Rose Colored Dreams

Repeatedly hitting the snooze button on her alarm was the culprit behind her racing out the door in order to not be late for work. She hated to feel rushed and often wished that life could just slow down to her desired speed just once. She hissed and groaned as she made her way out of the door, shutting it behind her, only to have her new scarf get trapped in between. The minor inconvenience only made her seethe more; because she knew that something was already off about today. She was beginning to feel like that it might be a wash before it even really began, and that prospect was terrifying to say the least.

She wished that she had the time to entertain every possible scenario that could make the coming hours any worse, but she knew that she didn’t. Opening the door to release her grey scarf, she quickly slammed it shut again. After locking the door, she approached her vehicle, and briefly caught her reflection in the driver’s side window. It was odd to her that her reflection restored such order that her morning had lacked up until this point. Seeing herself make it all work on her own was a comforting feeling, one that she had always wanted to pride herself on. It was such an odd place to be for her, at this time in her life, to make all of this progress without even noticing it. The fact that she was so close to being where she had always wanted to be was both comforting and unsettling.

Her color was navy blue.

Her blonde hair brought out the most in her brown eyes, which kind of confused her. Regardless, she didn’t have the time for this, and she aggressively put the key into the ignition and turned it. The golden Acura rattled and kicked around before eventually life rumbled from the engine, allowing her to finally begin her journey. As she pulled out of the driveway and made her way down the streets that had become her closest friend, she had noticed a trio of bunnies hopping around in the field to the left of her. Common sense screamed to keep going, but curiosity whispered to pull over.

She weighed both options briefly and slammed on the brakes, the screech of her tires echoing throughout the forest green landscape that surrounded her. Looking in the rear view mirror, she was happy to see that the disturbance hadn’t scared off her furry friends. Her phone shook and rang out from her center counsel, totally killing any excitement that she had built up. She didn’t even have to answer the call to know who it was and what it was regarding.  She was late for work, but she didn’t care. She held her phone in her hand, contemplating whether or not to return the call.

Deciding against it, she placed the phone back in her hoodie’s right side pocket and stepped out from her vehicle. She gently closed the door as to not disturb the bunnies, but her attempt was ruled fruitless when they ran away anyways. A deep sigh exited her as she decided that she’d come too far to not meet them, so she trekked onwards. She was the furthest thing from a seasoned bunny tracker, but she had a general idea where they ran off to. There, in the small bushels that accompanied the mountainous trees was where she had suspected them to be. So she trudged forward, her feet patting up and down on top of the now dry land below her. Spring had done its job, but it didn’t stop her color from being a deep shade of burgundy.

It almost infuriated her that she was moving towards this bushel with such intensity, but she felt that even seeing them was trying to tell her something.  As she approached it with her final step and separated the branches from the seam, it revealed a group of seven bunny babies hidden on the ground. Her intensity dissipated and she began to relax for at the sight of them sleeping so peacefully. Her color was hot pink, until her phone had rang again. She grimaced at the site of it, and chucked it twenty feet ahead of her.

She bent down to pick up one of the children, but she heard a scream out in the distance, far and beyond where she presently planted her feet. As much as she loved animals, she cared about people more, and she most definitely made that known by gently dropping the baby bunny back into the bundle that she had initially retrieved it from.  Walking towards the deep male voice shouting for help, she began to wonder if she had been merely hearing things.

Her color was pastel yellow.

The cries increased in both sound and length as she got closer, confirming her original suspicions. She ran towards his screams, and noticed her cell phone laying mere feet away from her. She didn’t even entertain the thought of racing to get it, believing full well that this man needed her assistance more than she had needed her cell phone.

Her assumption proved to be the correct one, as she maneuvered her way through the scores of trees that surrounded his bloodied body. She rushed up to him, dropping to both knees to inspect his lacerations and where they may have come from. Her guess was as good as yours as far as the origins were concerned. The cuts spread from his chest to his pelvis, brandishing red, gushy openings. She was careful not to touch any of them, but did communicate with him.

She was as young as the moment was, and had never felt anything quite like this. To be in total control of the fate of another human being was something that would have overwhelmed her before, but now she felt so very capable.

“What happened to you? You’re a bloody mess,” she remarked to the wounded man. “What’s your name?”

“I’m dying over here,” he said in response, each word spaced behind forced breaths.

“Calm down. Why are you even out here? Nobody ever walks these trails, ever,” she shot back.

“Are you… are you seriously, AHHHH, FUCK!” He reacted in utter pain as she began to help him lean against the tree that stood directly behind him.

“Sir, I’m going to get you some help,” she said, as she attempted to stagger away, before collecting her balance.

Her color was some fucked up, dainty shade of orange.

She scrambled to retrace her footsteps, and it proved to be the only time that she had ever really missed the snow. Where the hell were the baby bunnies again? She knew that her phone was somewhere near them, and was determined to find it. The trees all seemed to gang up on her on similar regalia, and intimidated her to the point that her color was now puke green.

In the distance, she could see small specks of white hopping across the similarly colored grass. She was a long way from her paper flowers, and the immense forest served as a grave reminder. Having no idea where her car was parked from this point in the woods, her color transitioned to the brightest shade of orange.

She decided it was best to chase the bunnies, for whatever reason. No logical explanation ran through her skull as she did the same through the woods. The trees were just growing their leaves back again, just as she had grown back her self-worth a couple years before. The fact that nothing was crunching below her steps was a welcome one seemed to be too good to be true, like most things in life. She felt that way about most things, but could hardly help herself.

Her color changed to a sunset orange as she struggled to find the bunnies that plagued her so. They were nowhere to be seen, and she scrambled around nature’s playground until she eventually took residence under the shade of an oak tree. Enjoying the shade that it provided her, she looked over to  the right side of her vision and saw the bunnies frolicking through the recently grown weeds, and felt a sense of obligation.

She sprinted into action, chasing them, as her color became sky blue.

As she chased them down further and further down their path, they led her to her vehicle that read the name Maxwell  written on the passenger side. She slammed the door shut and continued on her journey, demanding more answers than questions.