A Color Pencil's Journey

A hand extended toward me. The cheeto-dust-covered fingers reached out, groping for a purple crayon. It picked me up and lowered me to the bright white Paper. 

“No! Please No! Have mercy!”, I screamed in desperation as I tried to wiggle free from the child’s grip. Of course, the monster didn’t listen. My head gave way and left traces on the cool Paper. Paper was squirming with fear, as I was pressed harder into Paper, he screamed and tore. The monster crumpled Paper in his fist and threw him on the floor. Oh, no! Soon, there would be nothing left of me, and the monster could break me into pieces or keep writing till I’m just a stub.

I jolted awake and recalled the horrible dream I had just had. I shivered with fear. It was a color pencil’s worst nightmare. 

“Help! I’m dying”, someone shouted. “Please. Help me!”. The voice seemed familiar. I heard muffled groans around me as the other colored pencils woke up. After Yellow sleepily pulled off his eye mask and crawled out of bed, all 11 of us investigated the noise together. Finding Red sobbing outside the safety of our box, we crawled into the blinding light to help her.

“Help me! I’m dying. I’m running out of color!”, screamed Red. Sure enough, when we looked up, Red had become shorter, much shorter than before. Of course, this sent us all into a panic. Red sobbed loudly in her corner. Yellow ran around screaming his head off. Blue just stared into the distance. Green sat down and rocked back and forth. And me? I pondered. I couldn’t just let Red die. She was my best friend. If she died, then who else was I supposed to tell secrets to and annoy Orange with? I had to save Red!

“We have to try to help her”, I said. 

“But how?”, asked Green. We thought about it in silence.

 “Well, we could ask someone”, said Black, an already worn-down pencil who had accepted his fate days ago. 

“Who?”, said Brown. 

I racked my brains trying to think of someone we could ask. Finally, Orange broke the silence. “Isn’t it obvious?”, she asked. 

“Uh, no”, I responded. 

“Well, Purple, I’m smart enough to figure it out”, said Orange with a sneer. 

“Yeah? At least I have friends and I’m not lonely like you”, I shot back. 

Blue finally shook off his stupor and entered our discussion. 

“Guys, guys. Let’s not fight. Now, Orange, tell us who we should talk to?”. 

Orange huffed, “The Wise One. The Great Stapler. Duh”. 

Why didn’t I think about that? The Great Stapler knew the answers to everything.

 “Well, who’s gonna go ask him?”, asked Green. I stepped forward, proud of myself for attempting to make the journey and bring back the tool that would heal Red. 

“I will”, I announced. Then, noticing nobody else had stepped forward, I inched back. “Come on, guys. I’m not going by myself. One of you is coming with me”, I said. 

When no one volunteered, Green suggested that we draw a name. We put our names on slips of paper and I picked one out of a jar. 

“And the pencil accompanying me, Purple, is…”, I paused for dramatic effect and said, “Green!”. 

“You know what? Drawing names was a bad idea. Maybe we should vote or play rock-paper-scissors?” Green protested. 

“Too bad, Green. You’re going on this adventure as my sidekick”, I said. 

“Fine. But for the record, you’re MY sidekick”, Green said. 

Obviously, I’m the leader and he’s my sidekick. But whatever, I had better stuff to do than argue with Green about who the sidekick was. 

Early the next morning, we packed the supplies we needed. I packed a few sandwiches, a bottle of water, a rope, and a grappling hook. We set out to meet the Great Stapler. Luckily, he wasn’t too far away, just on the shelf above us. Green and I set out on our journey. To help Red, we had to step out of our pencil box. I slowly lifted the lid, and the store lights shone on us. 

“Woah!”, exclaimed Green. We usually never went out of our box unless necessary. The lights made it easier for us to be spotted and grabbed. Once we wriggled out of our box and shut the lid behind us, we crawled behind the box so we could talk without being spotted.

“Okay”, I said, “I have a grappling hook, so we need to climb up the rope as fast as possible”. “

Wait, you actually brought something like that?” Green asked. 

“Yeah, of course, it’s going to be a lifesaver. What did you pack?”. 

“Nothing”, Green said and turned away. Changing the subject, Green pointed at the back of the pencil box and said “Look, they have our names and pictures”. I looked at my picture and admired the flattering light. Then, I quickly drew a thick mustache and glasses on Orange’s picture. 

Green had thrown the grappling hook and secured it on an object. Squinting at the bright store lights, we quickly scaled the rope. At the top, we were faced with large wooden doors leading into a huge house. We knocked, and a tiny gray staple opened the door. 

