MIXED SHORT STORIES

PART II: THE RAINBOW: EIGHT COLORS OF HOPE

IN the next village, Iris found Turquoise. He played and began to sing in the street using his old guitar, but no one noticed him. People are just ignoring him. That didn’t cause him to stop because he continued until the string of his guitar broke. Sadly he stood up from the reclining wooden bench and carried his broken guitar, and then he walked away from the village. Iris followed him on his journey.

Turquoise stopped and turned to him. “Miss, you are following me?”

“I want to accompany you on your journey because I want to hear your wonderful music again.”

Turquoise’s face changed as Iris liked his voice. “Really? Did you like my voice?

Irish nodded. “Yes, Sir! Your voice is so sweet that it seems to relieve my grief.”

He was tearful. ”This is the first time anyone has noticed my talent. Thank you!”

“Why are you doing this? Why are you still traveling to share your voice? Aren’t you tired?”

“Music is my happiness. I want to share it with the world. I’m also tired, but all I need is rest.”

“Your intentions are excellent. May I go with you on your journey?”

“Of course! What’s your name?”

“Iris!”

“I’m Turquoise. Nice to meet you, Iris. From where are you? Are you a traveler like me?”

“Yes, I am!” Iris fixed his guitar by flicking her finger. She also handed the bag of gold to him. “Accept this as my reward for your dedication to share your talent.”

He accepted it, but unlike the others, it did not shine. ‘Did I make a mistake? But I believe he deserves it!’

They continued their journey and came to a quiet town. When Iris and Turquoise entered the city, the people immediately went out and looked at them as if it was the first time anyone had visited their village. Men grabbed their swords and pointed at them. He blocked Iris to protect her from the villagers.

“We’re not here to take your land. We’re just travelers who want to share our talent,” he played the guitar to show them that they are not taking their land.

They stepped away from them because of the sound coming from his guitar. Turquoise continued to play until some nodded and were overwhelmed by the music. The quiet village is now full of joy from the people—some are dancing, singing, and some are laughing. The children start running around with joy. The bag of gold began to glow but not as bright as the others.

While having fun, an older man approached Iris and handed her a bag of gold. It shines in his palms. “It fell out from your pocket,” he said and gave it to her.

“Can you see the light in your hands?”

He nodded, “I don’t know what this thing is, but it brings peace to my heart.”

“You already own that thing. I’m giving that to you. You can keep it.”

“Indigo is my name. But I can’t accept this thing,” he looked at people rejoicing. “They need me to keep the peace in this place. Many men wanted to take our land, but this is our land, and no one can take this away from us.”

“I understand. You don’t have to leave this town. But still, accept it—there is a reason why you are the one who found it. One day, you will be the guide of people all over the world. You will be the bridge for everyone to reconcile so that they respect each other. There is no land dispute; you will mediate the war so that they can stop and get along.”

“But, I won’t last long. I’m old...”

Iris smiled at Indigo. “I’ll be waiting for you at the right time and place. You’ll be one of us and help me bring peace to the world.”

Indigo slipped the bag of gold into his pocket and happily watched the people in the village. He’s the oldest and the leader, he fought for many years for his people, and it was the first time he saw them with pure happiness.

Turquoise, on the other hand, became brighter while singing happily. Someone else began to draw on the ground while listening to the music. Iris realized that there are different kinds of art. Music, dance, painting, sculpture, theater, literature, cinema, photography, and comics. A possible reason why he is still not bright as others. He needs to continue his journey to look for people who can do other arts and share knowledge with the world.

Turquoise looked at her and motioned for her to come closer. Indigo nodded to his side, so she stood up.

“Iris, I want to continue my journey. Will you still be with me?”

“You can now travel alone with full of hope in your heart. You have also fulfilled your dream of sharing your talent with others. You will continue, and one day when you have completed that goal, you will join me in my journey and be a symbol of hope to those who have dreams in the field of art.”

“You can count on me,” then Turquoise resumed the journey.

Meanwhile, Iris said goodbye to Indigo to continue her search for special humans to complete her mission.

IRIS was stranded in a desert the next day, and when she roamed around, she saw people almost lose their lives because of the extreme heat and have nothing to eat. They have no source of food. They live only under the rocks in the middle of the desert. Red and Green arrived with water and some fruit to feed them. Red approached her and gave her an apple and water on a leaf for her to drink.

Their faces are exhausted, but they do not complain. “Why are you doing this thing? If you can leave us in this place?”

Red and Green looked at each other and looked at her. “You are our family. We cannot leave you. As long as we have the strength, we will continue to help you,” said Red. “I don’t want us all to die without even trying to fight for life,” and then he stared at her. “You’re not from here. How did you end up in our place?”

“I’m a traveler, so I got stuck here. What happened in this place?”

