Zak stared wide-eyed at the door in which Darryl had just rushed out of. There so many thoughts running through his head. The one that spoke the loudest was, what the hell just happened?

It took him a few moments, but he snapped out of his trance and grabbed the bag Darryl left behind and ran out from behind the counter, hoping he could catch up to him.

He shoved the door open and ran out onto the sidewalk. He looked to his left and to his right, colors shining back at him, but he was too focused on finding Darryl to care about the bright reds, greens and purples he saw flashing all around him. He began to panic when he couldn't see Darryl anywhere.

Then, he saw a glimpse of light brown hair turn the corner down the street. Following his heart, he booked it across the street, dodging people walking by. They shouted obscenities at him and some shoved back when he bumped into them. He didn't care though, the only thing running through his mind was that he needed to find his soulmate.

Struggling slightly for breath, he turned the corner sharply and continued running. In front of him was nothing but a dark street, dimly lit with street lamps. The golden hue of the bulbs gave off an eerie feeling thy he wasn't used to, but Zak ignored it. As he ran, he noticed a park up ahead to his left. He had never been to this area of the city.

He slowed down as he passed by, hoping maybe Darryl were cutting through the park. The area was dark, no light poles were on since it wasn't yet late enough for the timer to switch them on. He looked around at the dark green trees and the empty, colorful playground.

As he continued walking, he heard a quiet noise. He snapped his head around to a bench along a path, where a lone figure sat hunched over with their head in their hands. The noise came from the person, and it sounded like crying.

As he stepped closer, he noticed it wasn't a man, but a woman instead. He quickly backed up, not wanting to make her frightened since she definitely wasn't who Zak was looking for. He turned on his heel and walked back out of the park, towards the shop he had left unattended.

Feeling defeated, he hung his head low as he walked. somewhat dragging his feet. Now looking down at his shoes, he noticed they weren't grey or black like he thought, but they were a dark blue. His pants were black, as his mom had labeled, and his hoodie was also light blue like he thought.

"This is going to take a while to get used to," he thought as he opened the door to the shop once more. Luckily, no one was inside waiting for him, so he was able to drag himself back behind the counter and sit on the stool that was there. He set the bag with Darryl's game back on the counter and wrote a note out saying it was left behind. He didn't have Darryl's number or information in order to contact him and let him know he left it, though he wasn't sure he would even want to talk to Zak.

As he sat there, he wondered what he did wrong. All he wanted to do was find his soulmate so he could see the beautiful colors of the world around him. Though now that he had found him, all he could do was stare at the counter and think about him. He didn't care about the bright posters on the walls, of the multitude of colors on the game cases lining the walls. He didn't care about the color of the carpet, or the bright color of his phone case.

All he cared about was finding Darryl and talking to him, and Zak knew he would do just that.

The rest of the night went slowly, though Zak just wanted to get home. Eventually, the time hit for him to clean up and head home. He vacuumed the floor and closed the register for the night, then headed out the door.

He locked the front door to the store and turned on his heel to make the trip back home. Usually, Zak would just put in his headphones and keep his head down, but today was different.

Today, Zak kept his headphones out and listened to the sounds of the city as he walked, including the sounds of passing cars and people.

Colors were everywhere, from bright neon signs in shop windows to pastel clothing on people around him. The tall buildings around him were mostly muted, neutral colors, such as dark reds, browns and greys. Along the sidewalks, there were trees in bright green hues, along with benches made in metal and glossed in a deep blue.

Though it was dark, Zak could still see every color that he glanced at. Everything was so new and different, he was so excited to get to know what all these colors were. He knew the names of colors, but had never been able to see which names corresponded with each hue.

He soon reached the stairs to the subway and skipped his way down, glancing at the tan walls at the bottom. He passed through the turnstiles again and waited on the platform for the subway train. As he waited, he noticed there were yellow stripes all over the concrete floor, made bright enough for people to notice. He knew they were meant as caution signs, in order to not step onto the tracks or too close when a train was moving.

