Chapter Text
Well, Tamarack was never one to care about things she couldn’t see.
There were far more important to worry about, like waking up early enough to be able to explore the forest and finding the prettiest rocks and leaves to gift to her omi and opa. It just didn’t make sense to worry about not being able to see colour, because all she knew was life without it, and the world was plenty beautiful already!
She still had her favourite shades of grey— the one that her omi told corresponded to the colour pink, the lively yellow and deep red. All of them were special in their own way, even if people who were able to see colour would say they all looked too alike, and she’d fervently insist that they were quite different.
People who saw colour just lacked imagination. That’s what her grandmother had told her once, with a kind smile stretched on her lips. They had grown so used to seeing the world that way that they lost the ability to see the nuances in different hues of grey. Sometimes, you have to lose something to gain another.
Well, if that’s how things were, Tamarack didn’t know if she’d ever want to see colour.
It seemed awful to lose the ability to see beauty in how she has always seen the world. To stop appreciating how pretty the autumn leaves were when they changed shades, to stop being able to tell the difference between the cool grey of a bright summer’s day to the cool greys of a stormy afternoon.
But things were always bound to change.
Tamarack had woken up that day, feeling like that day would be special in some way.
Maybe because all days so far had been special— Moving so far away had its drawbacks, but getting to spend so much time playing in the forest had proven to be as fun as she’d hoped for.
It was still relatively early in the day when she saw a piece of cottony cream paper lying on the floor. She picked it up, hoping to help mother earth by cleaning the litter away when she saw a kid standing in the distance.
Locating her target, Tamarack quickly folded the piece of paper into a paper aeroplane and threw it at the target, her perfect aim hitting her victim.
She was able to escape in time, trying not to giggle too loudly so as to not attract too much attention to herself yet. Something told her she would see that kid again, and when she did, she hoped she could at least be able to surprise them!
It ended up not taking as long as she had expected for them to find her— and before they could, Tamarack hid underneath a pile of grey leaves, jumping out as soon as she heard the sound of her footsteps approaching her.
She closes her eyes for a moment, smiling and giggling due to a plan well-crafted, opening her eyes to a whole different world.
The leaves that fluttered around her were different from before, reds and oranges almost causing sensory overload now that they weren’t hidden behind greyscale.
She missed the way the world had looked before, but by staring at the forest with wonder, she realised that this change, maybe, wouldn’t be too bad at all.
Just like moving away had given her the opportunity to have fun in the forest every day, seeing colour allowed her to experience the world in an entirely different way.
And, looking at the kid who looked at her in amazement, cheeks flushed and eyes sparkling, she’d have someone new she could experience all of that with.