Alyssion looked back out into the street. No one else was stopping. No one else was huddling in alleyways. If she stopped and talked, she would be unique.
Alyssion didn't want to be unique. She didn't want to be a name. She wanted to be the emotionless number they called her at work. Uniqueness caused conflict. And conflict was bad.
Isn't it?
"Alyssion! Come here!"
Alyssion looked quickly over her shoulder. The Behavior Police weren't looking.
So, she ducked into the alleyway.
"Who are you?"
The man who had been calling her was covered in water drops, but it didn't seem to bother him very much. He looked at Alyssion with a gigantic smile on his face, and Alyssion was shocked to see that the man had green eyes.
Color.
Alyssion remembered Green from when she was a child and the world had Color. She remembered Green from grass and trees and turtles, and the birthday cake her mother had made. It was a warm color. A safe color. So, even though the man didn't answer her question, Alyssion trusted him.
"I've been watching you, Alyssion. I thought you might need this," the Man with the Green Eyes said, reaching into his long coat.
Alyssion stared at what the man pulled out and pressed into her hands. She knew it was an umbrella, but she had never seen the like of it before. It wasn't black. It didn't look normal, or droopy, or sad. It was a bright, shiny red and the plastic seemed to smile as raindrops slid gently down its sides.
Red.
Alyssion remembered the Red of firetrucks and toy carts, of apples and valentines and even blood.
"You are unique, Alyssion. You were born that way, and no one can do anything to stop you from being unique. Don't conform. Don't let them rob you of you. Alyssion... you stand taller when you stand alone."
Alyssion looked up, and the Man smiled at her before disappearing into the alleyway.
Disappeared. Like smoke. Like my breath. Like this rain will after all the crops have been watered.
