Blue & Gray by Madison Amos
It was a cloudy dull morning and I woke up sluggishly, head blurry from the sudden awakening. I sit up slowly, staring blankly at the cream walls for a couple of minutes before I finally get up and head to the bathroom. After I clean myself up and get dressed for work, I look outside the window noticing the light drizzle falling from my neighboring cloud. I sigh for what feels like the hundredth time today, already feeling the fatigue setting in. Living in the clouds so high above others and seeing places, creatures, and animals from high up is fascinating and a big excitement. At least at first. I remember how skeptical I was at first when my manager told me that I was moving to the clouds. It sounded cool, sure, and everyone with any type of social media platform was already living there, but I couldn’t and still don’t get it. I’ve never been into following the trends but as an upcoming singer/songwriter they say “It’s better to stay in the trend than out of it.” And moving from Dae, my hometown, was a really big change for me. Dae was on the other side of the world where the times are dated, slow-paced, and old-fashioned. Compared to Dae, Soul, the city I live in now, is more advanced and fast-paced. I eventually learned how to adapt to my new home, but it was a real struggle. However, nothing could prepare me for what life was like living in the clouds. Ever since I moved to the clouds, I feel tired, unmotivated, and alone even though I’m not. I can’t even write a song, which is probably the worst thing since that is my job and basically the whole reason I’m living here in the first place. I feel like I’m in a ticking time box where it closes in on me every time I seem to think. Everything distracts me but never fully captures my attention. My mind feels like it’s going a mile a minute but I never seem to gather any coherent thoughts and as the days go by, I feel like I’m losing my mind. I try to find ways to cope with all this by writing to my grandparents who still live in Dae more frequently but my grandpa was recently diagnosed with lung cancer, obviously causing delays in me receiving letters. When I got the letter I remember being at the studio and being so ecstatic to finally receive 161
