The Colour

June 2023

We have officially run out of food. I hand the final apple to a small boy with teeth more crooked then the leaning tower of Pisa. His eyes light up with joy at the bright red fruit in front of him. I smile, waiting for him to leave.
“Thank you Davy.” He says.
“You’re welcome. Go sit down with everyone else.” I say.
Felix takes his rosy cheeks and sunny smile to plop down at a small, violet, plastic camping table. My smile drops. I turn to Hooper.
“Hoop, we’re out of food.” I say. When I look in her eyes, it seems like she isn’t completely there. She smiles back at me.
“We just need to thin it out and make it stretch a few more days. Aunt Fey hasn’t given us the signal that she has more food for us.” She says.
“No, we are completely out of food.”
Her smile stays plastered on her face for a little too long.
“I guess we’ll have to see Aunt Fey early then.”
Aunt Fey is the kindest old lady I have ever met. Well, I have actually met very few old ladies, but she is very kind. She lives Above, but she helps us. She collects food for “less fortunate children outside of the city” and then gives it to us. We always need more food Under. The more people that come here, the more food we need, and we still haven’t found a way to grow food. Aunt Fey always smiles and greets me like an old friend. The first time I met her she brought me in for the longest, warmest hug I have ever felt. The only thing she asks for is art. She misses the art from before, so we bring her art from Under. Whenever I visit Aunt Fey, I never want to leave. When I am with her, nothing is hard and everything is kind. Even though everything Above is grey, Aunt Fey brings more colour than the world deserves.
Hooper notices the time. 3 hours until dinner. We have 3 hours to get food for the entire Under. Hooper is tougher than she looks. Her smile always hides the fact that she would kill to keep everyone Under safe and her river-blue eyes distract from the blood stains in her mind. Hooper has always kept me safe. When we were kids, I fell out of a tree and she tried to catch me. I was fine, but she broke her arm from me falling on top of her. She never let anything hurt me.
I toss a backpack over my shoulder. It used to be black but has since faded to a blueish-grey. I look to Hooper, hoping she has some grand plan hidden inside the tools we are grabbing, but I can’t seem to find it. I toss rope and scissors and tape and anything else you could possibly need when going to get food.
“Do you have a way back if I get stuck Above?” Hooper says.
“You’re not going to get stuck.” I say, “We never have.”
We march ourselves to the stairs. I look back at all the colours. The art, the paint, the tents pitched overflowing with blankets stitched to add personality to each temporary home. The stairs stare at me. Hooper has already made herself halfway up the flight. I can see each step becoming slowly more bleached, drained of its colour the higher they get. I begin the ascent. I watch all evidence of colour become washed away as the world becomes more and more grey. One step, red becomes pink. Two steps, pink becomes blush. Three steps becomes a faint flush. Four steps is beige. 5 steps- its grey. Everything is grey.
The hatch cover groans open and natural light floods in. Or maybe unnatural light. It could be any time of day. The fluorescent floodlights streaming out of every building Above make time irrelevant. Everything is sharp Above. The corners turn ninety degrees and the air tastes of iron. The second the fake breeze touches my hair, every adrenal gland in my brain fires off. I dust off my crinkled grey business skirt and my lightly stained white blouse and plaster an irreverent smile to my lips.
Hooper and I have been to Aunt Fey’s house so many times I could direct you there without blinking. We walk left. The yellow tint coming from every window cuts through the greys of the rest of the buildings. We pass Barber’s Hair and Jim’s Convenience store and turn right. I clench my jaw.
“Watch out for Authorities.” Hooper says.
I watch her grasp her belt. She always tucks a pocket knife there. If we were ever caught we would immediately be taken because citizens have no need for self-protection, so a weapon shows that we are traitors to the city. We pass Barber’s Hair and Jim’s Convenience store and turn left.
I tap Hooper’s right leg while barely moving my hand and point my shoulder at two men in uniforms. My heart beat becomes faster than a freight train and sinks faster than an anchor. My mind fills with thoughts so quickly it nearly blinds me and I blink so slowly I might fall asleep. My smile sticks to my cheeks pinching my eyes closed. The two men look at us with dead smiles their eyes trace down to our feet and then slowly drag back up. They nod. We nod. We keep walking. My heart settles back to being a regular draft horse. We pass Barber’s Hair and Jim’s Convenience and continue straight.
We pass one more Barber’s Hair and Jim’s Convenience and turn left. There is the house. The only house with a slanted roof. The odd one out in the sea of bland rectangular boxes. Hooper puts her fist up and knocks twice. The last time I did this I was immediately handed a cup of tea. No one answers. Hooper’s eyes shoot back at me. My smile slips down. I take my turn to rap quickly on the door. No one answers. I turn the handle and push through the doorway.
I am immediately assaulted with a sea of broken colours. Every piece of art that has been given to Aunt Fey lies on the floor of the entrance. Some smashed, some slashed some holding gashes that could kill a man. Every colour has melded together to form a rainbow of destruction. I feel Hooper push past me and she sprints to the back of the house.
“They took her. The Authorities took her.” She says.
“Hooper, she could have moved because someone ransacked the house. Maybe it was her time to go, she was really old, and they did this after she-” I don’t finish my sentence.
I tread through the paints and fabrics to the living room. A cup of tea is still sitting on the coffee table, taunting me in its saucer. Everything is still in place except for the art. The art was the only thing in this house that wasn’t regulation. The only thing you can’t get Above.
“Hooper. I think we need to leave.” I say. I stare at the tea, getting colder by the second. “Hooper. Let’s go.”
I run to the back of the house. Aunt Fey kept all of the art at the back of the house, near the kitchen. There is nothing left. Everything we gave her has been destroyed. All the evidence of us existing has been demolished. Hooper is scrambling at the pantry, heaving bags of produce over her shoulder. I grab at as many as I can. There won’t be any more food runs for a while. She pulls my arm and I sprint. I haven’t run this fast in too long. I feel every joint buckle and my legs plod heavily along the ground, trying desperately to keep me moving while carrying piles of food.
Jim’s Convenience is supposed to be a friendly place. Familiar every time you see it. Every store is laid out exactly the same so you don’t have to worry about not knowing where anything is. Every time I pass one the grey façade of the store gets more menacing. It tells me that I cannot have what is inside any more. It speaks to me about the control Authorities have over Corporates and the entire city. Everyone I pass, I want to smash in it’s windows.
We reach the subway steps. We should have been caught. I hurl my body down the stairs before Hooper can warn me to be careful. At the bottom I want to vomit.
“I think they were trying to send a message to us.” I say while heaving to get any air into my lungs. “Everything except the art was exactly where it was supposed to be.”
“We never should have put Aunt Fey into this. This is my fault. It’s my fault that they took her.” She says.
“This isn’t your fault. Aunt Fey knew-”
“I’m going to get her.”
“What? Where? We don’t know where the Authorities have taken her.”
“I don’t care. I’m going to get her.” She says. There is so much stubbornness in her furrowed brows and pursed lips.
“Ok, I’m coming with you.”