Monochrome Stories

He stares at me for a bit, and I can't say anything. I feel sorry for him, but what do I do during times like these? Do I hug him for comfort? Do I give him advice? Do I yeet my way out of here? He looks back at the game and continues playing. 

I inch closer to him and put my left arm around his shoulder. "What are you doing?" He asks with a very confused tone in his voice. I honestly have no idea what I'm doing.

"Uh I'm trying to comfort you." I reply. 

He looks at me with a weird look and bursts into a laugh. "You're so awkward!" He exclaims as he pats me on the back.

"I really have no idea what to do during moments like these. I didn't have many friends before so this is very new to me."

"Oh." He says as he pauses the game. "Why?"

I try to unpause it, but only the one that paused it can do so, so I probably look like an idiot here pressing the same buŧŧon over and over. Damn you video vames! 

"Right... About that..." I look at the clock. "Hey look at the time. We should turn in for the night."

"Oh. You're right." He replies. "But before that, do you wanna go out for a bit.? There's somewhere I wanna go to."

"Dude, it's 2am. Where would you even wanna go this late?"

"Ugh... Fine." I say as I shut the console off.

He stands up and picks up his guitar. "You're gonna bring that?" I ask. 

"Well, yeah." He replies. 

"Seriously, where are we going?"

"You'll see..." He says as he winks and opens the door. "Come on. This is the perfect time to be there."

We get to the front door. Crimson opens it and a mellow breeze brushes across our faces. He starts walking ahead of me, and I follow after. He didn't say a thing while we were walking, and I didn't wanna ask. It's weird how I just followed him in the middle of the night to God knows where and-OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL IS GONNA HAPPEN TO ME?!

"Relax." He suddenly says. "I'm not gonna do anything to you. I just wanna show you a place that means a lot to me..."

"Where would that place be?" I ask, reassured by what he said.

"You'll see when we get there." He replies.

"And we're here." He says as he points to an open view of the city, with safety bars ro ensure that nobody falls, but I have a feeling somebody already did. He walks towards the bars and grabs them tightly as he lets out a shout. He stops to catch his breath, then looks at me. "Wanna try?" He asks.

I walk towards the bars and stop in front of it. I look at Crimson, and he was looking at me too. I breath in slowly... And just let it all out.

Crimson bursts into laughter and pats me on the back. "I didn't know you had it in you." He says.

"Neither did I." I reply. "So will you tell me why you brought me here?"

He turns his back from the view and sits down, with his back resting on the bars. I do the same. "I come here when I have a lot going on in my mind." He explains. "When I moved here, I was just walking around to find a convenience store, and somehow I saw a path leading here. I dunno. I just felt compelled to follow it... But I'm glad I did. This place really calms me down. Especially when I remember horrible memories." He looks at me and places his index finger on my forehead. "Which is why I brought ypu here too. Not only do I trust you a lot, but I feel like you just have a lot on your mind too. It doesn't matter if you tell me what's wrong or not, but I want you to feel at least a little better either by shouting your problems away, or just by looking at the amazing view." He says as he turns his head to peek at the view.

I turn around to face the view, and it really is amazing. The lights on the houses look like stars plastered on a black canvas. It's soothing, but it feels empty. Like there's some part of it still missing... But I just can't put my finger on what it could be.

I turn to face Crimson again and prepare myself. I breath in, and out. "Crimson." I call his name.

He looks at me. "What is it?" He asks.

"Can I be honest with you?" I ask very nervously. Shit. Am I actually ready to tell him this? I'm not really sure...

"Promise me you won't laugh?"

"I won't laugh."

"You won't think I'm crazy?"

"I won't. I promise."

Here goes...

"I... I have a certain illness." I tell him, with a bit of shakiness in my voice.

He inches closer to me. "An illness?" He asks.

"Kinda? I'm a bit... Weird... I can see the colors of everything, except people. But that's not really it. God, I'm having a hard time trying to explain it. I'm sorry. This is the first time I've done this."

He laughs a little then punches me lightly on the arm. "You don't have to stress yourself out over this. It's okay if you can't explain it properly." He says. "But can I ask you something?"