“Um…Hello? We would like to talk to the Great Stapler”, I mumbled. After rapidly squeaking to another staple, the staple ushered us to another pair of doors. 

Green raised his hand and knocked. “Enter”, said a booming voice. 

The Great Stapler was sitting on a throne of staples. 

Green began, “O Wise One, our friend, Red–” 

“I know”, interrupted the Stapler in a bored voice, “I see everything. You will need a pencil sharpener. The closest one is on aisle 14”. 

“Aisle 14? That’s 3 aisles away?”, I said. 

”The journey will have many dangers. I wish you well on your adventure”, said the Great Stapler.  

“Could you help us?”, I asked. 

“No”. 

“Could you at least tell us what the dangers are?” Green tried. 

“No”, he said curtly, “Now leave”. 

After being directed outside the house, we stopped to think of a plan. 

“Now, what do we do?”, asked Green. 

“I guess we just have to get this pencil sharpener ourselves. The journey should take a few days”, I said. 

“Well, then, I guess we should get started”, Green said. 

“Oh, and don’t forget, don’t get seen by anybody, especially not a child”, I warned. 

Heading in the direction of Aisle 14, we quickly realized that three aisles away is a lot of walking. Especially with our stubby feet. We might have been able to roll, except that hurt our backs and made us super dizzy. 

After stumbling for less than a quarter of the aisle, suddenly the store closed and all the lights turned off! This meant that we could travel without the worry of being grabbed by a human. We kept walking, even though Green kept complaining about his feet hurting. “We’ll rest later. Remember, we have to get the pencil sharpener to save Red”, I said. But still, Green kept grumbling. 

I heard sounds in the distance and told Green to stop muttering. 

“What is that?”, I asked. 

“It sounds kinda like an engine”, Green replied. 

Suddenly a group of bikers turned around the corner of the aisle and surrounded us. Oh, shoot! They were the infamous mob of Sharpies. A few had sunglasses and bandanas. But they all had black bikes with fire painted on the sides. Because that’s definitely the first time anyone thought of that.

“A little cliché, don’t you think?”, I whispered to Green.

“Look what we got here”, said one of the Sharpies, “a couple of color pencils”. 

“I say we lock ‘em with the eraser”, another one chimed in. 

“What do we do?”, I whispered to Green. 

“Watch this”, he confidently replied. Then he ran forward and kicked a Sharpie off his bike. 

I think. Or at least, that's what it looked like he was trying to do. 

But in reality, his foot barely touched the Sharpie. Long story short, we ended up trapped on a shelf with both ends blocked off. The only company was an Eraser. 

“Did you get caught by the Sharpies too?”, asked Eraser. 

“Yeah. How long have you been here?”, I asked. 

“A couple of days”, replied Eraser. 

Green was finally waking up again. “Where are we?”, he asked. 

I ignored him and asked Eraser if there was any way to get out. We couldn’t stay here forever. We had to save Red. 

“...but they do open the door to give us food every day”, Eraser rambled. I noticed a small door in one of the barriers. 

“When’s the next meal?”, I asked. 

“Tomorrow at breakfast”, Eraser answered. 

“Okay, I have a plan to get out, but we’re gonna have to do some spying”.

The next morning, we waited by the door, diligently watching for anyone coming through. Finally, a Sharpie came through holding a plate of bread. 

“Now”, I yelled. 

Eraser and Green tackled the Sharpie, while I shut the door so no one heard his screams. Tying him up with my rope, we snuck out the door, sneaking glances left and right.

Last night, after sharing our story with Eraser, we discovered that we were farther from Aisle 14 than when we started. But, luckily, she said she’d help us. Plus, Eraser knew where they kept the motorcycles.

We watched the shed for an hour, keeping an eye on the guards and motorcycles (and the occasional game of tic-tac-toe). Finally, one of the shifts ended, signaling that the new guard would be there soon. That gave us just enough time to hop on a motorcycle and ride out of there. 

“Stop”, yelled the second guard, scrambling to catch up to us. But he was too slow, and we were long gone. We kept riding until the motorcycle began sputtering, slowly releasing grey fumes. 

But, at least we ended up at Aisle 13. We were so close to the pencil sharpener!

We finally took a break, as Green started whining about his legs again. Pulling out the sandwiches and water, we ate under the shade of a bottom shelf. While we enjoyed our food, I asked Green if he had any food in his bag. 

