Green

Guest post by Trinity Pixie

Green. The color was chosen without much thought, she liked green. It was a pleasant dark shade, and covered the thirsty white walls in only a couple hours. ”Why do we have to move my room so quickly?” she asked, frowning as she continued laying tile on top of the unfinished wooden floor. ”Your sister wants her own room, and it will be more… private for you down here.” Her father didn’t – refused to – look at her as he answered.

Green. She celebrated her first birthday since the move in that room, alone watching movies. The color was made a nice backdrop behind the TV, and made her feel a little less lonely. The room seemed less empty than it would have with bright, white bare walls.

Green. It was what she woke up to instead of sunlight, whenever it was that she slept. The room had no windows, and she had started to lose track of when day and night came and went. She hadn’t seen the sun in a week, though it didn’t seem quite that long.

Green. It surrounded her constantly. She all but stopped leaving her room except when using the bathroom or retrieving meals. Sometimes she caught a glimpse of the sun through a window in those brief moments she left, but she nearly stopped noticing. It was all the same.

Green. It filled her field of vision when she finally opened her eyes after crying. She didn’t feel better, but there were no tears left and no one around to notice if she cried more anyway. The color was soothing and irritating. A prison and a sanctuary at once. Green.


Trinity Pixie is a member of the Secular Woman advisory board.

{advertisement}
Green
{advertisement}

7 thoughts on “Green

  1. 4

    What I interpret from this is that the person telling the story came out, and the family painted up the room in a pretty shade of green to put them somewhere more “private” – aka out of the way, in the basement, where they wouldn’t be seen. The green is a pretty color, distracting, but a mask on a room that’s just another kind of closet.

  2. 5

    It’s an open-ended framework to be populated with aspects and a backstory, and possibly a continuation, by the reader’s own mind.

    My mind’s eye watches a little girl grow up and be squirreled away by the family at a young age because she’s transgender, and the family eventually gave up on trying to “correct” her.

    For me, green, as the color of growth, symbolizes the time passing in which she would, in a family that accepted her, be blossoming into a lovely woman in her own right. My small experience with videography leads me to also see the green walls as an all-enveloping green screen, darkened by the shame her family has of her.

    I suppose I could go on, but I think I’ve been pretentious enough already. It’s a beautiful little story, and I applaud the author, who I assume is you, Trinity. 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *