| [00:25.95] |
The night was cold and thin. |
| [00:28.72] |
The air was scantily clad in such a way that she felt that |
| [00:31.64] |
If she could but stop for a second, she could reach through it and grasp time. |
| [00:37.12] |
Arrest it, stop it, bring back the years of hope, |
| [00:42.87] |
Before the years of inevitably set in. |
| [00:46.46] |
But she did not stop. |
| [00:49.19] |
She ran. |
| [00:52.61] |
Air is a precious commodity; one she had taken for granted until it was all she had. |
| [01:00.79] |
Tonight she chased it; she felt as if her lungs could not get enough of it. |
| [01:08.21] |
With each new step, a new shallow breath, |
| [01:12.39] |
And a new resolve to continue filling her chest |
| [01:15.66] |
With the last thing in this world that was free. |
| [01:20.00] |
She knew that if she stopped, the night would end; |
| [01:23.53] |
And she did not want the night to end. |
| [01:26.50] |
The colors were too vivid. |
| [01:29.10] |
First the reds…the piercing reds. |
| [01:32.64] |
They swept out of the night sky in such an instant |
| [01:36.35] |
That she did not have time to witness their origin. |
| [01:39.41] |
But there they were. |
| [01:41.18] |
Swirling, brilliant reds that swept her up like she scarcely remembered. |
| [01:47.21] |
Indeed, did she even remember it? |
| [01:49.74] |
Or was this the embodiment of a shadow she always hoped to one day remember. |
| [01:54.94] |
The color floated around her as she ran, keeping up with her; |
| [01:59.28] |
Perhaps even lagging back a little so that she could keep up with it. |
| [02:03.83] |
She could not help it; she began to be entranced by its brilliance, |
| [02:08.85] |
Though she dared not slow down. |
| [02:11.09] |
She peered into it, |
| [02:13.13] |
Trying to imprint upon her memory every detail of its stunning lifeform. |
| [02:17.78] |
Then suddenly, did it change? |
| [02:21.60] |
The reds were not quite as flowing as they once were. |
| [02:25.12] |
They moved a little more awkwardly. |
| [02:27.91] |
She knew she had seen that movement before, somewhere. |
| [02:31.38] |
Then she remembered. |
| [02:32.90] |
Yes! The reds were walking! |
| [02:33.74] |
Alongside her they walked, still dancingly keeping up with her every running stride. |
| [02:41.10] |
Their shapes became more and more human. |
| [02:44.16] |
She recognized one of the colors. |
| [02:46.93] |
He looked into her eyes with the love that said that it was already finished; |
| [02:51.42] |
There was nothing she could do to ever spurn that love. |
| [02:55.40] |
Then another color touched her shoulder. |
| [02:59.03] |
She whirled her head around just in time to catch the shape |
| [03:03.46] |
Of a life that spoke of a bond with her that nothing but tears could form. |
| [03:06.44] |
In an instant, the motherly shape was gone, |
| [03:11.75] |
But reformed next to the figure on her other side, walking arm in arm with it. |
| [03:15.10] |
She almost stumbled. |
| [03:20.55] |
Something had touched her heels. |
| [03:22.72] |
She turned her head around long enough to see a child following behind her. |
| [03:27.15] |
It was a little girl…a little girl without colors. |
| [03:32.07] |
She skipped and sauntered, without a care in the world, |
| [03:36.58] |
But all the time keeping up with her. |
| [03:38.86] |
She wondered at the child; she wondered at childhood. |
| [03:43.33] |
So happy, so light; all its cares are immediate. |
| [03:49.63] |
There is no sense of that fact that time will one day have its way. |
| [03:54.65] |
No one tells children the truth. |
| [03:57.64] |
From somewhere behind the child, deep in the distance, |
| [04:02.39] |
She thought she saw another red. |
| [04:05.71] |
A different red. |
| [04:07.37] |
But she couldn't be sure; she had to keep her head straight onward, |
| [04:11.46] |
To immerse herself in the air, in the night. |
| [04:14.38] |
Nor did she have time to worry about the new color, |
| [04:18.05] |
Or the child, as the brilliant reds by her side had split into multiple colors, |
| [04:19.56] |
Each walking at its own pace somewhere by her side. |
| [04:27.08] |
They were dear to her…some moreso than others. |
| [04:30.97] |
All looked at her with varying degrees of knowingness. |
| [04:34.99] |
One in particular. |
| [04:36.66] |
He looked at her with a seriousness, and a questioning. |
| [04:40.01] |
His was by far the most tender touch, but not the most knowing. |
| [04:45.92] |
She slowed slightly, gasping for breath as she did. |
| [04:49.53] |
