Colors. The colors. The bright, eerily luminescent, swirling colors. They appeared only in her nightmares, and she hated them. They gave her headaches.
Liz sat up, gripping the crystal that hung about her neck, and glanced at the clock; there was plenty of time. She lied back down with a sigh and stared at the ceiling. It was gray, like nearly all things manmade were. The explosions over a hundred years ago were the cause of that. She tried to think back to her middle school history lessons. Was it year 2010? 2012? Something like that. All she knew was that, ever since, people worldwide had been extremely sensitive to light and color. Even now, so many years later, over three quarters of the world’s population was involuntarily nocturnal. There seemed to be no cure for sunlight.
Liz pulled herself out of bed and walked across the old apartment to the bathroom. The only lights to guide her were small, dim and gray. Just as the bulbs outside barely lit the sidewalk, these hardly allowed her to see the soap as she bathed. How she had missed the warm water when she lived on the streets. She closed her eyes. There had been many long hard years between running from the orphanage in Colorado and finally settling here in Missouri. If it hadn’t been for the crystal’s comfort…
She suddenly wanted out. Rinsing and drying as quickly as possible, she dressed and slipped the crystal over her head. The migraine was back. As were the colors. They danced in her head every time she closed her eyes. She gripped the crystal. The doctor! She glanced at the clock. She needed to hurry if she was to make her appointment. Please have good news for me this time, she hoped.
The headaches and swirling colors had haunted her ever since, well, she couldn’t remember. It could have started back before her parents died, but it was probably after she moved into the orphanage. Yes, it was definitely after moving into the horrible place. In fact, it was probably the dirty filthy orphanage itself that had caused them! Doctors had come and doctors had gone, but none offered more than a guess and another bottle of painkillers. Nothing could soothe the horrible pounding once it started except, of course, the crystal. But even that little wonder seemed to be working less and less as time wore on.
Doctor Fellows, the sixth doctor she had visited since settling here in Missouri, had offered hope but delivered disappointment on many occasions. Liz had again returned to him a few weeks ago to once again be pricked and prodded. Fellows had assured her that the test results would be in today, and that she should come to the office to hear them in person. I’ll be lucky to arrive alive, Liz thought, thinking of her last disastrous attempt to travel to the doctor’s office. She had suffered a particularly painful attack… Liz shuddered. If it hadn’t been for the crystal…
Liz sat down at the kitchen counter, head in hands. How she wished she had a telephone. It ached her to have to travel all the way to the office just to face the possibility, and probability, of disappointment. But a telephone’s ringing hurt her head, and she was increasingly becoming sensitive to sound.
The bells above old Zeke’s toy store door had been the worst, she remembered. Flashes of color filled her head with every Ping! Though visiting the shop was painful, particularly on a busy day, it had been her favorite place to get away from the orphanage for a few hours. Liz smiled and glanced at the clock. She was dressed and ready to go, but still had a bit of time before her appointment. She laid her head on the counter and let her memories carry her back to the weeks that preceded her first visit to old Zeke’s.
*
As a newly-orphaned twelve-year old, Liz had been very withdrawn and shy. Except for mealtimes, she rarely came out of the cold, dark room that served as a bedroom for her and three other orphan girls. As the weeks droned on, however, Liz found the courage to join the other children in the small library downstairs. It was there that she heard the rumors that had impelled that first out-of-doors adventure to old Zeke’s toy store.
The older children had whispered to the younger about the explosions nearly a hundred years before. They told of a rock that sparkled with a colorful brightness that didn’t burn like sunlight. They were said to shine with every color known to ancient man.
Her curiosity stimulated, Liz began joining the other children in the library more often. Apparently, the power that gave the rocks their magical qualities could also hypnotize and control any human with its hypo-allergenic colors; causing him to do unmentionable things and to eventually go mad with obsession. It was also said that the crystalline rocks had been distributed across the world and given to those rare people who were immune to their effects for safe keeping. These people were simply called “Keepers” and they were noted for their rare bluish eyes. Zeke, the toy store owner, was said to be one of those Keepers.
The next time that the orphanage nanny, Lucy, took a trip to town, Liz surprised her with the request to tag along and visit the toy store. Left alone while Lucy shopped the bakery down the block, Liz meandered around. The store was painted in tones of grays and was actually quite a boring place. She spotted no rocks besides a few crystal necklaces hanging on a rack toward the back of the store. They certainly sparkled, but had no color. As for Zeke, he was a bit odd-looking in countenance, but had gray eyes just as they all did. He smiled as she left and bid her come back soon.
