World of Color | Skephalo

V

Golden rays of light poured in through the window, cascading all over the room as Zak slept. The curtains were open enough that eventually, one ray of light landed directly on his face, pulling him out of his sleep.

He groaned and stretched as he sat up in bed, spreading his arms wide and then out in front of him. He rubbed his face groggily and tossed the covers off of his legs. He swung his legs over he edge of his bed and pulled himself to his feet.

Zak looked to the window framed by grey, translucent curtains. He walked over and peered out, taking in the world around him. It was just a few days ago he was sitting at this same window, wondering when he would be able to look at the sky and see the bright blue, or look down at the flowers in the garden and see arrays of reds and yellows. Now, he was able to see it all.

He smiled and sighed lightly, turning on his heel to head over to his closet. Once there, he pulled out a bright sweatshirt, a color which the internet had described as a "Turquoise". He had to look up pronunciations of that word, since he had never heard it before. It was very difficult to sound out.

He threw on the sweatshirt and then pulled on another pair of sweatpants, this time a dark grey. Once he was ready, he headed down to the kitchen to talk to his family.

When he entered the kitchen, his mom was sitting at the table drinking coffee and reading a book. She looked up at him and raised an eyebrow at his color choice.

"That's a very... loud sweatshirt you have on today, sweetie. What did I label that as?" She asked, sipping on her coffee.

He grinned at her and looked down at his sweatshirt, "You labeled it as blue, but I think it's much more of a turquoise, don't you?"

When he looked up at his mom, she had a look of shock. She pushed her chair back and ran over to him, engulfing him in a bear hug. Zak hugged her back, laughing and she squeezed him.

"You met them? When? Where? Tell me everything!" She rambled, pulling back and holding him by the shoulders to look into his eyes.

At the mention of Darryl, Zak's heart sank, and with it sank his smile. His mother noticed, pulling him to sit at the table next to her.

"Zak, sweetie, what happened? Why don't you seem happy?" She brushed his hair back out of his face. He sighed, rubbing his face with his hands before he began to explain.

"Well, there was this one guy that always came into the shop, right? His name's Darryl, He's a little older than me, but I don't know how much exactly. Every time he came in, he always paid with a card or didn't buy anything at all. Yesterday, he came in and paid with cash. I went to take the money and my finger touched his, and then all of a sudden I could see color."

His mother sighed, looking at Zak. She smiled sweetly, touching his cheek.

"That's not all though, is it? Tell me what happened."

"As soon as I looked up at him, he ran out the door. He even left his game, so I tried to chase after him but I lost him after a few blocks. I don't know where he went and I don't think he's ever going to come back to the shop after that." He rushed to get it all out, not taking any breaths while speaking. When he was done, he took a large gasp of air, sighing it out as he looked at the ground. "I'm never going to see him again, am I?"

His mother looked at him and smiled sadly. He knew she wasn't sure, but that wasn't what she was going to say. She was a mother, after all. "Sweetie, everything happens for a reason. Obviously it's meant to be, the universe paired you two. I'm sure he just needs time to process everything, not everyone is excited as you to find their soulmate. Give him time, I'm sure he'll turn up again."