Colorless world (III)

"Luke! Want to play hide and seek with my friends?" 

Elena barged inside the room, kicking the door open. I had even shifted the position of the nightstand to try to block the door, but it flew on the other side of the room after being kicked away.

Can't you just let me sleep now? What's up with you? Don't you ever feel tired?

I hadn't slept well because of the constant stomach pains; I was feeling terrible, and I had been burping all night long.

"I don't feel well, so I don't think—"

"Yeah, sure, let's get you ready now." She quickly began dragging me out of my bed, and then, after inspecting every drawer present in the closet, she took out my outfit for the day.

"Don't worry about not feeling well; my dad can fix you up later. Quick, get yourself changed!"

Please, I've had more social interaction in the past couple of days than I had last week. Can we please keep it that way? I'm exhausted; I want to enjoy my holidays. I don't want much, just the usual fries, a soda, and my colored video games.

Yet my request was abruptly denied; Elena had no shame and was ready to dress me down herself just to get me ready to play with her friends.

Her father was downstairs, happily enjoying some time alone with a cup of tea and a strange book in his hand, sitting close to the window so he could at least keep an eye on the kids.

The rest of the kids were waiting outside, five of them, four girls and one boy. Out of the four girls, one looked to be a lot older than the rest.

"What about the others?" Elena asked the group.

"Kairie is busy doing her homework, Kisen is staying at her house, and the rest of them are enjoying their holidays playing with their new PlayCube." One of the children spoke up.

She was a kid with a strange tone of gray in her hair; her eyes were odd; she seemed to have cross-shaped pupils; she was wearing a pink circlet over her head, a mostly white shirt with a bunch of cartoon female characters drawn on it, and a short skirt made out of jeans fabric.

Even though she was delivering bad news, she was ready to play; her skin was shining, and she was already holding on to a large sponge ball.

To her right side was a girl with short hair, up to her shoulders; she was wearing many strange bracelets on her right wrist, and she was carrying a small backpack in her hands. She didn't look too happy to be there with the rest of us.

The small girl had dark hair and dark eyes and was the shortest of the group. She had bad hair; she was yawning constantly and chewing on chewing gum.

To her right was the other male kid, a small kid with long hair, an excessively skin-tight shirt that made his slightly overweight body look like a sausage, long effeminate nails painted with all sorts of colors and decorated with stars, glitter stars under his eyes, and tinted hair blue.

Just one look at him was enough to tell me I didn't want to have a conversation with him; if my cousins saw him, they would've most likely started mocking him to his face.

Why does he look so weird? Why don't they just… tell him? Tell him he looks stupid; you're not being kind; you're all so mean.

"Who's the new kid? Elena?" The tall girl spoke as she got closer to me to get a better look at me.

She then grabbed me by the cheeks and began stretching them and playing with them for a bit, and when I tried to free myself, she let go and ruffled my hair, removing the beanie by accident and revealing the red hair in front of everyone.

Release me! Stop it! I'm not your doll! Do you know who my mother is?

"So cute, what's your name?" She asked as she picked up the beanie from the ground and put it back on my head.

"I'm—"

"He's Luke; my dad found him lost out of the civilian zone, so he brought him back here. He's currently staying in our house as a guest." She answered in my stead.

"Oh, poor kid, he must've been terrified; don't worry, you're safe here." She said as she massaged my cheeks one last time.

I don't remember any of it. Did they mess with my head? Was it that bad? I doubt it; after all, there's nothing that scares me.

She was a tall girl wearing jean shorts and a light shirt that didn't even cover her belly completely. She wore a ring with a colorful gem on her pinky finger and was wearing high heels. Her skin was tanned, and she also possessed fairly long nails.

The last girl seemed the more reserved of the group, with straight, long black hair covering most of her face, a shirt with long sleeves and a large bunny sewed on the back, and a pink skirt.

"Whoa, how did you get your hair colored red?" The other male kid asked as he approached him.

Don't talk to me, you freak!

"Ehm, I used an ability." I lied, and before Elena could reveal the truth, I manifested Colorful Madness.

The eyes of the group of children suddenly widened open; they were sparkling with curiosity and excitement. It felt good to be at the center of attention.

That's right, I'm the coolest, I know, I know. Get in line, girls; this man is very busy. You're lucky I even bothered to remember what kind of dress you're wearing.

"How does it work?"

"How do you summon it?"

"How did you get it?"

"Where did you manage to buy such a precious ability?"

I was showered with questions; I didn't have the intention of answering most of them, but I wanted to tease them a little, to get their full attention, but then I heard a question that sent shivers down my spine.

"So, did you already defeat a demon to get it?"

The quiet and shy girl asked me this question, and it terrified me, something in me made me feel the worst case of goosebumps.

What's this? Why am I trembling so much? What happened to me? Why did that single word just scare me? What happened?

"Give him a break, guys; you're asking too many questions. Why don't we start heading to the park? I'm getting a bit tired of simply standing out here in the scorching sun." The tall girl said, leading the group away, holding Helena and me by the hand.

No, wait, I need answers. What the hell did you do to me?

"Luke, how about you put that away? Someone might get the wrong idea and think you're a criminal." She then whispered to me.

"What? This? It's harmless, look."

As I pointed the gun at myself, the girl quickly intervened, grabbing the gun by the barrel and pulling it away from my head.

"Whoa, calm down there; at this rate you're going to hurt—"

Before she could finish her sentence, I summoned yet another gun in my free hand and shot at my feet, revealing the color of my skin as well as that of my clothing.

I was wearing light blue sandals with a yellow shirt and some light brown pants.

"See? Totally harmless." I said to her.

I was feeling a bit odd, an extremely mild headache, but since it didn't pose a threat to me, I tried my best to ignore it.

Ah, fuck! Now I stand up a little too much.

All the kids flocked to me once more, trying to see the small handgun and understand how it worked. They were asking questions left and right, not even giving me the time to understand a single one of them, sometimes even dragging the gun barrel to their forehead asking to be shot.

Then, as things started to get a bit interesting, we were interrupted by the sound of an old woman screaming her lungs out in shock at the sight of me pointing a gun at that effeminate-looking kid.

Fuck.