A Wish for Us

by Tillie Cole

Her voice was violet blue. I closed my eyes. It was my favorite color to hear.

Her laughter was pale pink.

“Manners cost nothing, son. Always be gracious with those who want to help.”

“Cromwell,” she whispered. I was surprised I even heard her voice over the music. But I did. Of course I did. It was violet blue.

“It’s my favorite, son. That’s my favorite thing you play that isn’t yours.”

And then she opened her mouth, and the most vibrant violet blue I’d ever seen flashed like a firework in my head, making my breath catch in my throat.

“Cromwell?” I asked, and he turned my way. “What’s your favorite? Your favorite color to see?” “Violet blue,” he said in an instant.

Something settled in my chest that I hadn’t felt in years. Something I never thought I’d find ever again. Silver. I choked at the sight. Happiness.

“I have heart failure, Cromwell.” She smiled sadly. Devastatingly. “My heart is dying.”

Literally the same plot as a Thousand Boy Kisses

“But your music made me see you, Cromwell. It called me to you. The boy who hears color.”

don’t want to die, Cromwell. I have too much to live for.”

And it would be these memories, and the ghost of his lips against mine, that would inspire me to fight that much harder.

A rush of anger seemed to singe the bones in my body. Because Bonnie Farraday was perfect. Perfection with an imperfect heart.

Again, it feels like such a long time after Cromwell actually felt something.

“Maybe you’re the guardian angel that has arrived to get her through all this.”

My favorite color ripped from my life.

When she was back, she’d hear it. I needed her to hear it.

“I’m falling in love with you, Cromwell Dean. So very deeply in love.”

I’d play, and her voice would fill the room with the most vivid violet blue I’d ever seen.

“She can’t die.” All the fight drained from my body. “I love her. She’s my silver.”

I love you.

Baby. He’d just started calling me that. I loved it about as much as I loved him.

So I focused on her. Wishing on the stars I’d just seen that she would pull through.

He was my violet blue. My favorite-ever note.

“‘A Wish for Us,’” he said, reading the title aloud.

“You…Cromwell…there’s not a part of us that I regret. Not the beginning…not the middle…and certainly not the end…” I fell asleep like that, waking in his arms too. And I decided it was how I wanted to say goodbye, how I wanted it to be when the day finally came. Because it was perfect. He was perfect. Like this, life was perfect. And it was how heaven would finally greet me.

One twin died so one would survive. My best friend, gone. The girl who held my heart, fighting for her life. And me, helpless to do anything to fix it.

Azure. Peach. Ochre. And violet blue. I would forever chase the violet blue.

Keep strong, sis. Live a life that you love. And when it’s your time, I’ll be the one to come get you. You know I will. I love you,

Some are not meant for this life for too long… Angels they come, it’s time to go… No longer caged, now wings of a dove… Tears in my eyes, I give one last glance… I lived, and I loved, and danced life’s sweet dance…

Cromwell exhaled. “White,” he said. “I see white.”

“And what does that mean to you?” My voice was barely a whisper. “Peace,” he said, a relieved calm to his voice. “I see it as peace.”

“Papa! Mama sings as blue as the sky.”