A Colorful World

To Crimson, the room sounded intensely Green. She didn’t tell her friends, though, because that would be weird. As far as Crimson was aware no one heard Colors except her, so she sat back on the very comfy, and extremely ugly, plaid couch in her living room to enjoy the Green, letting her friends prattle on in the background.

One of her friends, Zeek, leaned back and poked her shoulder from behind the backs of the two others on the couch, who were leaning energetically into the conversation. “You okay?”

Crimson started. “Oh. Yeah, I’m great.”

Zeek raised a bushy eyebrow.

“What? I am.”

“When you get like this – trying to disappear from the group – I know something’s up.”

Crimson’s thoughts raced. Should she tell Zeek the truth? Should she just go along with his incorrect assumption? Lie? What would be a suitable lie?

Instead, she let out a “Meep!” then sank farther into the couch, her face feeling hot.

“Sorry,” Zeek chuckled, “If you want us to leave, that’s totally fine.”

Crimson shook her head, not trusting herself to speak. Other heads on the couch and around the room were starting to turn towards Zeek and Crimson, making Crimson want to disappear. It seemed a wonder to her that she didn’t just melt into the couch.

As she let the couch envelop her, she noticed an Orange buzz in the air. She hated that sound, one that made her cringe, like nails on a chalkboard, and she could feel all eyes on her peculiar posture. Sweat began dripping from what felt like every crevice of her body, and she couldn’t find any words to make a joke or explain what was happening. She wasn’t about to risk another pathetic “meep”, so she sat in sweaty silence, not comprehending what the group was saying.

Her friends quickly returned to conversation, though it felt like an eternity to Crimson. The wave of discomfort passed after the initial onslaught of Orange. The Orange had become fainter as she sat up with a quiet groan. She received a few glances, which she could only assume were due to how weird she had been, so she tried to act as normal as possible. It was still hard to register what was being said with the annoying Orange buzz, but the conversation seemed to have the soft hum of Brown coming on. She enjoyed Brown, as it indicated all sorts of Colors mixing together.

Crimson felt another poke on her side and found Zeek looking around the backs of the others on the couch again. Leaning back, she heard a big wave of Pink behind everyone that seemed to be emanating from Zeek. He rubbed his ears with his fingertips and shook his head with a pained look on his face, dark hair rolling about his large shoulders. Crimson’s stomach dropped to the bottom of the ocean. Could he know what her little episode was about? Surely not, so she gave him a confused look she hoped was misleading.

Hiding her concern at the brief encounter with Zeek, Crimson and Zeek returned to the conversation that had continued around her. But the conversation wasn’t really there. Two people had left, and the other three were getting ready to leave.

“Why’s everyone leaving?” she muttered to herself.

Alice heard and replied, making Crimson cringe. “Definitely no offense to you, but we were just feeling done for the day.”

Of course, Crimson’s instinct was to take offense, which she was annoyed about. She knew they didn’t leave because of her, but it still felt that way. The sound of Orange was coming back slightly, making her grimace.

The last person out was Garren who grabbed his rain jacket as he headed out into the gentle rain. Crimson sighed and settled back on the couch and had an inward groan at seeing Zeek scoot over. Apparently Garren wasn’t the last.

“What do you want?” she asked flatly.

“Oh, nothing. Just hearing some odd sounds today.”

Crimson’s eyebrows came together. “Strange. I haven’t heard anything.”

Zeek raised an eyebrow again. “Oh?”

Crimson sighed, flopping a little in her slouch. “Yes. Just hearing the ordinary conversation of the crew.”

“Orange?” Zeek asked.

A renewed concern raked Crimson’s face. “What about it?”

Zeek rolled his eyes. “Come on, just say it.”

“Say what?”

“You can be really stubborn sometimes,” Zeek sighed, “I’m not leaving until you say something.”

Crimson tried to keep her voice from shaking. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Zeek moved to an armchair – equally ugly as the couch – across the coffee table to look directly at Crimson. “Green? Orange?” Crimson started to panic. Zeek still was emanating Pink. “Chill out. There’s no Red.”

Crimson tried to say something, her eyes bulging, but no words came out. “Wha? You? Sigh…”

Zeek waited patiently, the Pink still very prevalent.

“No. Nothing,” said Crimson.

Zeek rolled his eyes again. “You know you can trust me, right?”

Crimson opened her mouth, but didn’t know what to say.

“You could start by saying, ‘I heard…’” Zeek offered patiently.

“No.”

Zeek crossed his arms, leaning back in the ugly armchair. The Pink was starting to turn to a light Red.

“Uh...“ Crimson swallowed, trying to wet her dry throat. “I heard…”

Zeek nodded encouragingly, Pink coming back.

“I heard Co–” Crimson shook her head.

Again, Zeek nodded encouragingly. “You heard Co…”

“Colors.” Crimson grimaced, ready for Zeek’s judgement.

“Colors,” he smiled, the sound of Pink radiating from him. The room was starting to throb with the sound of it. “And? What about them?”

“I –” she shook her head.

