a warm "hello" and told me his name. I had never heard of such a name for a person who looked like he did. He seemed flawless, like one of those boys from a teen magazine.

"Excuse me, Prosy" I said. "Where am I?" He looked at me with a grin, and replied, "You're in my world. Whenever someone enters my world it changes the color that reflects whoever it is that decides to stop by for a visit." My mind drifted off for a moment, thinking about why my color was gray. "Why did your world turn gray when I came here?" He paused for a brief few seconds. "Have you lost someone or something important to you?" I couldn't stand talking or thinking about what I lost, but since I would probably never see Prosy again I talked myself into it.

"I lost my best friend. I mean, he didn't die or anything he just stopped talking to me because his girlfriend didn't like me." I looked out into the space in front of me, my hair blowing gracefully with the wind sweeping past my face. "But all that doesn't matter anymore, because if he was really my best friend than he would have kept on with our friendship." Prosy smiled, "That's ok. If you need a best friend I will always be right here with my happy face on to brighten your day." I flashed a grin, knowing he would stay true to his word. We both went on admiring the swings and the paradise that surrounded us. For the first time in what felt like forever, I felt carefree and joyful. I embraced the last few minutes I spent with Prosy on the swing set, as I felt more alert of where I had laid the previous night.

When I awoke the next morning to start a new day, I looked at the clock. It now read 6:28 a.m. I felt a wave of relief come overcome my depression, and got out of bed. I looked in the mirror and saw a whole new face staring back at me. The person everyone saw the day before will not exist today. I will wander through the halls with a smile on my face most days, with no care about how other people think of me. As I entered the school building, a familiar face came out of the library. Prosy smiled, and the bell rang. He waved and carried on to his first period class.

That's that! I am hoping to continue this story on here by including different dreams I have with Prosy. I never had that dream. It was a journal assignment in my ninth grade English class to come up with a world of color and explain why the world was that color.

[Quiet Man Cometh]

I like the idea. There are a couple spots that I don't quite understand. One is where you describe the world as exciting, which it doesn't seem to be. With the general appearance of a "paradise" and a swing set it feels more subdued or relaxed than exciting to me. The other is at the end when you talk about relief washing over your "depression." Not sure where the depression is specifically coming from, or if it's a typical mood for the character, to it feels disjointed.

You are going to continue with the colour world ideas in general, or from this story with Prosy continuing to appear? I'm curious to see what you do with what colours and why.

One more thing, if you put the assignment details at the top it might make the piece more attractive to readers. Right now it doesn't seem to draw much attention to itself. Just a thought. :)

Cheers.