“A sand storm swept away our houses and brought us here. We still have a long way to go before we reach the forest. They can no longer continue to walk because of their weakening bodies,” Green cried. “If I could just bring the trees closer here, if I could just dig deep to have water here, I would have done it. We’ve tried so many times, but we’ve always failed.”

She noticed some pits around, but they were not very deep, so there was still no water. She watched Green and Red as they gave fruit one by one to those present. In the end, they ate nothing. She sliced the apple she was holding and handed it to them.

“You need to be strong because you’re the only one they expect to help them.”

Red began to cough. “We won’t be last long either. Our bodies will soon give up too.”

Iris saw that the two bags of gold in her pouch shone. Red is a symbol of life, and Green is for nature. She doesn’t have to look anymore because they automatically point out the deserving ones. Green started digging again while Red lay down for a while. He was tired from the long journey because he was also the one who carried the fruits.

She handed Green a bag of gold. Green just looked at her and resumed what she was doing.

“We don’t need gold. All we need is shelter, food, and water to survive.”

Wanting to have water in the desert, Green did not stop digging until she was utterly weakened. Red tried to get up to go to Green and immediately gave her water to drink, but Green didn’t move.

“Please, save her. I beg you. We will do everything as long as you help her.”

Iris handed the bag of gold to him. “Take this and be a symbol of life. You will be the guide of people who have lost hope of living. You and Green are together because nature will be the source of livelihood for man, while you give hope for them to live.”

Red accepted what she gave and handed Green one. They both shone and eventually became red and green stones, then from the sky, the indigo stone fell. Indigo finally said goodbye to the people in his village. Iris picked up the three stones and placed them in a particular place. The greenstone shone, and gradually the plants grew in the environment. There were also animals and waterfalls. Slowly the people gained strength because they had enough water to drink.

They are very grateful to nature that helped them and continues to live their life. They also began to make their habitat from trees. The indigo stone shine to create harmony in the place. The pink stone also shone for the gender of the babies to be born, and the shining light was coming from the yellow stone to give them light. The orange stone shone to provide hope for recovery. Iris is happy because she can already see the result of her journey.

There are only two left, Turquoise, who is still traveling, and Violet, for the spirit.

Iris travels again to find Violet, but she is always disappointed. The bag of gold does not glow. Her journey is almost ended, so she needs to find the person to light up the remaining gold.

Every place she went was always full of fun because of the different talents people displayed. There has also been progressed because people can invent. There is equipment for taking beautiful pictures, cinemas to entertain the spectators. There are theaters for acting, singing, dancing, and other different talents. Now people are not shy to show their abilities. They sing and dance freely, smile often, and have peace and respect in between.

A girl approached Iris as she sat under a tree where she thought deeply. She looked clean and white. She also noticed the small wing on the back that looked like a bird.

“What does an angel do here on earth?”

“I haven’t been to heaven yet. My wings aren’t quite complete, so I need to accompany you on your journey.”

Iris stood up sharply as the remaining gold she was carrying glowed. “You... you are what I’m looking for!” Iris happily embraced her. From above, the Turquoise stone fell in front of Iris. It means Turquoise has succeeded in his dream of sharing talent with other people. Because of that, Violet’s wings gradually grew and became complete. The bag of gold approached Violet spontaneously, so she took it. All the stones reappeared in human form as they shone in different colors. It was a beautiful sight. They all had a smile on their lips as they held hands under the tree.

They looked at the spirits roaming the area. They didn’t seem to know where they were heading. That is where they realize that it was Violet’s job to give way to the spirits to ascend to heaven. Violet’s body glowed; her light became the path of the souls to heaven. They all lined up in front of Violet as if waiting for them to come up.

Iris couldn’t help but burst into tears of joy because she had also completed her mission.

“I’m happy to say my journey is over, but that doesn’t mean we stop from here, and this is just the beginning of our ministry.”

Green: I will preserve the beauty of nature in the world so that people have enough food. I will be their hope after the storm.

Red: I will be their hope to move on with life after all their suffering. And to show them how beautiful life is.

Orange: I will give hope to people with serious illnesses who still do what they want to do.

Yellow: I will be their light after darkness—the light for their hope and new beginnings.

Turquoise: I will shape their talent and give them hope to pursue what they want to achieve so that they do not give up on their dreams.

Indigo: I will be the hope of the world whenever there is a misunderstanding. I will be the mediator for the two sides to reconcile and maintain world peace.

Pink: I will give hope to those afraid to show who they are, what their true gender is, and tell them that everyone is just equal.

Violet: I will be the guide of all spirits so that they can ascend to heaven peacefully with all of your help.

After their speech, they formed the dazzling beauty of the different colors coming from their bodies. That builds a bridge to heaven where the spirits and Iris will travel. All the people were amazed to see that different light, and it brought new hope into their hearts, and they had a deeper faith.

And those different lights were called THE RAINBOW.

-END