COLORLESS

Chapter 3

Will they take him away?

What will happen now?

What will people say?

How will he feel when he is the only one without a color?

My mind raced across every question, everything that could happen from Ash being bullied to him being taken away from us, experimented on.

Each thought more nightmarish than the previous, each one drawing more tears as my heart ached for my brother, the brother whom I shared a room with for five years, the same one who likes to call me Ari the same little brother whom I taught to play soccer, my brother, my Ash.

How can I let him fall into a haunting future?

I won’t let him.

I roughly wiped my tears away with the back of my hand, removing any sign of weakness from my face as I made up my mind.

No one is taking him away from me.

I took a deep breath, my hands shaking as I pushed away any thoughts about the consequence of my action in the far corner of my brain.

“No” I spoke, but no one even bothered to acknowledge it, immersed in their sorrow.

But I am not, not anymore.

Crying will get us nowhere and Dad knew that I saw him lift his head and lock eyes with me, I stared back, letting him see the determination burning in my eyes.

" NO” I said more strongly, pushing my shoulder back as if I am about to speak in front of an audience. Gathering all the courage.

Their heads snapped in my direction, focused on me, waiting to hear what I have to say.

" He has a color” Ash’s fingers were still dipped in the water, till the cuticles, lazily resting on the rim of the bowl, I dipped my fingers into the water, grazing it slightly and then putting it deeper, I immediately felt the full of the water, pulling my colors from my veins, all my colors but I resisted and instead let it pull only one color,

electric blue started spreading from my fingers like ink in water, like veins reaching towards Ash’s fingers, threading with his and I pulled my hand out, willing the color to stay there, the water pushed it away, tried to,

but I am stronger, I have practice, seven years of practice, the water of Xile doesn’t bother me now, I refuse to let it.

The color took shape wrapping around his fingers until it gave the illusion that it was extracted from Ash’s fingers.

He gasped, immersing his fingers knuckle deep and he gazed at me, the question clear on his lips but I didn’t let him voice it.

" He has a color” mom swallowed, we knew what it meant.

Hiding my identity was easy, compared to the current situation, train to hone your colors, hide it from everyone else, but what can we do to protect Ash, he has no color, we can’t train him in anything, we can’t lie.

We can’t hide him.

And I won’t let anything snatch him away, no matter how much mom and dad will try to convince me that there are other ways, talk me out of it, but I won’t move from my decision,

they either stand with me or against me.

A tense silence passed, no one uttered a word, still stuck in the conflict.

But there is nothing to think about, there is no better way.

One week from today Ash has to go for identification, he would have to perform the same ceremony there and then smear his color on his ID card, only he doesn’t have a color and we don’t have an answer for that.

" He has a color” dad spoke, voice as strong as mine as he raised to stand beside me, placing a hand on my shoulder in support.

" He has a color” Skye spoke, pressing closer to Ash.

We know the risk, the identity of both me and Ash is in line.

If one of us goes down then others will sink along.

" Ok” mom agreed, drying her tears.

We don’t know what will happen if anyone of us is found out, we don’t and we are not willing to take any chances, we didn’t take one seven years and we won’t take one now.

Sometime later everyone retired to their beds, the food never touched.

But I couldn’t sleep so I sat on the nook on the window, one leg dangling out of the window as I gazed up at the full moon hanging bright on the pitch-black sky. No starts twinkled tonight, either that or I can’t see through my tear blurred eyes.

The chilling October air caressed my face, drying my train of tears that doesn’t seem to stop.

I tried to remember what had happened after my ceremony, how had I felt after my discovery and the memory came rushing.

I remember, vividly.

I was afraid,

of myself,

afraid of my colors,

afraid that I might hurt someone.

I was scared thinking that the weight of so much power might crush me, only it didn’t. They didn’t let it happen. Mom, Dad, Kayden, Skye even baby Ash.

They helped me train, helped me control it, and embrace it.

I delicately raised my hand and smiled as threads of pale purple started extending from my fingertips, like the smoke of an incense stick, curling around my fingers in languid and graceful movement, soothing my over-worried mind.

It curved, taking shape at my will, forming a streamlined body, then extending it into delicate wings, the little birdy fluttered its new wings, beaks, and eyes forming on my thought, she looked at me with keen eyes, then nuzzled its wings.

Unfurling her wings she flew to hand on my shoulder on my silent request.

I sat in silence, just letting the chilling breeze blow the strands of silver hair across my face.

That was the trademark of Perez family, we all had silver locks and brown eyes, we all took after dad but many times I have wished for mom’s sparkling green eyes.

Hours passed, and as the sun peaked through the clouds and painted the sky in beautiful shades of pink, purple, and yellow, I was recalled that it is time to train.

But I can barely lift my finger, my exhaustion weighing me down.

I don’t want to get up and face the world, no I wanted to stay here in my room all day.

But what about Ash? What is he doing right now?

In our sadness we forgot that he is just a ten-year-old and disappointment weighs more on him because kids don’t know how to deal with it.

And I made a promise to myself yesterday, that no matter what I will always protect him.

With my mindset on the task, I pushed off the window sill and tried to stand, as expected my joints were stiff, muscles frozen due to cold, I could barely move without feeling exhausted and not to mention my eyes were so puffy and red they were feeling sore.

I almost chuckled at that, stretching a few times till my limbs were working properly, I swung the window closed and watched as the birdy flew from my shoulder, having spent the night in my support.

She didn’t chirp, creations are not alive no matter how much I want them to be, they are just a manifestation of our imagination.

The birdy followed me, circling me in excitement that I failed to reciprocate.

I padded towards his room, just beside mine.

The doorknob didn’t feel cool under my hand, probably because I was already freezing.

I quietly pushed open the door, it swung open without a sound and the warmth of the room pulled me forward.

Everything was in place, just where it previously was, we siblings tend to get destructive when we are boiling angry, and it usually starts with throwing the cloths from the closet to punching the wall.

Ash is not that temperamental but that was probably because he is just ten.

And there he was, curled up in the blanket on one side of the bed, face streaked with tears as he slept peacefully.

He cried to sleep.

But unlike him I couldn’t sleep, my thoughts were too loud.

I took in a deep breath. Positivity in. I exhaled. Negativity out.

I sent the bird in his direction; she flapped her wings in his face and c****d her head to the side as if curious. He didn’t wake up, just tried to shake her away, I saw that as my cue and jumped on the bed, hugging him from behind,

" Good morning” I said loud enough that he woke up with a jolt, or maybe it was because I was could, probably both.

" Wha are yawn doing yawn “, he spoke groggily, rubbing his eyes as he tried to stretch his hands.

" Ew, morning breath, why are you even talking” I pushed away from him and rolled to the other side of the bed.

The bird sat on his comforter trying to pull it away with her beak.

“It’s Sunday, why are you waking me up,” he said yawning again and stretching like a cat, hitting my head with his arm, I pushed him away.

" We have training to do” I exclaimed, stifling a yawn, maybe I should have taken some sleep after all.

He didn’t respond, didn’t move, just gazed at the ceiling, thoughtful.

" What if we get caught?” He asked after a few minutes of thoughtful silence, voice laden with incertitude.

" We won’t, I didn’t get caught in seven years, we won’t” I spoke with finality and all the confidence I have gathered through the years of cheating the identification and keeping my abilities in check.

" But wh-”

" Ash,- I interrupted him before he could let his doubts surface- do you trust me?” I asked, neither of us looking at each other but we don’t need to read expressions to know.

" Yes”

" Then trust me to find a way out of this” I spoke firmly. With determination and resolve.

I will find a way out of this.