Tests, Allies, and Enemies

Charlee gleamed as they walked out the door forgetting about the gray outside world. The sun was setting on the city casting long shadows. But Charlee no longer fit into their drab surroundings. Their cheeks were pink from the cold, their jacket a shade of blue so deep you could almost reach into it, their orange socks poking out from their boots. They tucked The Plan under their arm and began to walk home.

After a few blocks Charlee heard a rustling back in an alley and quickened their pace. Then more shuffling in the deep doorway of an abandoned building. Shadows peering over their own shoulder at Charlee. They shivered. Walk faster. After quickly turning a corner Charlee felt someone or something grab at The Plan.

“Mine!” the shadow hissed.

Charlee recoiled and tightened their grip. They began walking faster, almost at a jog when they kept hearing the figures taunt from the shadows.

Give it to me.

It is ours.

Mine, MINE.

Charlee began running. The hands of the people reaching out towards The Plan. As Charlee dodged left and right and turned another corner they saw a large group of gloomy figures standing in the middle of the road. Illuminated by one flickering street lamp. Charlee froze and swallowed hard. And then, in unison, all of the figures took one loud step forward. Then another. Charlee stepped back. Trapped. The figures crept in the shadows behind them too. Looking down at The Plan tucked neatly inside their jacket they saw it. The pin. With a swift toss Charlee sent the shining pin far over the mob hearing the metal clang behind them. The crowd dispersed in a desperate search. After running to the outside door and a scuffle with the keys, Charlee was safe. Their heart beating high in their throat and lungs gasping for air.

Charlee mustered the strength to walk up the stairs and into the cozy two bedroom apartment.

“What is so special about this thing?” Charlee asked as they peered inside their jacket and pulled out The Plan unharmed. Setting it gently on the coffee table they saw the glow brighten. It seemed to melt into the gray coffee table spreading a tan puddle. Charlee gasped and picked it up and the puddle shrank into nothing. “What the-” they set it back down and watched The Plan change the table from a stone gray to a light birch finish. Then it advanced down the carpet turning the once unremarkable shag into a vibrant rust orange, next creeping up the walls that Charlee had remembered at one point were the rich emerald that showed through now. Before their very eyes the apartment had come to life, swirling with colors lost on the world now. The new hues spiraled in Charlee’s eyes and they were left speechless.

After putting on the brightest pair of purple pj’s they could find, and crawling in their bed layered in every vibrant patchwork quilt they could find, Charlee drifted off to sleep, but not before one last passing thought floated through their brain, ‘This thing is going to change the world.’

The next morning Charlee’s eyes popped open the moment the alarm clock struck its first bell.