You walk into the office. You take a seat in the chair as you wait nervously for your name to be called along with your friend. 

Your friend says excitedly,“What do you think we are going to be? We could be anything!”

“I don’t know- I don’t even know what the colors are or what they mean-”

“Wait what? You didn’t even bother to research?”

“No… was I supposed to?”

“Well- I don’t-“

You hear your name being called by the kind nurse lady as you are directed into one of the many rooms. Your friend tags along with you. 

“Take a seat. This will only take a few moments.”

The lady pulls out two syringes filled with a substantial amount of a thick liquid. Your friend squeezes their eyes shut and raises their arms.

“No ugh I hate needles so much! Eeeeeee!” they exclaim.

Your turn. You pull up your sleeve and close your eyes. It feels as though the liquid is being injected into the fibers of your soul.

The lady says, “give me five minutes, and I’ll be back to check the results.”

You lean back into your chair and pick at the dirt under your fingernails. Your friend tries to chat with you but for some reason they seem more distant than before your injection. It’s as if your body has accepted something.. different. It’s hard to put your finger on.

“Are you listening to me? Hello? Hey?” She asks as she waves in front of your eyes. “It’s rude to not answer a question.” 

“Sorry, I’m not feeling too great right now,” your friend’s eyes widen as you continue, “I think something’s wrong.”

“Oh! I’ll go and get the nurse.”

You continue to stare at the wall as the footsteps of your friend get quicker and quicker. You can hear her voice distantly, frantically asking for help. 

“Are you feeling alright honey? Here drink some water,” 

You raise the cup up to your lips robotically. 

“Feeling better?“

You nod, although you feel as detached from the world as you did before. Something inside of you has shifted. 

“While I’m here, let’s get you tested!”

She dusts a sparkly powder onto your friends, then your fingertips. The look of the glitter reminds you of when you were younger, and of all the craft projects you would do. 

“Be careful not to touch anything,” the nurse warned.

You decide to fixate on your friend's hand, not desiring to know your own results even though you wouldn’t know what the result means. 

The glitter shifts from a white to deep orange 

“Orange? Of course! That makes so much sense- I thought I could also be blue and I saw a little silver in myself but orange makes sense! What did you get?”

You turn your palms over. The glitter looks even more transparent than before. You think that you maybe even could see through your hands if you tried hard enough. 

The nurse scrunches her face in concentration, “Hrm! Must be one of those difficult cases. You can head off with your friend here and get her settled in. Come back in 15 minutes if nothing shows up.”

Your friend grabs your arm and pulls you back out into the waiting room 

You pick up your backpack, noticing all of the pins from your favorite shows. Half of your personality displayed on your bag for the world to see. You adjust your stance to pick up the heavy duffel bag containing many of your clothes and belongings. 

“Come on, hurry up! I want to go and get a good room!” 

“Okay, coming,” you notice the tone of your voice becoming significantly more annoyed. But you weren’t annoyed at your friend. She’s just excited, right? 

You walk down the dusty road up to the large house that contained the oranges. The house seemed to be bouncing up and down, like a plate of jello. You walk up to the door as a person dressed in a bright orange staff shirt stands up to interrogate you. 

“Are you two Oranges? Let me see your hands!”

You look at your hands, struggling to find your voice deep down inside of you 

“I-I am. She… doesn't know yet. She wants to drop off her stuff here until she finds out”

“You can bring her belongings inside! She waits out here”

You start to hand your things over to your friend. Now overloaded, they remind you of a turtle. 

“I’ll meet you back out here, okay?”

You nod as you kneel down into the grass. The sun beats down on your skin, the people around you move in a blur that you can’t understand. 

You listen into their conversations- some happy about how lucky they were to get in with their friends- or the opposite- those who were separated. You roll your eyes . This all seems like unimportant, petty drama. Some mock the glitter and the voices that the nurses used. You smile along with them, feeling as though their jokes were told to you. You continue to watch this reality show of people's lives until the man in the staff shirt leans down next to you, popping your bubble of peace. 

“You know, there’s a place for people like you. The ones who don’t know” 

“What-“

“See those storage containers over there? There are people there to help you. You can trust them”

“Ok”

“I’ll tell your friend not to worry” 

You walk away, towards the large metal containers. You step over the caution tape and the “DO NOT ENTER” signs, careful not to garner any looks. Nobody notices, too busy enchanted with the world they had entered.

All of a sudden, you feel a sharp pain in between your shoulder blades. Electricity courses throughout your entire body as you fall to the dusty path you had once cautiously stepped on.

