Hello Again! In an effort to continue adding my own writing to my blog, I wanted to include a personal narative that I wrote last year in my Creative Writing I class. This personal narative entitled “Life In Full Color” emulates the same theme as my blog! Hopefully after reading this, you’ll be able to truly immerse yourself into a world full of color because instead of just telling you what it’s like live with synesthesia, in this piece of writing, I show you. -Alaina
Life in Full Color
I could faintly see the reflection of my hazel eyes through the alarm clock. Looking at it, I saw yellow, green and purple, just like every other day when my clock went off. The blood rushed to my feet as the floor underneath me turned from soft and fluffy, to cold and smooth. After my hair was untangled, my eyelashes were extended and my cozy pajama pants became stiff jeans, I checked the clock again, but this time, saw yellow, orange, and green. My eyes widened and my heart began to race as I rapidly finished my morning routine and hurried into the kitchen.
“Are you ready for your test today?” my mom questioned, watching me devour my cereal.
“I think so, I studied a lot last night!” I responded. Even though I heard the words that she had said correctly, I saw every word in a different way than my mom, and in a way that she could never understand. My cereal turned mushy in my bowl as I continued to eat.
“What’s the date today mom?”
“September 6th, and it is supposed to be a super rainy and gray day, unfortunately.”
“Interesting,” I said thinking that since it was the 6th, it should be a bright and sunny day. I assumed that my mom had seen the same thing as me: bright sunshine peeking through that promising date and beaming out at us both. But September 6th to her was really just a gray day and nothing else.
When math class started, I could feel my hand becoming slippery around my pencil, and the only thing I could hear was the thumping of my heart getting quicker and quicker. The teacher used a green marker to write the end time of the test on the board, and even though I knew the color green wasn’t the real color of the numbers she was writing, I wasn’t phased as this is what I saw in every class, every single day. I knew that the teacher wasn’t wrong, but I didn’t think I was either. During my test, I circled both beautiful and hideous answers, but once again, I didn’t second guess them and continued on. As different waves and shades of bright and dark colors flooded in and out of my head, I thought back to the time when I loved math and laughed to myself a little. I enjoyed the challenge before, but now, all of the variables, letters, and signs had become too jumbled for me to find joy in this subject. Right now, the colors were out of my dreams, like a stunningly marvelous painting; but other times, they looked like something that you would cover up your child’s eyes for out of fear.
I looked at the clock as I turned in my test, and saw purple, pink and green. I knew of course, that the time was 9:38, but I had never seen, and could never see those numbers without purple, pink and green immediately flashing into my head. Everyone else that I had ever met in my life would just see 9:38 as it was. Everyone else would only see what was there. And as far as I knew, what I saw was the same 9:38 that my family, friends, and teachers saw. I just didn’t know that not everyone got to live in the same world I did. I didn’t understand that the world I lived in was more colorful than everyone else’s.
Writing in Full Color 