Legend Of Zuleika

The Color White

In the year 2200, nuclear chaos rang out. The world went against itself. War against every country caused a triumph against the earth. Although, America tried to keep the peace, no one would have it. Twenty years later the only safe place where good air, food, and water is available serves as a refuge to the rest of the world's population... Or what's left of them. But, it didn't stop the smartest of them from spreading to the other parts of the world, to study the new phenomenon of genetically modified children. Modified by the nuclear exposure to all the pregnant widows from the war. And even the ones after that. America has served as a safe haven for those who have the genetically modified brain power. Because that brain power has been unleashed and a whole new era has arisen.

All the kids in my school with colored hair and eyes have a power that comes with it. The cooler colors, as in blues, purples, and greens, are the more powerful colors. The warmer colors, reds, oranges, yellows, and bright greens are also powerful but not as strong as the cooler colors.

When a child is born in our world, regardless of powers, they are born with gray hair and eyes to match. Of course, the shades vary from pitch black to a bleak, light gray. If you are to have powers your hair and eyes will turn a color according to your power, and there is no color alike. But, if you do not have powers your hair remains black or gray for the rest of your life. And that's where I come in.

By the age of six, almost all of my neighborhood friends who had powers had vibrant colorful hair and sparkling eyes. I can remember the day that everything changed. Sophie, my old best friend, and I were playing. And I, as usual, had on a dark green baseball cap. As I was running my cap blew off my head. Everything seemed normal until Sophie screamed, and all attention was on me. Every kid on my block, friend or not, pointed at me, screamed, and ran away. I remember sitting on the dirt road crying, having no clue why everyone was scared of me.

And that's when Jax, a boy who discovered his powers at age four, was instantly in front of me holding a broken piece mirror. When Jax was four, he and his parents were diving to a convenient store, which is very unwieldy considering cars were very expensive, when a semi switched lanes while falling asleep at the wheel. Everyone in that car died. Everyone but Jax of course. His power, intangibility, the ability to go through solid objects. When he had seen the semi from a little bit away, he made himself semi-permeable and fell out of the car twenty yards away from the head on collision. Rumors are currently going through school that he was practicing turning himself into a gas or a liquid substance, but, those rumors quickly evaporated when word got to Jax himself. His eyes and hair are a light aquamarine color and almost shimmered in the sun's low glow

I glanced down at the broken piece of mirror and screamed at the strange girl that looked just like me. The same bright eyes, slenderly pointed nose, pale skin with a slight tarnish glow. Except for one thing, her hair, and eyes. My shoulder length hair went from an ashy black to a pure, titanium white. And as for my eyes, a light and glowing silver. I looked up from the broken glass on the ground to see that Jax had run off. I even scared the most abnormal kid in the world.

As I trudged off towards my 'home', my crazy foster mother yanked open the door and screamed. Her rich, fake tan turning into a pale puke.

" Get in this house, now!", she screamed exasperatedly. She snatched the hat out of my hand, rolled my new white colored hair up, and stuck it inside the green cap.

"Never, ever take this off! Do you understand?", She yelled frantically. I bowed my head in defeat, there was no use arguing. I'd never win against her.

"Yes, ma'am. Never take the cap off again." I repeated back to her.

I was never let outside to play with the other kids ever again. By the age of seven, it was the law to go to school, and so I went. I would never take off my hat. Not for the teacher, not for the principle, and not even for the National Anthem.

Years past with me hardly ever taking off my cap. When it got too small Dorthy, my foster mother, would buy me a new one. Same color, Different size. More years went on, and soon everyone forgot about my hair, and so did I. It was as if my cap was a new body part and I wasn't allowed to take it off. Not that I wanted to, I would forever be known as the girl with white hair and no powers who rarely ever talked. Normal and not normal, I was a freak, and that's how it would always be.