Blog Entry #4: I am Red.

once upon a time, there was a girl who was not stained or tainted by anything. she was not much of anything, no colour, nothing. she entered high school and looked around, comforted by the presence of her blank-slate peers. they were all colourless, just like her. and so, she continued on, being herself, not caring what others thought. there came a turning point, however, where she realized the school became increasingly decorated with greens and blues. the front doors were painted that colour, and so was the art inside. soon enough, her formerly colourless peers started to explode into shades of green and blue as well. every day, they grew brighter and brighter. the girl, still colourless, mimicked their behaviour to see if that would happen to her too. just as expected, she too began turning a beautiful oceanic blue - but as soon as she went home and took a shower, it washed off. she had to reapply it every morning by spouting meaningless words she didn't believe in anymore. one day, she was too tired to force herself to be blue, and she thought all of her friends felt the same way. the girl's friends told her that it was weird her colour washed off, to which she replied, "you're not really blue and green, are you? don't you have to apply it every morning? doesn't it come off when you shower?" no, that was not the case. everyone looked at her weird. the girl thought, okay, I guess I'm the one who's weird. I should try harder to be blue. she tried harder. she cut her own skin, took pills, shaved half her head, but the blue still came off when she showered. so then she thought, okay, maybe oceanic blue isn't my thing. what if I tried a lime green or emerald? she tried that, and then tried every shade in the range. whenever she wasn't blue, her friends laughed at her and said, "you're blue. that's your thing. why are you trying to be all these different colours?" and the girl said, "I'm bad at being blue," and they told her, "just try harder." so she began doing more drastic things. she partied and smoked crack and burned herself with lighters. it turned her blue of course, but everyone knew the blue was fake. so all of her beautiful green and blue friends cornered her and began pouring something on her body that was not oceanic blue or lime green or emerald or anything in that range. it was farther from that than can be. it was red. a bright, crimson, neon blood red. "this is who you really are," they told her, laughing. "you're red." the girl went home and tried showering. she showered once, twice, three times, five times, ten times. this time, the colour wouldn't go away. she was red. red. red. she was red and there was nothing she could do about it. sure, the oceanic blue wasn't an indicator of a healthy person, but it was in that range, now, she stood out like a sore thumb. the school, and every single thing in it, were blue and green. there were posters on the wall that read, "this is a safe space for every colour of the rainbow!" but it did not include a full rainbow. it was only blues and greens, but when she said, "hey, the rainbow doesn't just have blue and green," everyone bit their lips, looked away, and said "well, I guess you're technically right, but I don't believe in that for this school. maybe you could try being a different colour while you're here?" the girl went home and showered and showered and showered. she scrubbed until her skin was raw. and still, she was red. she kept doing extreme things to turn herself blue, but this time, they just mixed with her skin until it made a muddy, ugly purple and washed right off. her words came out red. her actions were all red. no matter what she did, she was always red. she was red when she graduated from high school, and she was red when she made it to college. but at college. the buildings were painted with every colour of the rainbow, and she met other people who were red. she met people who came in orange and yellow and purple. she met people who had no colour at all. and then she looked back on her high school years, realizing being red was never the problem - not when you get to the real world. the end.