Colors Page 2

  “All of those ideas are ridiculous.” I crossed my arms. “It’s not their fault the Chanteuses messed up and forgot to give them songs.”

  “Awfully defensive, aren’t we?” Violet raised an eyebrow.

  “I’d sing my song at full volume right here the second you asked me to, Violet. I’m not an Insider.” I rolled my eyes. It’s not like I had any sympathy for those wretches, but they didn’t need to drag the Outsiders into this. I had nothing against them.

  “Just…asking.” She narrowed her eyes at me but remained silent. Then turning to Raven said, “The only good thing about being an Outsider is that they can marry whoever they want.” She grumbled. “Plus, they can have more than two kids.”

  I sighed, “Then again, they don’t get to have songs. Why bother having the freedom of choice, when you don’t end up with someone you actually enjoy being with?” I pointed out.

  “My mom says that they are only having kids so that they can outnumber us.” Moon lowered her voice. “You know…so they can take us all out.”

  “Or they simply just want kids,” I mumbled.

  “Please, three kids is one thing, but seven sounds a little suspicious.” Violet raised an eyebrow.

  “Who told you that they were having seven?” I sighed; they were going pretty far with all of these assumptions.

  “My dad helps the Sentinels in that area from time to time; he said that the families there were out of control.” Violet crossed her arms, daring me to challenge her again.

  “What about the Fugitives?” Moon asked; the atmosphere changed almost immediately. “I know that they’re all either at war or dead…but what if there are some living among us too?”

  “Please,” Violet rolled her eyes. “You’d have to be smarter than the government to get past them, and does that seem like a very strong possibility to you?”

  “I know but…do you think there are some still alive?” Moon was so quiet that I almost didn’t hear her.

  “The Officials would never allow that,” Violet pointed out. “Fugitives don’t even exist anymore; I bet they’re just using them to scare us out of doing anything against the rules.”

  “What if that’s where the Insiders are being taken?” Raven shuddered. “To go live with the Fugitives.”

  “All of them are dead, I’m telling you.” Violet sounded bored. “Our society may have its faults, but they would not let something like that happen.”

  “Not everyone is as bad as you are at keeping secrets, Violet.” I raised an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t call it impossible.”

  Moon let out a scared squeak, then looked embarrassed as everyone turned to look at her. “Do you really think so...?”

  I didn’t want to scare her even more, so I lied. “You know what, you’re probably right, Violet. What do I know?” Moon let out a sigh of relief, and we changed the topic.

  After lunch, we all trudged back to our classes and sat through more boring lectures.

  As I watched my teacher draw diagrams on the board, I gazed up at the cloud above his head. It was grey, a muddy color compared to the vibrant ones I usually saw. Even he was bored. The minutes seemed to pass by in hours of pain and agony. But eventually, after what seemed like days, the school day was over. I had to walk home today, which was fine. My brother had some ‘thing’ he had to do, or at least that’s how he had put it.

  When I walked inside, I found my mom sitting at the kitchen table, quietly humming her song. I decided not to say anything and just went upstairs. My brother wasn’t home as expected, and I found myself sitting on my bed singing my own song. I still didn’t understand why my brother’s cloud was darkening all of the sudden; it didn’t make sense. All of the rumors came into my head, but I quickly pushed them away again. My brother was none of those things, and I was sure it was probably nothing.

  Hyperion poked his head into my room with a friendly smile on his face. I returned it, but it soon vanished when I looked up at the cloud above his head. It was a startlingly deep shade of indigo. He looked happy; I just didn’t get it. Maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me? I wanted to believe that thought, but it seemed just about as logical as Raven being an Outsider.

  “Are you okay?” I walked over, trying to keep my calm demeanor, and gave him a quick hug. I felt completely guilty and selfish about it, but I had begun distancing myself from him. I knew what was coming, and I didn’t want it to hurt as much as my dad leaving.

  “Of course, why do you ask?” He looked down at me, but there was no genuine confusion in his expression.

