Status: One-shot
Brown
One-shot
Word count: 1,083
Brown…
The color mocks me constantly. Everything that it is, everything that it represents is exactly what I wish I had.
It was simple, unlike my life.
It was reliable, like I hoped someone in my world would be.
It symbolized a home, something I never had.
Those thoughts ran through my head without my consent, I knew what triggered them. The man that had walked past me had the darkest hair I had ever seen, it was shiny but not greasy, soft but strong, and for some reason my mind could only form one word to describe it. Brown.
“You’re crazy” I thought, “one color shouldn’t effect you like this.
I knew that already, but that didn’t stop me from flinching every time someone said that word, or stop me from wanting to run away whenever someone spoke to me while wearing clothing dyed that color.
I wasn’t born this way; I haven’t harbored this fear of a color for years. No, these feelings were forced upon me.
The year was 2056, the hologram I had been speaking to suddenly faded away just moments before a tall, dark haired man walked into my small office and stopped in front of my desk.
His face was unreadable, even I, someone who had been taught since birth how to read body language and facial expressions like a book, was unable to do so.
“68135-ZOK75,” his voice turned my blood to ice and keeping eye contact was nearly impossible. “Disposal in section four, your presence is requested immediately.”
I hated disposals, they were always the same. A life-less body would be lying in a puddle of its own blood and I’d be forced to remove it. Not knowing who the person was or anything about them. Like me, they were simply another number.
“Understood,” I said as calmly as my cracking voice allowed. “I’ll report there now.” The man’s gaze never left mine and I suddenly realized why he was the dictator. No one else on this planet could be as heartless as he was.
I tore my eyes away from the man’s and focused them on the small red button on the side of my desk. My hand raised as if to press it, but it froze in mid air. I had been doing this job for far too long, another disposal would break me, make me pliable like the rest of the population, I just knew it.
The man noticed my inability to send myself to the scene and without saying a word, slammed his hand down on the button.
The familiar feeling of being pulled through space engulfed me just seconds before I found myself standing in what looked and smelled like an intergalactic junk yard.
Anything that couldn’t be used, or had outlived its usefulness could be found in one of the seven junkyards located around the universe and this was definitely not a place one would go willingly.
Pirates, monsters, and things words couldn’t even describe were known to live on the planets being used for junkyards and I had never been more relieved to see the crowd of police standing in a small circle and talking as if this was just another day.
It took me a few moments to find the body since I hadn’t expected this “body” to still be alive and trying to crawl towards the group of men and women who wouldn’t even spare her a glance.
“Why are you standing there?!” I screamed as I ran toward the blood covered woman. The moment my hands touched her shoulders, she let out a sigh of relief.
“Thank you,” she whispered and allowed me to turn her over on her back. The girl was no more than sixteen and there was a deep cut on her forehead as well as her abdomen. I wasn’t a healer and never even dreamed of being one, but I knew her injuries weren’t enough to kill her on their own. Of course without proper bandaging and medicines it was possible that she could bleed to death or even contract an infection, but there was no reason for me to be here to dispose of her. She didn’t have to die.
“Someone get a healer!” I shouted but the group of people didn’t even seem to hear me. It was as if they didn’t care.
“T-they w-won’t,” the girl stuttered and I could practically feel the life draining out of her.
“Somebody help!” I screamed. One man, who had apparently gotten tired of hearing me scream at the group walked over and kneeled down on the other side of the girl; careful not to get any blood on his clothes.
“What is it that you need?” He asked with a smile that seemed too perfect to be real.
“I need someone to help me save her,” I said. It was very obvious from my view point, a woman was dying and she didn’t have to. Of course I wanted help her.
“That’s impossible,” said the man without dropping the smile that was starting to make my insides boil. “The information on her death has already been placed in the system. There’s nothing I can do to change it.”
“There has to be something,” I cried and hugged the shallow breathing girl closer to my chest. As if my life force could sustain hers.
“There is one thing, but please place the victim on the ground and step back.” I immediately complied. Later I would admit that his request sounded off, that he in no way seemed as if he was going to help her, but at that moment I would have trusted anyone that said they could save the girl’s life.
Before I could scream or even register what the officer was going to do, the man removed his weapon from his holster and pointed it at the young woman’s head before firing.
Our eyes had locked right before the act and I watched as her bright brown eyes dimmed to nothing more than shell of what they used to be.
“You can dispose of this body now.”
As that memory played out in my mind I had made it to my destination. With a firm push to the glass door in front of me I walked into the tallest building in the universe.
“Good morning, Dictator,” I heard from my right and without looking to see who had spoken I answered.
