World of Color | Skephalo

IV

Zak stared wide-eyed at the door in which Darryl had just rushed out of. There so many thoughts running through his head. The one that spoke the loudest was, what the hell just happened?

It took him a few moments, but he snapped out of his trance and grabbed the bag Darryl left behind and ran out from behind the counter, hoping he could catch up to him.

He shoved the door open and ran out onto the sidewalk. He looked to his left and to his right, colors shining back at him, but he was too focused on finding Darryl to care about the bright reds, greens and purples he saw flashing all around him. He began to panic when he couldn't see Darryl anywhere.

Then, he saw a glimpse of light brown hair turn the corner down the street. Following his heart, he booked it across the street, dodging people walking by. They shouted obscenities at him and some shoved back when he bumped into them. He didn't care though, the only thing running through his mind was that he needed to find his soulmate.

Struggling slightly for breath, he turned the corner sharply and continued running. In front of him was nothing but a dark street, dimly lit with street lamps. The golden hue of the bulbs gave off an eerie feeling thy he wasn't used to, but Zak ignored it. As he ran, he noticed a park up ahead to his left. He had never been to this area of the city.

He slowed down as he passed by, hoping maybe Darryl were cutting through the park. The area was dark, no light poles were on since it wasn't yet late enough for the timer to switch them on. He looked around at the dark green trees and the empty, colorful playground.

As he continued walking, he heard a quiet noise. He snapped his head around to a bench along a path, where a lone figure sat hunched over with their head in their hands. The noise came from the person, and it sounded like crying.

As he stepped closer, he noticed it wasn't a man, but a woman instead. He quickly backed up, not wanting to make her frightened since she definitely wasn't who Zak was looking for. He turned on his heel and walked back out of the park, towards the shop he had left unattended.

Feeling defeated, he hung his head low as he walked. somewhat dragging his feet. Now looking down at his shoes, he noticed they weren't grey or black like he thought, but they were a dark blue. His pants were black, as his mom had labeled, and his hoodie was also light blue like he thought.

"This is going to take a while to get used to," he thought as he opened the door to the shop once more. Luckily, no one was inside waiting for him, so he was able to drag himself back behind the counter and sit on the stool that was there. He set the bag with Darryl's game back on the counter and wrote a note out saying it was left behind. He didn't have Darryl's number or information in order to contact him and let him know he left it, though he wasn't sure he would even want to talk to Zak.

As he sat there, he wondered what he did wrong. All he wanted to do was find his soulmate so he could see the beautiful colors of the world around him. Though now that he had found him, all he could do was stare at the counter and think about him. He didn't care about the bright posters on the walls, of the multitude of colors on the game cases lining the walls. He didn't care about the color of the carpet, or the bright color of his phone case.

All he cared about was finding Darryl and talking to him, and Zak knew he would do just that.

The rest of the night went slowly, though Zak just wanted to get home. Eventually, the time hit for him to clean up and head home. He vacuumed the floor and closed the register for the night, then headed out the door.

He locked the front door to the store and turned on his heel to make the trip back home. Usually, Zak would just put in his headphones and keep his head down, but today was different.