  “No reason,” I let my gaze fall to my feet, knowing that he was lying to me. I let him go, knowing that if he was anything like the others, he wouldn’t be coming back. “H-Hyperion, can you sing me your song?”

  He blinked in shock. “Sorry, but I have a lot of homework...”

  “Please? Just once.” I begged, terrible images coming into my head. Maybe it was just the light playing tricks on my eyes, but his cloud looked like a darker purple than before.

  “I…Tess, I really have to finish my paper...maybe later, okay?” He gave me the most pathetic smile I had ever seen, but I let him leave.

  I sat on my bed, staring blankly at my wall. I hoped that in the morning, I would find him sitting at the kitchen table, but if I didn’t, at least I would be ready. My ability to see the colors had become a curse. One I wished would simply just go away. It had caused me to watch people leave, and my trust was wearing thin. I wished I could just be normal, that I couldn’t see people slowly all dying away. It seemed that once they hit dark blue, that there was nothing I could do, and my brother’s cloud had just gone from orange to a dark shade of indigo in only a day. There was no saving him, all I could do was watch him slowly fade away as well.

  After a bit, I went down to dinner and found my brother sitting in the kitchen. I had never felt more relieved in my entire life.

  My mother smiled at me as I sat down. “Hey sweetie, how was school?”

  “Good.” I squeezed Hyperion’s hand. He looked at me with a confused expression, but I didn’t give him any form of an answer.

  “Did you sleep okay last night?” She smiled at me, but I could tell there was something she meant by asking.

  “Yeah...why?” I blinked, taking a bite out of my dinner.

  “Well, it’s just that the Sentinels were going up and down the street banging on doors. It woke me up, but I wasn’t sure if you two had heard anything.”

  We both shook our heads, and I noticed that Hyperion looked very concerned.

  “What did they want?” He stumbled over his words when he spoke.

  “I think that they’re searching for Insiders.” She whispered. “Our neighbor said that they demanded her kids sing their songs immediately.” She shuddered. “Those Sentinels scare the living daylights out of me. They’re doing our house tonight, and I just wanted you to be ready.”

  Chapter Four

  After dinner, we both returned to our rooms. I had just finished my homework when I heard a loud rapping against our front door. My mother called us downstairs and I quickly hurried down to meet her. Her tone had implied that this was important.

  I found her standing in front of an open door, and three men dressed in bright yellow hazard suits outside of it. One of them took a look at me, then down at his list.

  “Where is the third?” He snapped. The way he spoke made me feel nervous; what were they looking for? All of us had songs, so this was just silly. “I said, where is the third?”

  “Sweetie, go get your brother.” My mom said gently; she was trying to comfort me, I could tell.

  I made my way back upstairs to his room. But when I opened the door, I stumbled backward. Lying on the floor was my brother’s body, broken and bleeding. In his right hand was a note, and in his left, a shard of metal. I cupped my hand over my mouth as tears began streaming rapidly down my cheeks. There was a dark red streak of blood across his face, matching the color of the puddle he was laying in. Th
e brilliant cloud he had once wore above his head was now reduced to a wisp of smoke. I was warned. I had seen it coming; I had known that this was going to happen, but it still hurt more than anything in my life, even my dad leaving.

  I cautiously walked over and pulled the note gently from his hand. The paper was stained with crimson and had teardrops speckling it, crinkled from his fist. I opened it, barely able to see through my tears. It read:

  Dear Cliffblazer family,

  We are devastated to inform you of the death of James Nicholas Cliffblazer. James was one of many who lost his life fighting on the front lines. We honor his life, and our prayers are with your family. He died a soldier’s death, one of honor and purpose. We thank him for his service to our wonderful nation, and ten years with the Lieu army.

  To an amazing soldier and a great loss,

  The L.A.O.

  I bit my lip. It couldn’t be. How could my dad and my brother, be gone for good? I had grown to hate my father for leaving me over the years, but I had never wished for this.

