[Silver]

Where are we going? Why are we here?

Nothing shakes up the never ending quest for answers like a dramatic change. Silver’s grasp on reality was already pretty strained, so it took her awhile to realize that something was truly wrong. It wasn’t just her this time.

She watched in silence as the people of the town ran around in chaotic patterns. Some were yelling, some were stunned silent, but everyone was acting abnormally. She only wanted some tea. She sighed lightly and fiddled with the money in her pocket. That wasn’t going to happen, was it?

[Silver]

Silver listened to what the people had to say. They mostly sounded afraid, though there were some who were insisting that they had all the answers. She didn’t think they did, but she tried to listen to them, too. It was like these people had never woken up to a strange and confusing new world before.

One thing she knew from all the listening was that she was not alone. It really was different. For everyone. The color was gone. She could not have been certain before, but she was now. Everyone was talking about it and they certainly seemed genuine about how they felt. It was making her anxious to be around so many people running about.

[Silver]

Normally the city was quiet and peaceful. They all had things to do and they rarely took notice of her. She liked that and chose to visit from time to time, relying on the tranquil little town remaining the same. She couldn’t grow every single thing she would ever need, so she had to visit some time.

She wondered if she would have to move. Perhaps there was a lovely town just over the horizon where everything was still normal. Such a pity. She really liked it here. What would she tell her new friends? She wandered through the heart of the town and sat on the edge of a small fountain to contemplate her fate.

[Silver]

She had been sitting there for a while, just thinking about things and listening to passersby. None of them noticed her, of course, with their own things going on. It was hard to tell how long she had been thinking without the color change in the sky to indicate the passing day. She wasn’t ready to leave yet, regardless.

“Silver! There you are! Thank goodness.” The voice was familiar. It snapped her back to reality and she looked up to find her friend running toward the fountain where she sat. It must be important, because Kumoya didn’t usually run.

[Silver]

“Hello Kumoya,” Silver said. She waved her hand but didn’t put much effort into it.

“Are you okay? I was looking for you everywhere! You weren’t at home.”

“No I was… well I was going to get some tea, then I stopped here. The tea shop is closed.”

“Yea I don’t blame them,” Kumoya said. It was almost funny to her that Silver seemed to find the tea shop being closed the most annoying part of this.

“Hey… you don’t look so good… is everything alright?” Kumoya wasn’t one to show much concern, but she was worried about Silver. She was acting really weird, even for her.

[Silver]

“Yes, I am okay. It’s not just me, you know,” she said.

“What isn’t?”

“The color. It’s gone for everyone. I wonder where it has gone off to, and if I had anything to do with it.” Silver wasn’t usually so honest about things like this, but the amount of panicking people was making her feel a weird mixture of fear and guilt that she really wasn’t used to.

“How could you have anything to do with it?” Kumoya rolled her eyes. As if the whole world was without color because of one girl. As weird as she was, she didn’t think that sounded very likely.

[Silver]

“I guess… you’re right. It probably isn’t me. Is it like this at home? I wonder how far it spread.”

“Pretty far, I think.” Kumoya had been running around all day, but what she had been able to find out was sparse and unhelpful.

“We… we have to find it,” Silver said. Her voice sounded detached, like she wasn’t entirely present in the conversation.

“Find what?” Kumoya was becoming visibly uncomfortable with how strangely Silver was acting. She always said quirky stuff and alluded to a lot of things that didn’t make any sense, but it seemed amplified by whatever caused the color loss.

[Silver]

“The color!” Silver shot up from where she was sitting, unintentionally throwing Muse to the ground.

A couple of people walking by looked over at her when she shouted and started whispering amongst themselves. Kumoya reached out her hand and placed it gently on Silver’s shoulder.

“How about we have some food first, okay?” she was hoping that a little bit of food and some calm time to think things over would help Silver get herself back in order.

“We can’t stop to eat! We have to go. If we don’t find it, who will?”

[Silver]

“Hold on,” Kumoya grabbed Silver a little more roughly, trying to stop her from leaving. She was acutely aware of the possibility of onlookers thinking they were insane. It’s possible they were right.

“You have to slow down. You don’t even know that we can ‘find’ the color. That’s nonsense. We don’t know anything about what is going on.”

“You don’t understand,” Silver said. She pushed Kumoya away from her so that she couldn’t be stopped again. “We have to … we have to… I have to…” she was unable to finish her sentence as she swayed back and forth and ultimately hit the ground.

[Silver]

“Silver!” Kumoya called out. She rushed over and knelt down next to her friend. “Shit, shit,” she muttered to herself.

It was getting late so there was nobody walking past at that moment. If she could get her back up before anyone else came by, everything would be fine, but where to start? She checked for breathing since she didn’t know how to find a pulse or anything like that.

“C’mon, you have to get up now, we can go find the color together, but please get up.” It was rare that Kumoya was so vulnerable, but she was comforted by the fact that nobody could see her as far as she knew.

[Color Harvested]