Everything was gray. Blacks and whites. No color in sight.

Everything was so bleak, including the people. It was the same conversations everyday, no emotion, compassion, or any sweet thing.

Day in and day out all I saw were the neutral expressions of my family, friends, and community.

No one ever smiled or laughed or hugged or blushed. Everything was so bleak.

Until…

Until I found the red roses. A red so bright in a world of gray. I had never seen color before, all I knew is that things were supposed to have it.

I knew what they would do if there was color in this world… and if someone saw it.

Last time this happened it was a daisy that shone pale yellow. A couple people saw it and we never heard from them again.

The next day I ventured back to the spot where my red roses were hiding.

I decided to take them.

I plucked my red roses from the bushes and stuffed them under my jacket. Any pop of color was 100% visible in the endless sea of gray.

I walked home, as unsuspecting as I could, and placed the flowers on my nightstand. My parents wouldn’t be home for a while so I had time to figure out what to do with my red roses.

I decided to get a plant pot from the store and put them in there, then stuffing them under my bed and pulling my covers over them.

No one would ever know…