  As I was leaving his room, I took one final glance back at him to see the last of the purple haze dissolving into the air.

  When I walked back downstairs, I found the three Sentinels looking highly unamused as my mom attempted to make conversation. As she spotted me, a relieved smile appeared on her face that quickly vanished as she noticed that I was alone.

  I slowly shook my head, “Mom, he’s…he’s gone.”

  Her cloud darkened to blue in seconds, but I wasn’t worried about losing her. The hue would always darken if people were feeling sadness. Her brown eyes watered already spilling the hot tears down her round cheeks. Watching the cold looks that the Sentinels were giving her for simply crying, filled me with a deadly rage, and I couldn’t bear to see her cry anymore.

  “Gone?” One of the Sentinels roughly pushed my mother aside. “What do you mean gone? Is he dead?”

  I couldn’t help it. Tears began rolling down my own cheeks, and I just barely managed to nod my head.

  “We found one.” The second didn’t say anything else, just quickly marched upstairs. We all fell silent; I was so confused. Grief overwhelmed me as I stood there with the other two Sentinels.

  When he walked back downstairs, he gave us both a nod, then turned to his fellow Sentinels.

  “Sing.” The third barked at me. That was the last thing I wanted to do right now, but I reluctantly obliged. It was against rule number seven to deny a Sentinel.

  I quietly sang the words that seemed so far away from me now, my voice cracking from the tears, and my breathing was ragged. After I finished, they quickly left, murmuring with each other.

  “What did they mean by ‘we found one’?” My mom whispered to herself. I furiously wiped away the tears, not wanting to be near anyone anymore.

  I ran upstairs, leaving her to her thoughts. None of this seemed fair, why did it have to be him? How could Hyperion have been one of those monsters? Begrudgingly, I thought of my song again, no longer wishing for someone to sing it with. All I had ever known was clouds going dark, and I was tired of all of these songs. These rules.

  I cried in my rooms for hours, until I could only feel numb. I had seen this coming; I knew what was going to happen, it always did. I could’ve stopped him; I could’ve saved him.

  Chapter Five

  During first period, I sat there, blankly staring into space. I could only feel numb at this point; I had seen it coming. This wasn’t surprising in the slightest…but it still hurt. I had done everything I could to ease the pain, but nothing worked. All I could do was watch as everyone else’s clouds went dark too.

  As I stared into space, I now knew that one of the rumors had been true. Insiders do die young, and at their own hands. My brother hadn’t had a song, it was the only explanation that made sense to me now. Why he had refused to sing it at the annual check-ups every year, why he would never share it with me. The fury at everything in the entire world and nothing all at the same time was overwhelming. I needed to get my mind off of it, so for the first time ever, I decided to listen to Aztec’s lecture.

  “–and then that led to the attacks on the northern and southern United States in 1861 when we, unfortunately, lost countless men and women fighting to protect us. But as we know, one of the few soldiers who survived was a man named?”

  “Henri la Beaulieu!” Everyone in the classroom chorused.

  “Yes, a man that came from our French allies during the war, who would later build the wonderful society we know of today.” I almost scoffed at that. Nothing about this was wonderful. “Henri picked himself up after watching so many of his colleagues die around him and did something so great that it would be remembered for centuries to come. But he would not know success until years after his death.

  “In the year of 1897, when the Japanese fighter planes came and bombed one of our biggest ports, sending poisoned air and water down south towards what we know as the old Outsider towns. But Henri Beaulieu, despite his retirement, set up a simple and efficient system of young men who would either volunteer if they had a higher status, or be drafted if they were from the poor towns. Giving so many lives a newfound purpose. These men eventually fought us to freedom, and with Henri’s new way of getting soldiers, we would have much more success in our later endeavors. After everything had been set right, Henri devised a way to ensure we would never have to face death, violence, or any sorrow ever again.

