Three By Three

My green bottom rest on the cold metal shelf. Noise buzzes all around me. Teenagers are holding hands, children are crying, and adults are tantalized by the tantrums being thrown. I want to be hidden from the grubby, little hands that like to touch. I want to run away from all eyes that lay upon my bright, brilliant colors. I don’t want to be messed with. My perfect shape and perfect row of colors are all I want to stay.

    “Mommy, look at this. It’s a cube,” some small child announces as his mom finishes calming, what must be his brother, down.

    My three by three sides shake at the contact of his fingers. My insides squeak as he forces my perfect row of colors apart. I hate the mismatching of colors. If people would only leave them alone. I know that’s my purpose in life, to challenge the human mind, but I have dreams and one pet peeve that I wish they could understand. If they would only let my colors stay the same.

    “Be careful, honey,” the women warns. “You don’t want it to break.”

    I knew she was thinking the same thing I was. Just set it and leave it alone. That was my wish, but I knew it wouldn’t come true. None of them do. Certainly not the one that I want the most: to be the same pattern of colors forever. To have one side blue, and one green, then yellow, orange, red, and purple. If not that I just want to be perfect. Not mismatched in a disarray of hues.

    “Can we get it Mommy?” The boy questions.

    “I’m sorry, sweetie, we just can’t afford extra stuff right now.” As she said that I could feel the boys grubby hands turn from a steady warm to a fiery heat of anger.

    The women turns around and messes with his supposed brother. From what I can tell she’s making sure he stays calm. But as her eyes depart from her other little demon the little boy slowly peels off my colors, my beautiful hues. One by one the blue, red, orange, yellow, green, and purple disappear. Nothing is left, but the bare sides of my three by three shape. Suddenly I realize I am perfect. No more colors to be matched and changed. No more dreams to be shattered. A perfect cube, lined with three by three black, bare squares.

Author's Note

Advice is encouraged.

Reviews

[Jared Payne]

This is so creative! There are no other stories like this. It is truly one of a kind. Keep up the great work!