She turned to look at him, but her gaze was interrupted by the new color, |
| [04:54.76] |
Now creeping along the horizon next to her. |
| [04:58.72] |
It was a dark color, and threatened to swallow the red she now fought desperately to keep. |
| [04:58.82] |
She reached out for him; but slowly he faded, and slowly the dark approached. |
| [05:05.05] |
She had seen this before. |
| [05:16.28] |
In an instant he was gone, and in his place were two other brilliant reds. |
| [05:21.21] |
One for whom she cared, one with whom she was comfortable. |
| [05:25.33] |
The dark color approached. |
| [05:29.10] |
She tried to outrun it, but it was of no use. |
| [05:32.99] |
It swallowed up the two colors just as it had swallowed the last. |
| [05:37.95] |
She now saw that it was not a darkness, but a deepness. |
| [05:42.40] |
A deep red that spoke of something she knew all too well. |
| [05:46.21] |
It sent shudders through her life-stained body. |
| [05:49.92] |
The shudders continued as she ran. |
| [05:53.65] |
And continued. |
| [05:55.14] |
Until she had unknowingly discovered that she was quite at home with the shudders. |
| [05:59.50] |
She did not mind them. |
| [06:01.91] |
In fact, the deep red had mixed with the brilliant red so much so that |
| [06:06.44] |
Neither color was now better or worse for the mixing; |
| [06:12.20] |
But they were more real. |
| [06:13.88] |
Then, just as she was about to acquiesce to the new deep and brilliant red, |
| [06:18.24] |
It suddenly birthed a figure. |
| [06:20.65] |
And she hated. |
| [06:22.41] |
She hated its curves, and its smoothness, and its beauty. |
| [06:26.96] |
It tore from the rest of the colors, revealing its blackness. |
| [06:31.19] |
And then, in horror, she watched as it reached back |
| [06:35.52] |
Into the deep and brilliant red and pulled from it the loving figure. |
| [06:40.70] |
He looked at her as she ran with the same, |
| [06:43.42] |
Unquenchable love as before, as he faded off into the distance |
| [06:47.77] |
With the beautiful black figure. |
| [06:50.18] |
She ran harder; and at her heels she felt the child again. |
| [06:57.75] |
She turned again to look, and now saw a young lady, walking warily behind her. |
| [07:01.70] |
She knew that look; the colors had replaced the innocence. |
| [07:09.88] |
She had never been sure which was more desirable; |
| [07:13.15] |
But now she knew that neither could ever coexist peacefully with the other. |
| [07:17.61] |
The deep, brilliant red circled around her and comforted her. |
| [07:23.28] |
It did not split into its native colors, nor would it ever again. |
| [07:28.58] |
And she was grateful. |
| [07:30.52] |
Now there was another color. |
| [07:34.13] |
It crept out from behind her. |
| [07:37.12] |
She turned to look; were the colors coming from the child? |
| [07:41.48] |
But it was no longer a child, or a young lady. |
| [07:44.52] |
It was a young woman…a young woman with a war in her eyes, |
| [07:49.46] |
Between childlike hope and the lamentable wisdom of the inevitable. |
| [07:54.00] |
She recognized that look. |
| [07:56.87] |
And she ran faster. |
| [07:58.85] |
But she could not outrun the new color. |
| [08:03.01] |
It surrounded her, |
| [08:05.27] |
And here and there penetrated the deep and brilliant red with its yellow haze. |
| [08:09.88] |
It was a tired color…so tired that it was almost transparent, |
| [08:15.17] |
And blended in with the night in such a way that at times, |
| [08:19.17] |
In her gasping for air, she would inevitably suck in its yellow weariness as well. |
| [08:24.36] |
But she did not mind. |
| [08:27.52] |
A little weariness might even be nice… |
| [08:30.24] |
It made her feel as if her running was accomplishing something. |
| [08:34.05] |
Accomplishment. |
| [08:35.82] |
The reds spoke nothing of that. |
| [08:39.06] |
She wondered at her life, and for the first time, looked upwards. |
| [08:45.17] |
There were no colors to see through…just the night sky. |
| [08:48.81] |
The vastness looked down upon her as if it knew her. |
| [08:54.18] |
She slowed a little, letting her inconsequential state settle in over tired bones. |
| [09:00.24] |
The yellow crept wearily into her upward gaze, |
| [09:04.96] |
And she knew the child at her heels was now a woman. |
| [09:08.39] |
She did not turn, but ran onwards, |
| [09:11.93] |
knowing all too well the look in the pursuing woman's eyes. |
| [09:15.75] |
There would be tears, resolve, the tiniest glints of echoes that were once laughter; |
| [09:22.61] |
But most of all, the yellow weariness. |