  “He developed the system we know of today, with middle-class citizens such as yourselves, as Standards, and the high and in charge as Opulents. The Outsiders didn’t come until about 1935, because of another incident regarding the Japanese and German soldiers this time. They came and bombed us again, leaving our country in ruins, and it took a while to recover, but we eventually fixed the ingenious system Henri had set for us. Even though it was way after Henri’s time, the idea of ranks inspired people, so soon enough the system spread to almost every continent. But as you know some of the people in the British nations were not pleased with this. They thought we were taking away their freedom. The British rulers refused to join us causing the major war we fight today, known as?”

  Many hands flew up into the air and some kid that I had never spoken to before, answered. “The Fissure War.”

  “Correct, and does anyone know who our allies are in this war currently?”

  My hand shot up; this was easy. “France, of course.”

  “Very good. France is trying their best to keep the southern side of the British nation under control.”

  I sighed, wondering why this war had gone on for so long if we had such strong allies backing us up.

  “Because our nation was built on half French, and half American, we learn French as our second language, and our singers are called Chanteuses. We owe all of our thanks to Henri la Beaulieu, who founded our perfect nation and society known as Lieu.

  “A long line of leaders descended from Henri, including our very own Head Official, Mr. Rafael Lieu. Because of these brave men and women, we have prospered for years since the war, and I don’t doubt that the Fissure War will also be a success story.”

  I realized that I had been wrong in blaming them. And that Lieu was the only thing that was solid, something concrete and unchanging. Our society had a firm foundation, and that was all that mattered. I didn’t care how many people’s clouds went dark on me, because I knew that Lieu’s never would.

  At lunch, I didn’t bother looking at my friends’ clouds. I didn’t speak, and no one asked. Raven was looking at me with concern in her blue eyes the entire time, but I refused to meet her gaze. It would only remind me of someone else’s blue eyes. Eyes I didn’t want to remember right now. I didn’t need to deal with her worry anyway. I didn’t think I could if I tried.

  Everything was connecting in my head like puzzle pieces. He had been an Insider; he had been scared. But the mystery of his cloud darkening still didn’t make sense. Maybe the stress of remaining a secret was just too much
to keep?

  I couldn’t imagine living in fear every day. Waking up every morning, wondering if it was the day you’d be taken away. His death made me doubt the people around me. How many other people’s clouds would darken by tomorrow? How many would be dead tomorrow? I didn’t want the answer, but I made a pact that I would be careful of who I spoke to from now on. My parents had drifted apart in what seemed like seconds, and my brother had died suddenly without warning to anyone but me.

  “Tethys?” Raven finally said something; I knew it would happen eventually. “You seem…quiet…are you okay?”

  I gave a weak nod but didn’t make eye contact. The thought of speaking to her brought tears to my eyes. I was not going to cry here.

  “She’s sad, because her brother died.” Quite possibly the most annoying person in the entire school, Avalon, yelled over. “Honestly, got what he deserved. Filthy Insider.”

  “Yeah!” His useless sidekick, Charley, screamed.

  I quickly stood up and walked towards the cafeteria exit as fast as I could, and as soon as I made it out of the door, I burst into a sprint all of the way to the bathroom. Everything seemed to make the fact that he was gone all the more real. These were people, real-life people, ones with emotions, fears, hearts, and I didn’t know who I could trust anymore. I had no clue who would be announced as an Outsider tomorrow, who would leave tomorrow, who would be dead, and who would be hurt tomorrow. But I knew one thing, it wasn’t going to me.

  Chapter Six

  When I got home, I went straight to my room. My mother didn’t follow me, and I didn’t want her too.

  After a while, she brought dinner up and wordlessly sat beside me on the bed.

  “Hey…” She set her hand on top of my own, placing the plate on my nightstand. “Sweetie, I know it’s hard, but…it’ll all get better with time.”

  I looked down, not wanting to speak to her. My eyes went to her cloud, it was only a little darker, but I didn’t even trust that anymore. “I know…” I mumbled, wiping away my tears. I was so tired of crying.