"You said that you can't see the colors or people, right? So then what color do you see me as?"

"What color? Well... You're a bright red color."

"A bright red?"

"Yeah. It's very suiting for your name."

"But I thought you couldn't see the colors of people?"

"Well, growing up, I found some people that had colors, and so those were the ones I hung out with. But I guess the world really hates me. The people I've met before go back to being grey after some time. I just don't know why. If I knew, then I'd do anything just to stop it from happening."

"I see... Actually, there's something that's been bothering me with your explanation." He says with his arms crossed and a bit of doubt on his face.

"What is it?" I ask.

"Why don't you just talk to people even if you can't see their colors? Is there something different when you talk to people with colors?"

"I'm already listening to you talking about this illness that I didn't even know was possible. I don't think there can be anything weirder than that." He jokingly says.

I chuckle. "Well, I can't really feel any emotions when talking to grey figures." I explain. "I can't really describe it, but if I talk to people with no colors, I sound like a robot. Monotone and no emotions."

"Why?"

"Well, I wish I knew. That's why I didn't have much friends growing up. Whenever the colors of people I knew vanished, we moved. We moved constantly because my parents still wanted me to live normally. And every time we moved, we hoped that there would be somebody with colors that I could be with. It wasn't the best way to do it, but it was all we could do. I'm still a bit scared though."

"Of what?"

"I'm scared of how peaceful everything is right now. I'm scared that the happiness I got will vanish just as quickly as I got it. I'm scared that one day, when I'm actually enjoying my time with you guys, that you'll all just suddenly lose your colors. I'm scared of a lot of things, but I'm scared of loneliness the most..." I say as I hug my knees tightly and tilt my head down. I could feel the tears coming out of my eyes and dripping on the cold cement we were sitting on. The world's quieter and peaceful than usual.

"Hey..." I hear Crimson say. "It's okay to be scared. I don't know how hard you've had it so I'm not really in any position to tell you anything, but if it makes you feel any better, I'll make sure that you'll always see my colors."

I look at him with a confused look on my face as I wipe my tears away. "How are you gonna do that?" I ask.

"W-well I don't really know, but I'm gonna risk anything just to make sure it you won't be alone. You've helped me a lot today. You even listened to my whole stupid rant. Thanks. I really mean it. I'm happy I have a friend like you."

He laughs and grabs my hand to get up. "Yeah. Sorry for dragging you out here. I know how hard it is get up and down from here." He says.

"It's fine." I reply as we start to walk down the hill.

"Can I ask another question?" He asks.

"Sure. What is it?"

"Well... I was wondering... Have you really given up on Lilac?"

I stare at him long enough to make him uncomfortable. I can see him fidgeting with his fingers. I couldn't really say anything. I'm not mad. It's just, why would he ask this?

"Yeah." I reply. "I don't even know if I ever really liked her. I might've just felt relief when I saw her with colors."

"I see... So then, would you mind if I liked her?"

I stare at him with a very confused look on my face. What the fuċk???

"Why are you asking me this??" I ask.

He looks at me with a serious look on his face. "I like her." He says. "I just wanted to ask for you permission just so we're transparent with each other. I don't want any more secrets with my friends."

I laugh as I ruffle his hair. "You're adorable!" I tell him. "You're free to like who you wanna like. You don't need to ask me permission for anything."

"Then what about your other friend? Doesn't he like her too? Do you think he'll be okay with it?" He asks.

"Other friend?"

"Yeah. The reason why you gave up on Lilac."

"Oh... You must be talking about White. I don't know if he'll be okay with it, but who am I to stop you, right?"

"You know, I haven't seen the two of you hanging out much anymore. Did something happen?"

He's right though. I've been going to the music room everyday so we've hardly had the chance to hang out.

"I guess we haven't. I don't think anything happened between us though. We still talk at the classroom so I'm sure there isn't any bad blood between us."

"Well, if you say so..."

We continue walking until we get home. We immediately head straight for the room and lie down. I was honestly tired as hell, so I fell asleep as soon as I lied down. The day that I thought would never end finally ended with me having a friend that knows my secret and still accepts me. I can never be happier.