| [09:26.68] |
Her legs were tired, her lungs empty. |
| [09:31.80] |
She inhaled without the benefit of air, |
| [09:35.35] |
As the deep and brilliant red moved underneath her and helped her forward. |
| [09:39.35] |
The yellow slowed her enough to where she could look around her a bit; |
| [09:44.65] |
She discovered trees…big, green trees towering over her on either side. |
| [09:51.02] |
|
| [09:57.17] |
And the little child softly padded around in front of her. |
| [10:01.65] |
The bright eyes of the child were now furrowed under a wrinkled brow, |
| [10:08.30] |
And the once beautiful cheekbones now protruded in |
| [10:11.84] |
A manner unworthy of the years and wisdom that made them such. |
| [10:16.23] |
At first she blushed with the hardness of the old woman's gaze, |
| [10:20.10] |
But then stared back at herself with the same knowing inevitability. |
| [10:25.97] |
The old woman took her hand in hers, and walked her down the path. |
| [10:31.09] |
She tried to run to keep up, but could not; |
| [10:36.01] |
The old woman dragged her softly and silently onward, |
| [10:39.88] |
As the deep and brilliant red carried her, |
| [10:42.71] |
The tired yellow enveloped her, |
| [10:44.80] |
And the green trees lapped gently at their own dust which formed her body. |
| [10:51.32] |
And she stopped running. |
| [10:55.78] |
|
| [11:06.44] |
It had been a miserable night, |
| [11:07.98] |
And they were excited to be able to go into the alley and play today. |
| [11:12.67] |
They bounced the ball against the cracked bricks of the tall buildings, |
| [11:16.74] |
And he even let her win a few times. |
| [11:19.68] |
But this turn, he was going to win. |
| [11:22.90] |
With all the bravado a big brother can muster, |
| [11:26.14] |
He slammed the ball at the corner of the building where the curb met the bricks. |
| [11:30.32] |
The ball ricocheted down the alley, towards an oncoming truck. |
| [11:34.54] |
As it did, it dislodged some old newspaper crumblings, |
| [11:38.70] |
And in the tired yellow light cascading onto the alley through the old buildings, |
| [11:43.50] |
They saw it. |
| [11:45.47] |
His sister screamed and went running back through the shabby aluminum door |
| [11:48.35] |
Into their mother’s apartment. |
| [11:51.78] |
But he couldn't move. |
| [11:53.57] |
He stared at her. |
| [11:56.24] |
|
| [12:00.97] |
They drove down the alley. |
| [12:02.91] |
What a miserable day. |
| [12:04.70] |
The night had been cold, and whenever the nights were cold, |
| [12:08.41] |
He knew it would be a long day. |
| [12:10.26] |
He watched as two children bounced a ball against the side of the grimy building. |
| [12:15.91] |
The ball got away from them and in the tired yellow haze peering through the buildings, |
| [12:19.27] |
He saw the ball dislodge some old papers; |
| [12:24.41] |
And underneath it, he saw another one. |
| [12:28.02] |
They stopped the truck and walked over to the body. |
| [12:31.36] |
It was not her…it was never her; it was a shell. |
| [12:37.11] |
He wondered who she was. |
| [12:40.53] |
They picked her up, and he knew that beneath his gloves, there was coldness. |
| [12:47.63] |
But her open eyes seemed peaceful; somehow that brought him comfort. |
| [12:52.51] |
He looked into her eyes as the red of the bag enveloped her body, and she was gone. |
| [12:58.28] |
It was then that he noticed the boy. |
| [13:04.50] |
He hadn't moved, but was staring at them with large, questioning eyes. |
| [13:09.59] |
He nodded at the boy as they carried her back to their truck, |
| [13:14.52] |
And attempted a smile through his mask. |
| [13:14.61] |
The boy was motionless. |
| [13:22.13] |
"We're just taking her someplace where she can rest," was all he managed. |
| [13:26.62] |
"I know what the green trucks mean," said the boy bravely. |
| [13:31.17] |
"But you've never seen this before?" |
| [13:34.79] |
The boy shook his head, |
| [13:36.91] |
Fighting back the tears for which he had been taught he was too old. |
| [13:40.46] |
The man stopped, and pulled his mask off over his head. |
| [13:45.76] |
He looked straight into the boy's quivering eyes. |
| [13:48.62] |
"It's very short. Don't waste it." |
| [13:53.30] |
He looked at the boy. |
| [13:56.60] |
The boy looked back at him. |
| [13:59.95] |
Not knowing what else to do, he slowly turned away, |
| [14:04.31] |
Leaving the boy standing alone in the alley; |
| [14:06.93] |
Older, whether he wanted to be or not. |
| [14:10.47] |
They put her in with all the rest. |
| [14:16.47] |
|
| [14:25.76] |
|