Glancing around, he noticed there were red and yellow signs all over, along with little posters people had stuck up for advertisements for bands, concerts, art galleries, and more. Every poster was different and had its own style, but each one shared bright colors.

Soon, the subway car pulled in and people flooded off the train. Colors blurred around Zak as he stood on the platform waiting to board. Once everyone was off, he made his way onto he train and sat in a seat, since it wasn't very full. He decided not to put his headphones in, but instead played around on his phone.

Boredom got the best of him and soon he found himself searching on the internet for the question, "What to do if your soulmate rejects you". He didn't know why he searched it, but then realised it had been in the back of his mind since Darryl ran out. He scrolled through a few articles, most saying the same thing.

As long as they were alive, you wouldn't lose the ability to see colors, but you won't get another soulmate. If Darryl had passed away before Zak had met him, a different person would've been his soulmate and he would've never known Darryl existed.

The articles were a bit confusing for Zak, since many of them talked about biology and astronomy, and he wasn't very good at those subjects in school. Still, he was able to get the main focus of each one. He understood that it didn't really matter if he was with Darryl, just that as long as they were near each other, his sight wouldn't deteriorate. Most articles said that you had to be within 100 miles of each other once you met, or you would slowly lose each color one by one until you were close again.

It was a difficult concept for Zak to grasp, since he new to the whole thing. He wasn't sure if Darryl even lived nearby, but it wouldn't make sense for him to live further than 100 miles away and make the trip to the city every day.

Zak's thoughts were interrupted by the train stopping at the station he needed to get off at. He hurriedly stuffed his phone in his pocket and hopped off, making his way up the stairs to the street above. Outside, the sidewalk was dark, barely illuminated by any street lamps. Still, he was able to see different hues in what dim light there was. He could still see the green of leaves and the grass, and the purple-blue tint to the night sky.

He always wondered if stars had a color, and now that he was looking up at them, he noticed the larger ones seemed to be a little warmer than the small dots, as if the larger ones were yellow an the small ones white.

As he walked back toward his house, he thought about how he would tell his family about what happened. Would he do what his sister did to him and just comment on the color of something? No, that would be to cheesy. He needed to do something that would shock them so that he could explain the situation.

He continued walking and, suddenly, the idea hit him. With the plan in mind, he raced toward his house and made it there faster than he ever had. When he got to the front door, he noticed it was red. He always thought it was brown.

Zak quietly entered his house, careful not to wake his sister or mom. As he shut the door and turned around to head down the hall, he was hit with a rainbow of colors. He had never realised his house was so colorful, but now that he could see each hue, he was somewhat grateful he couldn't see them until now. There were so many different colors, from the tan walls, to the yellow rug, to the blue pillows on the couch in the living room.

He shook his head and rubbed his eyes, tiptoeing his way down the hall to his room. As he passed his sisters room, he peeked in and let out a sigh of relief when he noticed she was actually sleeping for once.

Once in his room, he pulled out his laptop. He powered it on and opened up an internet browser. There, he went to google and began to search up each individual color name that he knew. First, red. He searched the name and stared at multiple different hues, then compared them to the shirts in his closet. He noticed he had many more dark reds than bright, and searched up what dark red was called. He found a few results, from maroon to burgundy. Burgundy, in his opinion, had a different tone than maroon, and seemed much more purple.

He spent the night searching for each color, looking up charts of different variations of each one and comparing his clothing with them.

Zak wanted to find a color his mom hadn't written on a hanger, and he wanted to make sure he commented on it when he wore that piece of clothing in the morning.

Eventually, he got too tired to continue. He had found a few color names his mom hadn't referenced in the hangers and decided to go with those tomorrow. Once he was satisfied, he set his computer down on the floor and tucked himself into bed.

As he fell asleep, the one thing that remained on his mind was Darryl.