2

Mother and Father told me to stay in my room tonight, they are fearing that I will see the death tonight of the Colors. I have seen enough death and despair, I have seen families being torn apart like paper, fragile and thin, I have seen decomposed bodies loiter the streets, beaten and bruised by the careless Pales. I have seen many things, I have heard many things and I have not been phased by the cruelty and harshness of the Pales. Tonight was worse, the smell of smoke snaked its way through my window, the screams echoed into the night air, horrifyingly painful. The smell of melted flesh invited itself into the air, making my eyes water and causing me to bend over, closing my eyes tightly and hoping this was just a bad dream. But it wasn't, it was real and the proof was the piercing screams and the eye watering smoke. Mother and Father were screaming at each other, arguing and slamming doors. The screams had long ago stopped but the smell of the deceased lingered in the air, leaving a hint of the broken souls. I heard sobbing from outside, sounding abnormally loud in the now silent neighborhood. I gripped my covers tightly, listening to the mourning of a woman. The night dwindled on slowly and the sobs calmed down, gradually my eyelids grew heavier and my breathing slowed to a calm pace. I drifted off, dreaming of a place where everyone was happy and no one was killed. I was scarred, I knew it. They were making conditions worse for the Colors and unbearable for anyone. Mother and Father knew it too, quieting down whenever I entered the room and exchanging worried glances towards each other. Somehow, the Earth seemed quieter than usual, even seeming to be mourning for the loss of the innocent. The Pales, however, went about their daily business and got on with life, not seeming to care for the events that had taken place last night. They would never change, I knew this for sure.