Refresh: Extras

Strings

   He's not dead. He's not dead. I know he isn't dead. The string would be black if he was dead.

   Everyone has strings. One for the person they would come to care for most. One for their soulmate. And new ones form with any future children. It reacts to the other person. If it's red they're angry, yellow happy, blue sad, pink in love. Orange in pain. . . If it's black it means their dead.

   I have two. I learned pretty early on who the first belonged to. Fresh. The end of my string came to Fresh. My younger brother. I refused to acknowledge it.

   I'd never care for him that much. It was a mistake. It's not like he could care for me anyway. So I ignored it. It was pure white anyway. No reaction ever just a white piece of string. A flash of red when Geno was hurt. That's it.

   And then Fresh went missing. I stared st the string that night. "Don't turn black. Don't turn black." The prayer was silent. I didn't know I cared that much. Especially about him.

   The string didn't turn black. It turned bright orange. An orange so vibrant in color that it hurt my eyes. I had never seen a color so saturated.

   "Geno!!!" I cried before I could stop myself.

   Seconds later Geno was in my room. "Error? What's wrong?"  It looked like he had been crying.

   "Its orange! B-bright orange! My string with Fresh." I felt the tears on my face.

   Orange became a popular color. And blue. But never black. He wasn't dead. He wasn't dead. No one believed me when I said that.

   "Error. . . Hes been gone too long. . ." Someone would say.

   "YOU'RE WRONG!" I screamed and hurried to my room.

   Hes not dead. Hes not dead. It's not a mistake. He cant be dead.

   Occasionally there was a dim yellow. I didn't understand. Orange and blue and then. . . yellow? Where was he? Where could he be? The yellow never stayed.

    The call that Geno had beem airlifted to another hospital was miserable. He was so sick they couldn't take are of him. He might not survive the ride.

   The car ride was worse. There was a dread present. He might not be alive when we get there. . . I stared at the dim yellow of Fresh's string and the brighter yellow of my soulmates. They comforted me slightly.

   At least they weren't in pain. At least Fresh wasn't in pain for now. . .

   He was alive. Geno was alive. And Fresh was alive. And he was here. And we were all together. . . And that man hurt my little brother. I had never felt such anger in my life.

    The string on Fresh's side of our connection was a vibrant red interlaced with purple. Care. I do care. I do care about him.

   I'll never let him be hurt again.