Misty waters

3. Bright colors

As soon as someone flipped the light switch, I found myself searching for my breath because the cellar as I had imagined was nothing compared to the cellar in reality. The walls were painted light yellow and there were vibrant sleeping bags pushed against the wall, a large red machine stood in the corner like a giant box. It was oddly familiar.

Noticing the ceiling I realized there wasn't just one light source, there were six. Alexandra giggled as she saw me gape around. "We renovated this so we could make our time spent here rather pleasant" She said gesturing me to take a sleeping bag nearest hers.

"It is really lovely. I didn't expect it to be so" I confessed half smiling.

"Originally it was quite dull." Rosetta resting her back against the wall "It was part of the dungeons after all"

I shuddered as I heard about it. I couldn't imagine people locked in here...the yellow walls and the wave of color just couldn't be mixed with a place so solemn and punishing. Looking around I realized that there was a small wooden door at the back of the red machine. It must lead to the rest of the cells.

"This is exactly why I told you people to hurry up" Rex crossed his arms, his deep voice silencing everyone but Sparks. "They were at the gates when I told you to run, if you people had delayed any further we would have been living in a fancy little bottle" Rex scowled.

"Oh come on goldy locks, if they even got in, we can always take care of them" He rolled his eyes walking towards the red machine that had buttons of different colours on the front.

"No we cannot" Rosetta exclaimed shaking her head.

"But we can" Twinkle raised an eyebrow.

"Last time I checked, you burnt the rose bush to smithereens" Rex said rubbing his temples.

"That was neat" she said.

"You missed the target by a whole 90 degrees" he sat down on the corner sleeping bag.

"Why did you burn a rose bush?" I asked bewildered.

"I'm basically a super hero" she winked.

"Violet we will explain in good time" Rosetta said giving Twinkle a glare.

Twinkle smiled sheepishly and then turned to look at me. "So how weird did you find running from something you didn't see" she asked.

"Confusing would be the word to describe it." I said hugging my knees.

"I felt the same way. I and Char didn't know about them in Charlotte's gate and so you can imagine our shock when we were suddenly told to run to an underground room with no legit explanation." She told me tugging a lock of hair behind her ear. Her silver earing gleaming as the light caught the metal.

"I tried" Alexandra huffed.

"You mumbled so fast I couldn't catch a word"

"But...why do these reapers come for us?"

"You must have noticed that not all of us have blue eyes. Those reapers crave our souls like children crave sugar. Though I'm not sure why." Rex explained looking at me without any hint of emotion.

"Enough with the terrifying realities..." Sparks chided.

"Now would anyone fancy some 'Rainbow disasters?" Sparks asked picking up a colorful pack out of the slot of the machine. It was in that particular moment that I realized where I had seen the odd red machine; it was from that shop called the 'Candy Catastrophe' I saw it in their window but Aunt Anne didn't buy it for me for she thought of them to be rather 'inappropriate' for a young lady. The shop created several different delicacies that could be used to prank friends or eaten for the fun of them.

Though here I was hiding in a colorful cellar with a candy machine so notorious for its effects that I could forget everything I had just experienced, just to get a chance to taste that mystery. Sparks passed the pack around and everyone took a glossy round ball out of the pack, each a distinct color, like the colors of the rainbow.

By the time the pack was passed to me, everyone looked at me expectantly while I stared at the pack; fighting my conscious, to eat or not to eat? Watching my sister I decided, it didn't hurt to try something as harmless as a candy.

I pulled out a ball that was bright yellow, from what I could see, Twinkle had a pink one, Alexandra a green one, Rex and Sparks ended up with the same orange flavor while Rosetta and Mrs Bumble held two different shades of blue.

"This candy will take effect in exactly 60 seconds. So ladies and gentlemen on my count... pop those candy balls in your mouth." Sparks announced excitedly and on his word we threw them in our mouths and waited.

My tongue tinged as I sucked on the delicious candy but before I could fathom its effects, I found myself opera singing in the most absurd way possible. I couldn't even believe that the voice exiting my throat was actually mine. As I turned around I saw Alexandra burping and farting uncontrollably while Sparks and Rex rolled on the ground laughing, Twinkle twirled on her toes like an expert ballerina while Mrs Bumble sang out poetry to Rosetta, who talked so fast that I couldn't get one word.

In those five minutes of utter ridiculed fun, I realized for the first time what it felt like to make friends.