After her first visit, Liz made a point of visiting Zeke’s at least once a week when the nanny went out for supplies. She enjoyed the quiet there, and would often bring along a book to enjoy during her stay. Time and time again, as she sat trying to concentrate on the story in her lap, her thoughts would wander and she would find herself thinking of the rumors. How she wished they were true. If they are, she thought, I’ll have something to talk to the other children about. Her loneliness and curiosity eventually led her to snoop behind the counter whenever Zeke hobbled off to the back room. She would pull open a drawer and shuffle through the contents, quite unsure of what she was looking for. Her searches were never eventful, so she would return to her book before Zeke returned to his desk.
One day, Liz was reading when heard the familiar sound of feet shuffling toward the back room. She dropped her book and scrambled toward the counter. In her hurry, she slipped and fell; flailing toward the desk. Her elbow caught the edge of the counter on the way down, and she heard a sharp Snap! Once she was sure it had not been a bone, she pulled herself up. There, right in front of her, was a giant crystal. The force of her impact with the desk had flung it loose from who-knows-where, and it was now sitting there on the floor. She bent down and picked it up. It was beautiful. She did not know why, but it was beautiful. The crystal looked no different than the ones for sale on the rack; it was shiny, translucent and colorless. But it was much bigger, and oh so beautiful.
Liz hid the rock at the back of the store and visited it when she came to read. She was no thief, and though she wanted the crystal badly, she wasn’t about to steal it. Instead, she decided that if Zeke showed no sign of missing the thing, she would, over time, disguise it as one of the crystalline necklaces and purchase it when she had enough money. By now the rumors had been forgotten, and Liz, knowing for many reasons that they couldn’t be true, saw no harm in her schemes.
*
Liz shook her head in attempt to clear the memories from her mind. She had let in too many already and she knew that to linger longer would be painful. She tried to focus on getting to her appointment. If Dr. Fellows were here right now, she thought, he would “recommend” that I walk. But what does he know? Driving the car may be too dangerous, but I’m perfectly capable of riding my bike.
Fighting dizziness, Liz checked that she had everything and locked the apartment door behind her. She barely made her way down two flights of stairs by gripping the rail with one hand and the crystal in the other. Those darn colors make it impossible to see straight! She grabbed her bike from the rack and slowly headed down the dimly-lit sidewalk. Her eyes could barely trace the outline of a few plants and trees in the shadows. Though she had never seen plant life up close and in enough light to tell, Liz knew that even it had been affected by the explosions. She had learned in Kindergarten that plants long ago had consisted of bright colors; mostly green, but such things as “flowers” had bloomed in reds, yellows and oranges.
Those same bright colors swirled before her now, blocking what little view of the path she had been granted. Ignoring it, Liz pressed on. Her head throbbed, and she felt herself wobble. She blinked, and her reopened eyes saw rock, then darkness.
*
Not for sale… Not for sale… The words repeated themselves over and over in twelve-year-old Liz’s mind. Her plans had gone perfectly until she finally worked up the nerve to set the crystal, now necklace, on the counter in front of Zeke. Before she had time to explain her motive, Zeke had grabbed the crystal away, shouting “That’s NOT for sale!” She was angry and hurt. She had left in tears and was now thrashing her way through brambles and bushes, desperately trying to get anywhere; nowhere. How dare he deny her what she wanted. Tears and sweat ran down her body; mixing with blood from thorn pricks and scratches. She closed her eyes and pressed on. Her legs finally buckled. She slept where she lay.
*
Liz’s body shivered beside her bike. Despite the cold, sweat poured off of her. Her unconscious hand gripped the crystal beneath her shirt. Her eyes, closed, saw without seeing. Images from her past flashed before her in brilliant color. She was forced to remember.

The hurt, the anger.
The pain, the screaming.
The blood, the fire.
The crystal.

Liz opened her eyes. A blurry I.V. stand hovered over her head, dripping fluids slowly into her arm. She blinked in attempt to clear her vision. Doctor Fellows approached her bedside. Assured that she was feeling alright, he cleared his throat.
“Liz,” he began. “We did receive the results from the tests a few weeks ago, as well as the results from a few tests we administered since you’ve been in the hospital.” Liz prepared herself for disappointment, and reached for the crystal. It was gone.
The doctor continued. “It seems that your… sickness, was caused by an… an outside force.”
Liz sat up, mumbling garbled words. “It can’t be… the crystal… colorless… Zeke… no blue eyes…”
“Liz, wait a second. Hold still.” Fellows added. “I thought you knew.”
She looked at him, questions in her eyes.
He looked back. “Liz, you’re colorblind.”

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