Chapter Text
I was in either the 2nd or 3rd grade, so the year must have been about 1999. That is, give or take a year. It was recess, and I hadn't been on the playground for long. I raced to the swings, but of course, they were all taken by the time I got there. They always were. I was frustrated, but something more interesting caught my attention.
Past the swings nearby one of the other children had brought a pair of 3D glasses with them. It was the white pair with red and blue shades. The type of 3D that in my opinion never works, but did wonders for giving you a headache and making colors look strange after hours of wearing them. I had never seen a 3D movie at that point in time, but my parents had bought a 3D dinosaur computer game. I figured it was basically the same thing. I grew curious as to what the intrigue was of bringing such a useless pair of glasses to school? Especially since a crowd began to form around the boy. I walked towards the group of now three or four kids to eavesdrop on the conversation.
"Dude, cool!" the boy wearing the 3D glasses exclaimed. "Guys, you gotta see this. I can see green stuff around that girl over there."
I pointed to myself out of confusion and looked around. Me? Does he mean me? I don't see anyone else he might be pointing at... I admit I never looked at myself in the mirror while wearing them. Never wore them for very long. They don't work, but what on Earth was he babbling about? I had to know. I decided to push aside my shyness and approach closer. "Can I try wearing them?" I asked.
"Me first!" one of the other girls shouted. Which was, yeah, whatever. Sure, but I'm still impatient.
"Oh, come on," I whined. "I want to see!" When I put them on, sure enough, I saw all sorts of green. Much like what I see whenever I play outside in the sun too long, and come back indoors with the lights dimmed. Everything looked shaded over in a hue of green. I had never tried wearing them without looking at a screen, so I wondered if that's what caused it? Although I thought I might also have dirt in my eyes. I took them off for a hot second to rub my eyes and put them back on. When I did, all the green was gone and I saw the expected red and blue. "Aw, darn," I frowned. "Where did all the green go?"
"Green?" the owner of the 3D glasses asked. "What green?"
"The green you told me about," I spoke flatly. "Don't you remember?"
"I never said anything about green. What are you talking about?"
"Yes you did. It's the whole reason I asked if I could try them on."
"No," the boy argued. "I was just wearing them and you randomly asked if you could give them a try. They're red and blue. Those are the only colors anyone is ever going to see with those things. Although I think the two mixed together in art may make green. I don't remember."
"Huh?" I was confused. I wasn't sure if he was purposefully trying to make everyone look dumb, or if he was being honest. So I said, "Well, just ask her, she saw the green too!" I pointed where the other kids were, but they were gone. They were off in the field playing soccer, I think. That was fast.
"No one else tried them on," the boy laughed. "You're just seeing things, eh?"
I glared at him and tossed his glasses back into his hands. "No, I'm not!" I shouted, feeling hurt. "I know what I saw!" I ran off to a now open swing. I didn't spend the rest of recess swinging, but I begrudgingly looked at the ground as I tried making sense of what happened. I couldn't of course, so maybe he was right? Maybe I was delusional? Maybe I was seeing things that weren't really there? But that didn't feel right. Whatever. I'm not insane. I know what I saw, and I'm sure there's a perfectly rational reason behind it. I don't care what anyone else says or if I had to keep it to myself. It's fine. It's fine...
Sure enough years later when I watched the Doctor Who episodes titled "Army of Ghosts" and "Doomsday" for the first time, I fell in love with what the Doctor said about wearing the 3D glasses. He called it "void stuff," which I guess would be the dirt I thought was in my eyes. I have dreams sometimes where I jump from one universe to the next. It's far more fun to think that maybe in a previous life I traveled the multiverse through all of space and time. Although, if one is to be a realist...
I have a tendency for temporary chloropsia not only when I walk into dark lighting from bright lighting, but also whenever I'm in shock and my blood pressure plummets. More likely wearing the 3D glasses on a bright almost-summer-day hurt my eyes in a similar way. Thus the chloropsia, or green vision, making even the dust in my eyes look weird. Can I prove this with my yearly eye exams for taking Hydroxychloroquine to treat rheumatoid arthritis? No, not at all. The ophthalmologist says my eyes are as healthy as healthy can be, but it's still the most rational explanation I can think of. Doesn't mean I don't still prefer the fan-fiction one, haha. Being honest. "Void stuff" sounds cooler, even if it did vanish as if time had been rewritten (or it was somehow purged from my body in the moment).
Life is very strange. I wish it was stranger. Sure would make thing more fun! No?