The Tale of Colors: Part 2-Orange
For Part 1: Click Here
I knew something was wrong.
Red had been acting strange for days, bossing us around more, breathing heavy, checking things over and over. They were things that Red did on a regular basis, but it was the way Red did them. With shaking hands, and a sweaty face. I’d been worried, but there wasn’t anything I could do. If I asked Red what had happen, Red would totally deny it, and the others, well they weren’t much help either.
“Red’s always acting strange.” Green had reasoned, when I informed her of Red’s strange behavior. “You’re just paranoid.”
“Fair.” Yellow agreed, “About Red acting weird” Yellow added quickly, “Not you being paranoid. You’re great, Orange!”
“Well Red’s not acting strange all the time!” Blue defended, “Just…most of the time.”
So I tried to forget all about it and focus. They were right. Worrying was just a vital part of Red being Red. No need for me to worry.
But after seeing the orange grove, all black and empty devoid of color, I knew this wasn’t regular.
“Red,” I whispered, “Was this it? Is this what’s had you so worried, these past few days?”
“No.” Red croaked, eyes widening with fear, “No.”
“It’s still there.” Blue concluded, touching the very solid orange groves, “The color’s just black.”
“Maybe we can color it again?” peeped Yellow.
Green’s eyes narrowed, “Wait, what did you say Orange?”
“Huh?” I asked, confused. “Were you talking to me or Yell — ”
“You said something to Red.” Green repeated impatiently, “Something like Is this it?”
“Wait, you knew about this Red?” Blue asked, voice dripping with hurt.
“No!” Red defended, “I mean — yes. Well, not exactly.” Red was stuttering now, eyes wild as they darted between Blue, Green, and the horrid black block of orange groves.
“C’mon guys!” I yelled, trying to break the tensions, “Placing blames on each other isn’t helping anyone.” I added trying to sound as neutral and anti-Red-is-the-leader-and-we-should-be-nicer-to-Red as I could. That was something the others were always telling me I should stop doing. Stop being such a Red fan. A ripoff. An admirer. But I couldn’t help it. Being the second to Red was all I knew. If I wasn’t that, what was I?
“Yeah, I’m with Orange!” Blue agreed, standing in between Green and Red. “Let’s calm down and try to figure out what’s going on.”
Green looked ready to explode with anger, but surprisingly held composure, “Fine.”
Thirty minutes later we were sitting in the Conference Room of Color HQ, with the Color Managers a group of higher, the group having explained everything that had happened from painting the groves to having found them.
“So you’re telling us that the groves didn’t disappear, but that they were just colored black?” asked the lead Color Manager, who had a golden badge to sign his importance.
“Yes, exactly.” Blue replied.
Usually Red was the one who spoke in these kinds of meetings but she was still too shaken. Yellow also seems stressed, and kept fidgeting nervously. Green was too angry, and no one ever asks me to do these kinds of things so that just left Blue, the quiet one.
“Hmmm, that’s strange,” said the Color Manager at the corner of the table with the bronze badge, “Only Black has the color black and she’s a part of The Neutrals.
The Neutrals were their own little trio, Black, Brown, and White, who supplied us with the neutral colors for our projects in return for some resources provided by the Color Mangers. The Neutrals had always been loyal, so everyone knew it couldn’t have been them who had done this. So who else was left?
“Maybe The Neutrals supplied colors to someone who did this. ” Green offered bitterly, “I never believed that ‘graciously giving us colors out of the good in their heart’ act, anyway,”
Yellow was sweating now, her head down in shame.
Suddenly the words and whispers and debates all faded away as I watched Yellow look so afraid.
Poor thing I thought, Yellow must be worrying about Red, and the everything else that was going on.
She was so caring, I honestly couldn’t be surprised.
“You alright?” I asked worriedly, noticing Green sneak a look at my direction. I looked away. Whatever Green was thinking was irrelevant, I had to help take care of my friends.
“Huh?” Yellow blurted, as if snapped from a trance, “Oh. Yes, just worried. You know, with everything going on it can be a stressful time. Especially when we don’t have much information.” she blabbed.
“Speaking of information…” Green said, interrupting one of the Color Managers, “Does anyone think they might have anything that could help us figure this out? You know, a lead?”
“A lead??” Red screamed hopping out of her chair, I flinched, Red had been so quiet that the outburst was most shocking, “What is this?! We all know The Neutrals would never do this! It’s obviously Violet and Indigo horsing around, like always!”
Yellow looked positively sick, now. Yellow was the closest out of all of us to the Purples, and just hearing must have felt terrible. I could relate, with all of the hate that everyone had shown, Red and all.
“We don’t anything for sure,” Blue reasoned softly, touching Red’s shoulder supportively. “All we know is that Black is the only one who had access to that color, and Black is part of The Neutrals.”
“Red has a point though,” The Color Manager with the bronze badge said, “ We’ve been working together for eons. If The Neutrals had a problem, it would have come out ages ago.”
“Still, investigating is best,” The gold badged Color Manager proclaimed, to which the rest nodded.
Green managed a tight nod in return before facing the group, “So does anyone anything new? About the Purples? The Neutrals? ”
“Nothing.” Red said, voice cold once more.
“Me neither.” I agreed.
“Nothing?” The silver Color Manager pressed.
“N-nothing.” Yellow whispered, shaking her head sadly.
“I wish I knew anything.” Green sighed, “Nothing.”
“Nothing.” Blue finished.
We looked at the Color Managers for hope, but they just shook their heads sadly.
“We can’t take action against The Neutrals without proof.” The bronze badged one said, “We’ll pay for any investigation expenses, but other than that, we really can’t provide help without proof.”
“Give us proof, we’ll take action.” The silver one decreed, “Till then, keep on fixing any more of these wrongly colored objects, and investigate. Best of luck.”
“Conference dismissed!” Hollered the gold badged Color Manager.
And with the dismissal of the conference, so dismissed all of our hopes.
For Part 3: Click Here
