The Colour Blue [ON HOLD]

Prologue

A/N: Just a warning that this story gets pretty dark dark. Like, seriously dark. It has romance and humour in it but all in all, it's a pretty dark story, so if you don't like that kind of thing, go read something else. If you're still reading, I presume you like dark fiction, which is great, because I do too. So read on, my friend...

Oh, another note: So I went to the extremes with exotic (and occasionally made up) names in this, typically of me, so I just thought I'd explain how some of them are pronounced. Yve is pronounced like "Eve", with the "Y" making and "Ee" sound. (I am now aware that this is a real boy's name pronounced "Iv", but at the time I thought I was just making up a variation of Eve. Don't judge meh. *hides*) Silo Avery (you don't get to meet her in this chapter. Muahaha) is pronounced "SAI-lo AY-ver-ee" or "AH-ver-ee", either. I know, I know, Silo's a boy's name too. I love it. But I just wanted to call a girl character Silo. And I also have no idea if Avery can be a surname. Gah. Oh well.

"Blue. Blue, wake up."

The persistent whispering interfering with the young boy's dreams caused him to bury his face in his pillow, in the half-asleep hope that it might go away if he did.

"Blue. Get up. We have to go."

The whispering continued, a little louder this time. Blue sighed, staring blearily into the darkness as the smudgy shadows surrounding him gradually focused into the vague shape of his bedroom. "What?" he mumbled grudgingly, his mind still heavy with sleep. "Go? Go where?"

"Anywhere. We have to leave. We have to leave now." the voice persisted urgently, it's tone fast becoming impatient. Blue looked up in search of the voice's source to find a short figure standing at the end of his bed, which, in the half-light (and his sleep-deprived state of mind), he could only assume was his mother.

"Mum?" he frowned, slowly sitting up so he could look around properly. His room was black and blurry, all except from the pool of glaring orange streetlight that burned through his window, and the occasional fleeting white shape that slithered across his ceiling from the headlights of traffic outside. "Why? What's going on?"

"Just hurry up," the woman whispered hastily, pulling back Blue's covers so that all the cold bedroom air rushed over him. He sat up, blinking at the hazy silhouette of his mother, who rushed over to urge him out of bed. "You don't have time to get dressed. Most of your things are in the car anyway," she explained, her arm around Blue to guide the stumbling, half-asleep ten year old towards the door. He could hear the panic in her voice now, tense and wavering.

"What's goi-" Blue started to repeat, but he was silenced by a harsh shushing sound, laced with fear.

"Keep your voice down," she hissed, slowly and carefully closing the door behind them. The hallway was just as dark and shadowed as Blue's bedroom had been, because for some reason, his mum hadn't turned on the lights, despite the fact they were blindly fumbling towards the stairs, the grip Blue had on his mother's hand tightening by the second. He could hear his father's soft, heavy breathing coming from his bedroom.

"Okay," Blue said, a little more quietly, staring avidly around him to make out his bleak surroundings. What going on?

"Yve's already in the car," she muttered, the dull buzz of nighttime slicing through the silence as they bustled down the stairs as quietly as the could manage. Blue was wide awake now, his mind racing back and forth, suddenly scared of what could possible be happening. He just nodded and followed as his mother closed the front door behind them, stepping out into the cool nighttime air. Their path was illuminated by soft orange light, and, feeling slightly out of place being outdoors in his pyjamas, not to mention in the middle of the night, Blue followed his mother to the car. Just as he was about to open the door, he tensed and frowned.

"Mum? Mum, what are we doing? Where are we going?" His voice sounded small and weak, chilled by the air and the fear, dazedly confused. He stared his mother, his silver-grey eyes wide with apprehension. His mother sounded so serious, so uncharacteristically tense. Scared, even. He trusted her, more than anyone, but he didn't understand. Why were they leaving? Where were they going? Were they coming back? If so, when? And-

"Where's Dad?"

Blue saw his mother tense under the rusty glow, stopping mid-opening the car door. He saw her expression: blank and mask-like, undiluted terror lurking beneath its' surface. His mum was a shy, clumsy, easily startled woman, and Blue had seen her look nervous and fearful more times than he could remember, but he had never seen her quite as terrified as this, and never quite so determined to hide it.

"Just get in the car, Blue," she said, her voice calm and cold, but wobbling a little. Blue could see her shaking, scarcely under the cover of the inky black moonlight. But Blue wasn't settling for that.

"Why? Tell me what's going on!" he hissed his voice rising. He could see his mum getting more panicked by the second.

"Blue, shh. Please, just get in the car." She sounded more anxious than ever, her tone becoming more desperate.

"Why, Mum?!" Blue demanded through gritted teeth. "I don't understand. Why are we leaving?! Where are we going?!"

"Blue-"

"Why?"

"Blue, plea-"

"Tell me what's going on!!" He was struggling not to yell, but for the sake of his trembling mother's requests, he did his best, little as he understood. She sighed quietly, a shaky, hopeless sigh that made Blue shut up.

"I'll tell you in the car," she whispered, after taking a deep breath. "Just get in. I promise I'll tell you. Now quickly."

Blue did as he was asked, obediently climbing into the car next to his sound asleep sister, ready to interrogate his mother who was starting the car. Placing a hand on the cold glass window, he breathed against it, his hot breath misting up the glass. He stared through it at the dark blue front door of their house, distorted and fuzzy through the condensation as they drove off. He could almost hear his mother the day they painted the it that colour. "See? It's blue! Just like you!" she had told him, smiling and laughing without a care in the world. He watched as the door shrunk smaller and smaller as they drove away until it was almost out completely out of sight.

He had never liked the colour blue.