Colours [MASHIKYU]

14 - Colours Everywhere

Today, when we come out of the Tiny Room, Junkyu doesn't take me back to my room, he leads me even further left. He warns me unnecessarily not to make a sound, and we run quickly and silently down the hallways, past countless white doors and white walls. I see, for the first time, a dead end. A blank white wall, and a pane of glass. I've never seen one before, but I know what it is. It's a window. Windows lead to... outside. Through it, I can see a blue sky scattered with white clouds.

My heart is beating at a million miles an hour as Junkyu very slowly and carefully twists a black handle at the bottom of the window and the glass moves outwards, letting in a slight breeze. He pokes his head out.

"It's not that far a drop if you dangle out the window first," he whispers so quietly my face has to be right next to his to hear him. "I'll go first. Just watch what I do, okay?"

I nod, goosebumps breaking out all over my body despite the thick coat.

He lifts one of his long, elegant legs over the windowsill, then the other one so he's sitting on it, then clutches onto the sill tightly with both hands and looks back to make sure I'm watching. He nods when I mouth 'be careful', then slips off so I can only see his hands. I scurry over to keep watching, my heart in my throat, just as he lets go of the sill and lands with a thud onto the green grass below. He jumps up immediately and gives me a thumbs up to let me know he's okay.

I know I'm meant to follow him, but I can't stop looking out the window. Looking out the window... I can see everything.

There's a stretch of grass and trees (with brown trunks, not green like the ones Junkyu showed me) below where Junkyu stands, before a dark grey road with yellow signs but no cars on it. I've never seen these things before, but as soon as I see them the words and their functions seem familiar. On the other side of the road there are buildings which I assume look like the one we're jumping out of. Tall, mostly light grey, with windows. Including the blue of the sky and the white of the clouds, that's seven colours just like that. All together. I've never seen anything like it.

"Mashi!" The faint sound of Junkyu hissing below snaps me back into reality. It's now or never.

So I do what he did. One leg out, then the other, both hands on, look at him, nod. I hold my breath as I slide off the sill and let myself hang there, my sweaty hands threatening to slip under the weight of my body. I take three deep breaths, crane my neck to take one last look at those white hallways, and drop down. I barely feel the pain when I land, although from the way Junkyu rushes over to me and asks repeatedly if I'm okay, I guess it looked painful.

"I'm out. I'm out. I'm out," I say on loop, unable to believe it. Why didn't I find that window earlier? I could've told the others. We all could've left. Will they be mad at me?

"You are, you are. Okay, come on, we need to get as far away as possible." Junkyu helps me up, then we take off running.

Even though I'm the most terrified I've ever been in all my years of existence, I can't wipe the smile that breaks onto my face as we fly through the streets.

Dozens more colours go past in blurs as we run. Reds, purples, oranges, blues. Cars appear, so do houses, so do other people, and their clothes! Their clothes are so many colours!

When we've been running for so long our breathing comes out in wheezes, we slow down.

"I think we're... pretty far away... from the hospital... now," Junkyu pants.

"Hospital?" I ask between gasps. The word sounds familiar, but I can't remember what it is.

"Oh, nothing." He waves it off, and I'm too tired to press further. If it doesn't matter to Junkyu, it doesn't matter to me. "So, where do you wanna go?"

"I don't even know where there is to go."

"Hm, let me think." Junkyu pauses for a moment. "Oh! Cherry blossoms! They're always beautiful, and I promised I'd show you all the pinks one day. There's this great park with a little lake around here with heaps, hopefully I can remember where it is."

Junkyu takes my hand and guides me through streets overflowing with every colour imaginable. There's a sign advertising golden chicken, with splashes of scarlet and lemon in the background, inside there are tables that match these colours and dark brown walls. Three small children run past us, all with black hair and fluorescent t-shirts, one with pink, one with yellow and one with green. A woman with crimson lips pushes a dark grey pram with azure stripes. A pearly white mannequin models a teal dress and rosy hat outside a store which contains rows and rows of clothes, every item a different colour or shade to the one next to it.

"Do you want to get something colourful to wear?" Junkyu asks. He must notice me tearing my eyes away from the colours to look down at my black coat, which covers my plain white clothes.

I nod rapidly, and actually jump up and down in excitement. There is nothing I would like to do more.

He chuckles. "Sure. This shop is just for women, but there should be something around here for us."

He finds this something barely a minute away. A greyish blue on the outside, white on the inside and lined with colourful clothes just like the other store, except this one has glossy black mannequins modelling the pieces.

"Hello," Junkyu greets a man standing behind a counter with a small bow which I copy. He bows politely back at us, wispy black curls poking out under his lime cap.

I stay behind Junkyu as we walk around the shop. He points out several coloured clothes to me, and I settle on a plum jumper and sky jeans. I try them on in a place called the fitting room, and Junkyu applauds me when I emerge. I blush and do a little twirl, making him whistle and cheer. Other people have entered the shop and give us strange looks, but I'm too in love with the boy cheering me as I parade the colours of my clothes to care.