Zeek paused, sighing again. “Have you ever heard Rainbow?”

“What?”

“You heard me. Have you?”

“No,” she said slowly.

“Well now’s the perfect opportunity,” Zeek said matter-of-factly.

Crimson’s breath was shallow. She could hear a slight, deep, dark Blue in addition to the Pink. That was a new one.

“It’s even better than Green,” Zeek grinned.

Crimson’s jaw dropped. “You know?”

Zeek gave a slight nod.

“And you’re not judging me for it?”

He leaned forward. “Of course not. Why would I do that?”

“Because it’s weird,” Crimson mumbled.

“That’s where you’re wrong.”

Words escaped Crimson again, her mouth hanging open.

“Let’s go outside.” Zeek headed toward the door.

Crimson followed on unsteady legs. “Sure.”

Zeek opened the front door to the patio, motioning for Crimson to follow. A satisfied smile crossed his face as he closed his eyes.

Still hesitant, Crimson stepped up to his side, eyeing him sideways. “Why –”

“Listen.”

Crimson did. She listened intently, and her eyes widened at what she heard. “Rainbow,” she whispered. “It’s beautiful. Why haven’t I heard it before? It rains a lot.”

“It has to be raining just the right amount. Not a downpour and not sprinkling. Somewhere in the middle. And yeah, it is beautiful. Not just pleasant and comforting like Green from earlier, but beautiful, amazing.”

Crimson looked at him, curiosity blooming on her face. “You can hear them too? Colors?”

Zeek nodded with a wry smile. “I feel like I’ve already confirmed this,” then added, “If you know what to listen for, you can pick out who else can hear Colors.”

Crimson waited for more of an explanation, but none came. “Is that how you knew what was happening in there?”

Zeek nodded again, leaning against a pole supporting the patio roof.

“Come on. Give me something of an explanation. You can’t just leave me hanging like that.”

Zeek smiled again. Sometimes he seemed to do that too much. “Well, since you asked so kindly. I will. Other people who can hear Colors have a tiny bit of a sound. Not a Color like usual, but more of a pure tone.”

Crimson frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said. People who can hear colors have a very quiet, pure tone coming from them.” He rotated his hand to point at Crimson. “Some time ago we ran into each other in Alice’s house, and being that close, I heard a pure tone coming from you.”

“I can’t hear anything from you. How close do you need to be?” Her hands trembled on the railing.

Zeek gestured for her to come closer. “This close.” He wrapped her in a tight hug.

Crimson’s breath caught. She had fantasized about being this close to Zeek. Then she heard something coming from his chest. It was exactly what he said: a single, beautiful note, barely audible. The Pink was almost overpowering, but she could hear his soft tone. “I hear it,” she whispered.

Zeek remained silent, holding her close. After too short a time, he let go, his face distorted from holding back a grin.

“What else do you know?” Crimson asked.

“Well, I know whales are mammals,” Zeek smirked, “Two plus two is four…”

“Don’t be stupid. You know what I mean.” She could hear a Yellow hum from his direction across the table.

He gestured to a chair. “Sit.”

Crimson did so, waiting eagerly, and a little nervously, for what he might say.

“How many Colors can you hear?”

“All of them,” Crimson said cautiously.

He gave a single nod. “Occasionally someone will only be able to hear a few, which is a bummer for them.” he smiled, leaning back, “but that doesn’t change anything.”

“Okay… What does that have to do with me?”

“Nothing really, just useful information. People who can’t hear all Colors don’t sound as pure as you and I do. Their Sound wavers a little.”

Crimson leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table, waiting for more.

“There’s not much else to it, really. You can hear how other people feel and what the general environment is like.”

“I figured out that much on my own.”

He nodded, as if expecting that. “You probably remember how the room sounded Brown in there?” He gestured toward the door.

“Yeah…”

“Could you pick out the sounds that made up the Brown?”

“No.” she cocked her head, “I’ve never tried that, but I could tell a bunch of Colors were present to make the Brown.”

“Try on me. I’ll attempt to dig up a couple memories to sound multiple Colors.”

Crimson listened, and after a few seconds she heard Purple. She focused more on the composition of the Purple. “Red and Blue,” she said, “Purple is a decent sound, but Red by itself is an awful sound. Blue is pretty nice. Then there’s also the Rainbow all around.”

Zeek nodded in approval with a smile. “I’ll leave you with one more thing.”

Crimson leaned forward even more, eager for the knowledge.

“You can hear your own color if you pay really close attention.” Then he turned to leave, the Pink fading as his departure drew him farther away.

Crimson sat back and tried to listen to her Colors. She was surprised to find Pink also, and incredibly strong. And she heard a little bit of Grey. There also seemed to be some Orange that wouldn’t quiet, and noticing it made it a little louder.

Baffled, she went back inside to the silence of her house, secretly wishing Zeek was back and wishing for ordinary hearing. Hearing Colors was cool and all, but this new information made her feel even more different from the rest of her friends. Being unique was fine; everybody was unique, but being different made the Orange a little louder.