Like most mornings, the traffic in and out of the shop was slow. The occasional customer would walk in and browse the countless grey game cases for a few minutes and either leave with nothing or grab something completely random and purchase it. Sometimes, Zak thought people felt bad for the shop and only came in to try and increase business.

Time passed as the shadows in the store shifted with the sun. With every passing minute, Zak became increasingly bored. He played with some papers on the counter, pretending to be interested in whatever was written on them.

He had another coworker at this time of the day, but he was in the back room taking inventory of new shipments that came in. Zak hated looking at all the grey boxes and mixing them up, so he always made Vincent do it because he already found his soulmate and could see color.

Vincent was a French international student studying at the college nearby, so this was his part-time job. His soulmate lived back in France, and couldn't move with him when he came for school. Zak didn't talk to Vincent very much, but they got along when they did. Sometimes, Vincent tried to explain different colors to him, but the shades of grey just jumbled in his head and he would mix them up when Vincent would quiz him.

Today was no different. Vincent came out of the back room with a box full of different games. He set the box down on the counter and looked up at Zak, who just raised an eyebrow it boredom.

"Okay, Zak. I want you to pull out whichever box you think is red." Vincent's thick accent could be heard clearly throughout the store, since no one was there besides them.

"Why? I always get it wrong," Zak sighed, twirling a pen between his fingers. "What's the point when all I see is grey?"

"You gotta keep trying, man. If you never find your soulmate, you'll have to figure out the colors!" Vincent always made the argument that his encounter with his soulmate was an accident, and that he bumped into them -literally- on the street one day. Vincent had knocked him over while he was preoccupied on his phone, and when he looked up he noticed the world was no longer grey. The rest was history.

In this case, he was implying that Zak may never find his soulmate, and that many people never do. The thought often scared Zak because he wanted nothing more than to see his world in the bright colors Vincent always described. It was a yearning in his heart that was always there.

"Fine, I'll play along," Zak huffed before he gazed into the large box, overflowing with grey cases. He paused for a moment before he pulled out a mid-tones grey case with a few characters on the front. It was called Red Dead Redemption II.

"Here, this one has the name red in it, so I assume it's red." He handed the box to Vincent, who looked upset.

"You can't just pick it off the name!" He exclaimed, throwing the case back into the box.

"I didn't! I picked it and then I read the name. I didn't pick it because of the name. I couldn't even see the title when it was in the box, dude."

They argued for a little while, but soon Vincent needed to get back to taking inventory and a few customers had come in, so Zak needed to make sure he was ready at the register. Many customers would come in and ask him questions about which games were good for certain ages, to which he never really had a response because the only game he played was Minecraft and people of all ages played that. Most of the time, he would recommend something he saw other people buy, or if it was for a younger child, he'd recommend something he knew was geared towards children. Other than age ratings, he didn't know much about any of the games in the store.

A while later, Vincent's shift was ending and it was starting to get to the slower time of day where Zak could sit back and scroll through his phone or watch videos. Not many people stopped in between 3:30pm and 9, which was when they closed. Still, there was one person who stopped in almost every day and Zak knew he couldn't close early because of it.

He didn't know the man's name, but he knew he was at least a few years older than Zak. He always wore dark grey clothing and mostly kept to himself when he was in the store. He would come in around 7:30pm normally and would walk around for a few minutes before he decided he wanted something or didn't want something. It was nights like these that he wished they didn't have regulars, simply because he wanted to head home.

For a while, Zak wandered the store while he waited for the man, because he knew no one else was going to come in for the night. He looked through all of the cases, assorted into grays and blacks along the shelves. He had never heard of a lot of these games, but a lot of the cover art on the cases intrigued him. Soon, Zak heard the familiar ding of the shop's front door and someone opened it and entered. He made his way back to the front counter where he saw the man walk in and started to roam the rows of video games. He ran his hand along shelves as he went, mumbling to himself about what games he had to try and which ones he already had. Zak watched silently from the counter, somehow wishing he was able to see the colors of these cases like this man most likely was. He wished he could see the blues, yellows and greens, along with the bright colors of all the characters that were on each case.

"If you need any help, just let me know. I have nothing better to do," Zak called out to the man from across the store. The man looked up slightly and nodded before going back to looking at the games. He seemed too interested in what the games were and which ones he wanted to try but he didn't seem to care about Zak's offer for help.

After a few minutes, the man decided there was nothing good for today and paid Zak a brief farewell before he made his way out the door, once again leaving Zak alone.

With only an hour or so until he had to close the store, Zak sat around and waited in case someone else came in. Just like most nights, no one came into the store after 8pm. Once 9pm hit, he was able to head home, so he closed up and locked the doors and the register. Once he was out of the building, he locked the front door and he made his way down the sidewalk towards the subway. Again, like most nights, he feared the dark and walked as quickly as he could towards the station before he missed the train. Since it was already night, dark shades of gray and black mountain tonight around him, which scared him even more than usual for some reason. The street light above the stairs to the station flickered, frightening him more than he could ever have been at that moment.

He quickly rushed down the steps and made it just in time as the train was about to leave, making the last call for passengers. once he made it into the train car, he put in his headphones for the second time that day and patiently waited for his stop so he could make the 20 minute walk back to his home.

When the train finally pulled up to the platform he needed to get off at, Zak stood up and shoved his hands in his pockets, making his way off the car. He walked up the steps to the street above, barely lit by any street lamps. The occasional car passed by as he walked along, causing his face to be illuminated from under his hood. The dark black surrounding him made it harder for anyone to see him, but that was fine. There weren't many people out at this time, especially since he was no longer in the center of the city.

He kept a steady pace because the dark still scared him, especially when all he could see was black and grey. He thought that maybe if he ever knew what colors were, he wouldn't be as scared.

Eventually, he made it to his front door and unlocked it, opening it quietly in case his mother and sister were asleep. He kicked off his grey shoes onto the rug beside the door and trudged down the dark hall towards his room. He peered inside his sisters room as he passed since her door was cracked open. She was awake, her face lit up by the light of her phone screen. She noticed him in the doorway and motioned him to come inside. Sighing, Zak pushed the door open slightly more and entered the room. She patted the spot next to her on the bed, and he sat.

"What do you want, Callie?" He slumped against the wall tiredly.

"I have something really important to tell you, Zak. Will you please listen?" She begged, but he could tell she was holding back a smile. He nodded, motioning her to continue. "Your sweatshirt is blue."

His eyes became wide as he sat up to look at her. She held back a wide smile, covering her mouth with her sleeve.

"How do you know that?" He demanded. There was no way she could see it, right? She was only 15.

"While I was at school today, I bumped into a new student. He's really cute, Zak. His eyes are almost the exact color of your sweatshirt." Callie seemed really excited, but Zak couldn't help but feel a little hurt. How could his younger sister find her soulmate before him? It wasn't fair.

"I- uh, I'm really happy for you, Cal. Now I have to head to bed, I have work again tomorrow," Zak stood up, rubbing his face with his hand. "You can tell me all about your new boyfriend tomorrow, okay?"

She nodded, telling him goodnight before he left the room. He slowly dragged his feet across the hall to his room, lightly shutting the door tight.

Then came the tears.

They came like a waterfall, Zak was unable to hold them back as he tossed his body onto his bed, clutching his grey pillow tightly. He curled up into a ball, the moonlight leaking into his room and making his tears sine in the dark. He gasped for breaths, trying to keep quiet as he cried himself to sleep.

Why was life so unfair?