A young man, roughly the age of fifteen, left the front door of his home and wandered away. A dark cloud followed him around while his face held an intense expression of doom. So much darkness. Blackness. Blacker than black.
“My soul is black.” muttered the teenager as he stumped his way down the street. “There is little left to salvage my darkened soul, so why even bother?”
His pace did not change as he passed house after house but his demeanor grew more downtrodden. It was from the corner of his eye that he noticed a shadow following him. He stopped and turned and a little girl, maybe the age of nine, smiled back at him.
“Hi!” she waved at him.
“Stand back little girl. For I am evil and there is nothing anyone can do about it.” he muttered as he continued on his way.
She hurried to catch up to him and tried to take his hand. He pulled away and hurried his pace. She caught up to him and yanked with a preternatural strength and he was forced to heel. He brushed her hand away and glared at her.
“Do you like colors?” she asked as she twirled back and forth.
He gestured angrily at his outfit that was all black. “No.”
She threw her hands up in the air, “Come on! Everyone likes colors!”
“Not me.” He tried to back away from her but she was persistent. His shoulders slumped.
With a silly grin painted across her face, she asked, “If you had to choose one color that would be yours forever, what would it be?”
“Black. Black as night. Black as the blackest black.”
“Black is not a color!” she pouted. “Pick a color! I have lots!”
It was only then that he noticed that the inside of her little jacket was painted like a rainbow but the colors seemed alive.
‘What can I do to make this little girl leave me alone?’ he thought to himself. “Fine.” he said to her. “Purple then. Purple so dark it borders on black.”
“Purple it is!” she cried in delight. She pulled a strip of purple from the inside of her coat and tossed it to him.
“This is lavender, not purple!” he cried as he tried to keep the color from falling to the ground.
“Purple!” she shouted in joy as she pirouetted in place. “See? I’ve brightened your day! Happy day to you!”
She ran over and gave him a hug. He had to admit that he did actually feel better. Maybe everything wasn’t as dark and gloomy as he had initially thought. Suddenly she pushed him and he fell through the open manhole. His head smashed against the concrete. He lay there unmoving as the neighborhood flotsam soaked into his clothes and hair.
“Purple is yours forever!” the little girl cheered. “Forever, forever, forever… “
Jon Gray Lang.com 