You open your eyes to find yourself with your hands zip tied behind you. You look up to meet the eyes of a tall young adult man. You recognize him immediately- it’s your friend's brother. You knew he would be working here, but you never found out where.

“Do you know who I am?”

You nod, terrified.

“Let’s make one thing clear. You are not to speak of this event to anyone. Not even your friends. Not even your family.”

You pause, weighing the consequences, then nod.

“Good. Do you know why you are here?”

You shake your head. 

“You are here because you aren’t like anyone else. You have everything. All of the colors inside of you. This would make us, here at camp look good. Being able to foster so many talents in one person,” He turns to pace towards the wall, each step making a clang in your storage container prison, “However, you have felt what it does to you. And we can not turn you back to what you were. You are going to be like this permanently” 

He bends down to cut your hands free as he looks you directly in the eyes, “You will not talk about these side effects. Maybe to us, here. But not to anyone out there, got it?”

You nod. 

He walks out of the back of the storage container, taking a right turn. 

You look at your hands, trying to piece together the old you. It’s hard for you to remember the old you when you know that you were always this way.  

You take a step out into the daylight, trying to enjoy the sun as if you were a child. 

A cloud passes over, and you remember where you are supposed to be.

You take one more look at your hands, expecting to see bright orange fingertips. Instead, you see four colors. Silver, blue, green and orange. You tilt your hands, somehow hoping your fate would change. 

It doesn’t. 

You put your hands down and step outside of the barriers which hold you

You walk over to the house where your friend is waiting 

Their tense expression loosens as they recognize you in the crowd

They run up to you 

“I was so worried! The staff guy told me that you weren’t feeling well!”

“I’m better now,” you lie.

They seem to see through it. You smile at them and then laugh. Their worries evaporate into the hot air as they start to laugh with you. 

“Oh! Do you know what color you are?”

You show them your hands, shining a rainbow of colors in the light. 

“Woah, all of them! I didn’t know that that was possible!”

The staff man looks at you with a worried expression. 

You smile at him.

“Can I take a room in here?” you ask the man. 

“Of course, you are technically an orange”

You walk into the house, already messy from the many people who had hurriedly rushed in to stow their bags away. Your friend guides you down the hallway. You grab your belongings from their dorm, and place it in the one next to theirs. 

“I think I’m going to take a nap- is that ok?”

“Alright! I’ll see you later!”

You lie down on the bed, your body aching from today's events. 

You look at the ceiling trying to wonder what you have done wrong. What happened to you? What did you do to the old you? Why did you get chosen for this? What brought you here? 

Why would someone so close to you hurt you?

Why is everyone else so normal? 

You close your eyes, praying that you get transported away from here. Away from this horrible place with horrible people. Well-not all so horrible. There are some good parts, right? 

You take a breath. You just need to be near someone else. You don’t have to talk to them or even look at them. Just knowing that they are near you is enough 

You walk into the common room of your house and collapse onto the couch near some others. You tune into the chatter of the others there, the same way you watched the passers by. 

“So I know this is wayyyy in the future, but what are you gonna do for the talent show off?”

“Orange skillz! I’m already starting to practice! My parents made me”

“Actually I was thinking about skipping it this year”

“No way! Bro you have to!”

You think about what you will do. I mean for everyone here, it’s obvious. Of course some people who have stopped caring are going to show off the talents of normal people, but it’s a waste of their potential. You feel angry at this realization but you move on. There’s nothing you could do for them. Other people will use the talents they’ve been assigned. Nobody wants to switch because the colors fit them perfectly. Don’t they? 

Do they? 

You can’t think of which talent you would use. You have no idea what they even do- or how many you could use. You start to panic. What will you do? Everyone is going to think you will succeed, but what if you don’t want to?

What if you want to escape? 

You run out the front door and fail to acknowledge the staff member. You drown out the noise and chatter of the people around you. You crush the daisies and yellow dandelions under your feet while you rush towards the fence containing you and your peers. 

You climb over the fence, feet slipping as you miss foot placement after foot placement, but you somehow make it over. Your movements are rushed, but instinctual. You have to do this. You lean over to the side of freedom- where you can just go back to normal. Back to how you used to be. The place where all of your worries dissolve. As you fall the couple of feet back to the ground you smile, the memories rushing back to you. The excitement of your friend, the papers you shoved into your parents faces, pleading them to go, to try this experiment. You close your eyes, preparing to hit the ground and run. You let your colors explode out of you on impact, colors that weren’t even discovered yet. Purple, black, pink, yellow, and even teal. You lie for a second on the ground, you don’t care if they find you, or if they forget. You hope they forget, as you would be able to get away. Your colors pour onto the ground, leaving you, lying there, a memory of what was.