Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 124135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 621(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 621(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Bonnie didn’t say a thing. Not until she stopped dead and looked up at me. “I wish I knew,” she said, voice strained. She needed to get home. She needed to sleep.
“Knew what?”
“What it’s like for you to see them.” She gazed off to the distance, lost in thought. “To hear colors.”
“I…I don’t know how to explain it,” I said. “It’s normal to me. I don’t know what it would be like to not see them.” I shrugged. “It’d be weird.”
“It’d be dull.” Bonnie fell back into step beside me. “Believe me, Cromwell. It would be a dream of mine to step into your world for just a brief moment. To see what you hear…a dream.”
We arrived at Bonnie’s dorm. “You have a room on your own?”
Bonnie’s head ducked, but she nodded. “Yeah.”
“Lucky you.”
She smiled. “You don’t like my twin?”
My lip twitched. “He’s okay.”
Bonnie took her guitar from me. She stood in the doorway, head down and nervous. “Thank you,” she said, looking up at me through her long lashes. “Thank you for tonight…” I nodded. I tried to get myself to move. My feet had other plans. “I guess I’ll see you in class on Monday.” She turned to go inside, but before she could, I leaned in and kissed her cheek. Bonnie sucked in a sharp breath.
“Night, Farraday.”
I had only walked a few feet before she said, “Cromwell?” I turned. “What’s your favorite? Your favorite color to see?”
I didn’t even think before I spoke the words. “Violet blue.”
She smiled and went into her dorm. I watched her go, dumbstruck at what I’d just said.
Violet blue.
I didn’t go home. I kept walking. I walked until I arrived at the spot by the lake that Easton showed me. I sat down on the grass and watched as the sun began to rise.
Birds sang and brought flickers of bright orange to my head. Cars passed, bringing scarlet reds. The same canoeist I always saw paddled in the distance, and I breathed in deeply. I tasted the freshness of the air and the green of the grass. It was keeping the walls from climbing back up. I tipped my head forward and pushed my fingers through my hair. I didn’t like how shaky I felt. Too many emotions were rushing through me, mixing the colors until I wasn’t able to tell them apart…
“I don’t want it anymore,” I said, snapping at my dad as he stood next to the stage.
I pulled on my bow tie and stormed past him. “I missed my footie match with my mates today.” I started pacing. “Instead I had to be here.” I pointed at the hall that was packed with people. All of them older than me by at least twenty years.
“Cromwell, I know you’re pissed off. But, son, the chance this is giving you. The music…You’re so talented. I can’t say it enough times.”
“I know you can’t! It’s all you ever talk about. This is all I ever do!” I balled my hands into fists. “I’m starting to hate music.” I hit my head with my hand. “I fucking hate these colors. I wish I never had them at all!”
My dad put his hands in the air. “I get it, son. I do. But I’m just looking out for your future. I don’t think you see your own potential—”
“And Tyler Lewis? Why is he here now? Why has he been trying to work with me?”
“Because he can help you, son. I’m an officer in the British Army. I have no idea how to foster your talent. How to help you realize your potential.” He shook his head. “I don’t see the colors like you. I can’t even play ‘Chopsticks’ on the piano. I’m out of my league.” He sighed. “Lewis can help you be the best you can be. I promise…I love you, son. Everything I do is only ever for you…”
I blinked away the memory and felt my stomach sink. I sat for two hours just watching the lake. I grabbed a breakfast burrito on the way home but then stopped at the music building. My emotions warred inside me. I wanted so badly to accept all this again—the music, the love of playing, the passion of composing. But the darkness I’d had for three years always lurked near, ready to bring the anger and snatch it all away. But then Bonnie’s face flashed in my head, and a sense of calmness washed through me. I let myself inside and saw the light on in Lewis’s office.
My jaw clenched as I raised my hand to knock. I stopped for a second and just breathed. What the hell are you doing, Dean? I asked myself. But then I thought of Farraday’s smile, and my knuckles hit wood.
“Come in?” The permission to enter was a cross between a question and command. I pushed the door open. Lewis stood behind his desk, sheets of music spread on the tabletop. He was wearing glasses. I’d never seen him wear them before.