He replied “No”, and pushed his bag out of sight. 

Suddenly, the lights in the store turned on. We heard the dreaded sound of the glass doors whooshing open. Loud voices filled the air, and feet thundered all around us. 

“No, no, no”, I agonized. 

Eraser stood up and said, “We need to get out of sight. Now”. 

“Um, I think it might be a bit too late,'' Green said, pointing upward. 

A child, the size of a skyscraper, loomed in front of us. He had messy brown hair and his chin was covered in drool. He reached down, trying to grab us. 

“Run”, I screamed.

Eraser, Green, and I ran to the back of the shelf. But still, the child followed us. There was nowhere else to run. We were going to die! Red wouldn’t be saved. She would die too! I closed my eyes, not wanting to see the child. 

“Hey. Over here”, yelled a voice. I looked around and saw Scissors standing in front of a tunnel. As a child, I knew that Scissors were evil; after all, they cut everything in their path. 

But it was either the scissors or the child. And it was worth the risk. The three of us had a better chance of fighting off a Scissors. 

Scissors led us through the tunnel, and up a flight of stairs. She stopped in a dimly lit room, with a door on both sides. 

We had come through the first door, so I wondered where the second door led. 

“Why are you helping us?”, I asked, still wary of the razor-sharp blades of Scissors. 

“I saw you were in trouble, and I decided to help”, Scissors said. 

“But, aren’t all Scissors evil?”, asked Eraser bluntly. 

“No, just a few. But they’ve created a bad reputation for us all”, replied Scissors, “Anyway, why were you out in the open? Shouldn’t you be safe in your pencil box?”

 “We’re trying to get a pencil sharpener in Aisle 14, so we can save our friend Red”, I said.

“Oh, well you’re lucky I led you through this tunnel because this door leads to Aisle 14”.

She opened the second door and peered out. “It’s empty now. You should go save your friend”. 

Thanking Scissors for her generosity, we invited her to our pencil box for dinner the next week. Then, we continued our journey. 

After a long walk, I spotted the pencil sharpener. It was crystal blue and glinted in the bright light. And it was so close, just half an aisle away! We ran to the pencil sharpener, so relieved that we could save Red. Nothing could stop us now. 

But, something did stop us. 

All of a sudden, I couldn’t move. I saw Green and Eraser struggling to lift their legs. I noticed our feet were covered in a white, sticky substance. A Glue Stick stood in front of us. It yelled something incomprehensibly, and more Glue Sticks arrived. They applied more glue around our feet, so we had no chance of getting free. Then, a couple of Glue Sticks rolled out a red carpet. 

I was sure Green and Eraser’s confused expressions mirrored mine. A Glue Stick wearing a royal crown walked on the carpet. All the Glue Sticks bowed to her. She stopped in front of us and glared at us. “Get rid of the invaders”, she said.

“Wait, noooo”, I yelled, “We need the pencil sharpener to save our friend.” 

She looked at me and stated, “We protect the pencil sharpener. Unless you have something to give me, you will die”. 

I dumped out the contents of my backpack. All I had was a half-empty water bottle. 

“Green, do you have anything?” Eraser asked. 

“Uh, no”, Green said quickly. 

“Green, if you don’t have anything else, we’re all gonna die”, I yelled at him. 

He sighed and pulled out a teddy bear. 

“You brought only a teddy bear for an adventure?”, I scolded. 

The Glue Stick Queen saw the teddy bear and gasped “What a marvelous object. I will surely give you the pencil sharpener for that”. 

Even though Green was hesitant to give her the bear, Eraser and I persuaded him, promising to buy him an even better one. Finally, he relented, giving the teddy bear to the queen. She instructed the other Glue Sticks to let us go and even offered us a ride in her royal carriage. 

We rode the carriage back to our colored pencil box, and the ride took only an hour instead of a few days. We ran in and exclaimed loudly, “We got it! Red’s going to live!”

The colored pencils watched as we inserted Red into the pencil sharpener and turned her a few times. When we removed her, she came out looking brand new! We all yelled in celebration. Yellow turned up some music and we all started dancing. Green went straight to bed, exhausted from our journey. Orange seemed annoyed, but I think she was secretly glad that nobody died. Meanwhile, I said bye to Eraser. 

“I’m going to miss you. You helped us in our time of need.”

“I’ll miss you guys too. But I can’t wait to return home. I haven’t seen my family in a week”, Eraser replied. 

I watched her go and then returned to the party, glad that our pencil box was together again.