Gaining Colors [Complete]

Chapter 15

Casper roamed through the streets completely lost in his thoughts.
He walked through the center of London, completely unaware of the tourists and the other Londoners walking the same streets.

His feet eventually took him to their neighborhood, more specifically to the park behind their apartment. He sat in one of the benches for hours, the sky changing colors with the set of the sun.

How could he know if he was human? Alexis was right. Nothing on him was considered normal.

A soft cough brought his head to his left. An old woman was staring at him with curiosity. Her clothes were dirty and with many holes, her hair was a brown mess around her face.

"May I sit beside you, young man?" She asked, her voice fragile and full of doubt.

Casper nodded and slid on the bench to give her some space to sit beside him. His eyes went to the trees in front of him, his mind closing again to the out world.

Her voice brought him to the present.

"You seem worried, young man. Don't waste your time with unnecessary worries. Life is too short for us to loose time with unimportant things..." She said, sighing and turning to face him.

"I don't know if my life is short or not. I don't know what I am..." He honestly replied.

The woman scoffed.
"You are a young man! Even my old eyes can see that! What bothers you?" She asked, her keen eyes watching him closely.

Casper didn't know if he should talk with her about what he was or had been, but somehow, her eyes and kind smile completed him to tell the old lady all his story.

She listened carefully and he had the strange feeling that she already knew all he told.

"May I ask you something?"

He nodded, waiting for her to place her question.

"Does your heart beat?" Casper nodded again, confused by her question.

"Do you have feelings? Do you feel happy or feel love for someone?" She asked again.

"Yes..."

"Then you are human, you are alive!" She said, her smile getting bigger.

"But I don't know if I age..." He explained.

"Oh... Everything that is alive will age... Look at me... I am old now, the years didn't spare my skin or legs..."

"I thought that color would make me human, but how can I be sure I am?" He asked.

"Color doesn't define a human. Color is just color. You could be blue and still be human. What makes us human, as I said before, is our feelings, is our hearts, young man..."

"Will I die someday?" He asked as if she could give him all answers.

"Yes you will. You will get old beside that young woman you so much love. You will have children and they will be human as you both are..." She said, standing up from the bench.

"How do you know that?" Casper asked. The old woman gave him a smile before turning her back to him. Her last words, though, reached his ears.

"Sometimes magic gives us all our answers and wishes... Don't forget that, Casper. Now, go and live..." He watched as she strolled off, her small figure entering the line of trees. How did she know his name?

He wanted to go after her and ask, but his eyes turned to the building where he shared his life with Alexis.

Placing his right hand on his chest, he closed his eyes for a moment and just felt the "thump thump" of the organ. He was alive, he was human and as the other humans, he would fight for his life.