“It’s anything but.”
Brown…
The color mocks me constantly. Everything that it is, everything that it represents is exactly what I wish I had.
It was simple, unlike my life.
It was reliable, like I hoped someone in my world would be.
It symbolized a home, something I never had.
Those thoughts ran through my head without my consent, I knew what triggered them. The man that had walked past me had the darkest hair I had ever seen, it was shiny but not greasy, soft but strong, and for some reason my mind could only form one word to describe it. Brown.
“You’re crazy” I thought, “one color shouldn’t effect you like this.
I knew that already, but that didn’t stop me from flinching every time someone said that word, or stop me from wanting to run away whenever someone spoke to me while wearing clothing dyed that color.
I wasn’t born this way; I haven’t harbored this fear of a color for years. No, these feelings were forced upon me.
The year was 2056, the hologram I had been speaking to suddenly faded away just moments before a tall, dark haired man walked into my small office and stopped in front of my desk.
His face was unreadable, even I, someone who had been taught since birth how to read body language and facial expressions like a book, was unable to do so.
“68135-ZOK75,” his voice turned my blood to ice and keeping eye contact was nearly impossible. “Disposal in section four, your presence is requested immediately.”
I hated disposals, they were always the same. A life-less body would be lying in a puddle of its own blood and I’d be forced to remove it. Not knowing who the person was or anything about them. Like me, they were simply another number.
“Understood,” I said as calmly as my cracking voice allowed. “I’ll report there now.” The man’s gaze never left mine and I suddenly realized why he was the dictator. No one else on this planet could be as heartless as he was.
I tore my eyes away from the man’s and focused them on the small red button on the side of my desk. My hand raised as if to press it, but it froze in mid air. I had been doing this job for far too long, another disposal would break me, make me pliable like the rest of the population, I just knew it.
The man noticed my inability to send myself to the scene and without saying a word, slammed his hand down on the button.
The familiar feeling of being pulled through space engulfed me just seconds before I found myself standing in what looked and smelled like an intergalactic junk yard.
Anything that couldn’t be used, or had outlived its usefulness could be found in one of the seven junkyards located around the universe and this was definitely not a place one would go willingly.
Pirates, monsters, and things words couldn’t even describe were known to live on the planets being used for junkyards and I had never been more relieved to see the crowd of police standing in a small circle and talking as if this was just another day.
It took me a few moments to find the body since I hadn’t expected this “body” to still be alive and trying to crawl towards the group of men and women who wouldn’t even spare her a glance.
“Why are you standing there?!” I screamed as I ran toward the blood covered woman. The moment my hands touched her shoulders, she let out a sigh of relief.
“Thank you,” she whispered and allowed me to turn her over on her back. The girl was no more than sixteen and there was a deep cut on her forehead as well as her abdomen. I wasn’t a healer and never even dreamed of being one, but I knew her injuries weren’t enough to kill her on their own. Of course without proper bandaging and medicines it was possible that she could bleed to death or even contract an infection, but there was no reason for me to be here to dispose of her. She didn’t have to die.
“Someone get a healer!” I shouted but the group of people didn’t even seem to hear me. It was as if they didn’t care.
“T-they w-won’t,” the girl stuttered and I could practically feel the life draining out of her.
“Somebody help!” I screamed. One man, who had apparently gotten tired of hearing me scream at the group walked over and kneeled down on the other side of the girl; careful not to get any blood on his clothes.
“What is it that you need?” He asked with a smile that seemed too perfect to be real.
“I need someone to help me save her,” I said. It was very obvious from my view point, a woman was dying and she didn’t have to. Of course I wanted help her.
“That’s impossible,” said the man without dropping the smile that was starting to make my insides boil. “The information on her death has already been placed in the system. There’s nothing I can do to change it.”
“There has to be something,” I cried and hugged the shallow breathing girl closer to my chest. As if my life force could sustain hers.
“There is one thing, but please place the victim on the ground and step back.” I immediately complied. Later I would admit that his request sounded off, that he in no way seemed as if he was going to help her, but at that moment I would have trusted anyone that said they could save the girl’s life.
Before I could scream or even register what the officer was going to do, the man removed his weapon from his holster and pointed it at the young woman’s head before firing.
Our eyes had locked right before the act and I watched as her bright brown eyes dimmed to nothing more than shell of what they used to be.
“You can dispose of this body now.”
As that memory played out in my mind I had made it to my destination. With a firm push to the glass door in front of me I walked into the tallest building in the universe.
“Good morning, Dictator,” I heard from my right and without looking to see who had spoken I answered.
“It’s anything but.”