The Musicians Forbidden Paintbrush

Chapter 1

My dad drove in silence, keeping his eyes on the faded road. I remember looking out the car window, and seeing drooping trees. Their color was darkened, almost black, and the grass looked as though it was burned. It had been that way for as long as I could remember. Our move to Colorado seemed to be taking forever! The small electronic box that was put in cars to play strange sounds, was outlawed. It had been outlawed ever since the end of the fifth World War. I had heard those strange sounds before, and it was lovely. My great grandma, Grandma' Jovie, as I called her, was the one who let me listen. We were one of the few lucky families that had someone who lived before the world wars. I remember when she pulled a small, round box from her memory chest one time when we were visiting. It was as big as my hand, which was not saying much, for I was only five at the time. Her wrinkled face smiled when she placed it in my hand. The box looked like silver. The top had a gorgeous design, with little lines that had circles at the bottom. Notes, is what she called them. The sides of the box were slightly rusted, but it made it look magical. I must have looked funny, because Grandma' Jovie laughed, which I didn't hear in our house often. People still laughed and had fun, but it always felt like something else was needed. I remember the lovely word she said when she wound up the box. Music. Music is what she said, when a beautiful, sad, joyful sound came from the box. She gave me the box, and told me to never forget music, Claire. "Never forget it, and you will find yourself in a whole new world. Never forget it, and always remember, I am with you." Grandma' Jovie died a month later, and even though I didn't understand what she meant, I never forgot.

My dad pulled the car into a gas station. Me and my two younger brothers had to stay quiet, even if we were desperate to find out how much longer before we made it to our new house. The sign of the gas station was almost nothing but black and off white. Sunshine Yellow. I thought, remembering when Grandma' Jovie taught me to recognize the colors that use to be. No one bothered repainting it, because no matter how many times they painted it, it would just fade again. If you looked hard, you could find a few cans of paint, but they were all faded like everything else in the world. She told me all the different shades of one color there was. She said the sun gave off light, but it would make everything bright, and give it all more color. She said her favorite color was Sunshine yellow. I looked around at everything, seeing people who were filling their cars with gas, frowning as they did. Filling a car with gas isn't exactly fun, but I thought people could be a little more happy. I was finally sick of not talking.

"Mom!" I burst out, "Why are people not happy anymore? And how long before we are there?"

My mother turned to look at me slowly. She was only thirty-four, and grey hairs were beginning to show in her black hair that was fixed in a bun. She seemed tired all the time, even more tired than Grandma' Jovie was in her old age. She petted my brown hair softly, everyone had either black or dark brown hair.

"You know why," she answered, and seeing my dad returning to the car, she quickly said, "And we are still a ways off." My dad turned the key to the car, and back to the road it was. Even though I wanted to argue with my mom, because I had no clue why everyone was so sad all the time, I knew better. If I talked back to my mom, it would start a fight between her and my dad, and that was the last thing I wanted. I turned sideways in my seat trying to find a good sleeping position, but all the gloominess made me depressed: The blackened grass, the sad trees, the faded colors, everything. I didn't know why it made me sad, I had never known anything else but this colorless world. I put my hand in my pocket, feeling the small music box Grandma' Jovie gave to me eight years ago, and felt something when I remembered the wonderful sound it gave. I couldn't place the feeling, but I liked it. Slowly, with the jolting of the car and the feeling, I drifted off to sleep.

***

"Wake up Claire!" Connie, my seven year old brother yelled in my ear, "We are here!" I jumped awake, and glared at him.

"Stop yelling in my ear!" I screamed at him. My mom shot a look at me, which made me look to the floor. I lifted my backpack onto my shoulder and sighed as I got out of the car. Our new house looked like it used to be Cherry red, and the door was grey with a small door knocker. It looked very sad, but everything looked that way nowadays. My dad began bringing boxes to the house, not giving his wife a single look, and I went to look at the house. The grey front door led into the open living and dining room. You could tell where the living room stopped, and the dining room began because the carpet turned to mint green tile, which was also faded. The green tile looked awful to me, and seeing the look on my mother's face, she felt the same way. Green. I thought. What a relaxing word. My mind went back to Grandma' Jovie, and the wonderful things she showed me. I went to a back bedroom, that I claimed for my own. It looked like it used to be periwinkle, but that was always a hard color to recognize. I dropped my bag on the floor, and flopped on the bed. I took out my music box and cradled it in my hands. It gave me that feeling again; like something was missing from the world. I knew a list of things that should be in the world, but I did my best not to think of those things. I carefully put the silver box under my bed, and went to help my family unpack boxes. My dad was still bringing in boxes from our overly packed car, and my mom was putting plates in a cabinet. Connie and Christopher were keeping themselves entertained with two grey cars.

"Need help dad?" I asked as he put another box on the ground.

"Sure," he answered dryly. I followed him to the car and grabbed a box, and continued this until everything was inside. By dinner we had most of the boxes unpacked and put away, but there were still more coming in a moving van. Since we had just moved, we didn't have anything in our fridge, so my mom and I decided to go buy some fast-food. We chose to walk so we could see the neighborhood; the fast food place wasn't far. We walked in silence like the whole neighborhood. Everything was quiet, even the people who were walking their dogs, walked in silence. When the dogs begged their person to play fetch, the person did nothing. I turned my eyes to the sidewalk and stared at it the whole walk. I thought of nothing and we were there, at Gary's Grab'n'Go. The thought of a fast food burger disgusted me, but I ordered one anyway. I was hungry. When we had gotten back to our new house we saw our new neighbors leaving their house. My mom did her best to put on a smile, but I could tell she had no desire to meet them.

"You must be the Farnsworths," the lady said in matter of fact tone. The lady was a short plump lady with shoulder length hair, which was dark brown. She looked like a know-it-all to me. A girl who looked about my age stood next to her. Her light brown hair hid twinkling, curious, grey eyes, but then I looked again and saw a hint of the color blue. Everyone's eyes nowadays were grey. It surprised me so much, that I looked away.

"Yes," my mom said. The lady completely ignored the irritation in my mom's voice, and went right on asking about why we moved to Colorado, and talking about how bad the prices on gas were. She said her name was Nora Reynolds and that this was her daughter, Jaclyn. My mom said our names, and they went on talking, as mothers do, while Jaclyn and I stayed quiet, as children were supposed to. As we stood, listening to our mothers, Jaclyn stared me down. Her eyes said, I know something you don't, and it made me very uncomfortable, especially with the hint of blue in them. I turned my gazed all around, but knew her eyes stayed on me.

"We really must be going," my mother said, and shook Mrs. Reynolds hand. With my right hand holding the food, I shook Mrs. Reynolds hand and then Jaclyn's. But something strange happened when I shook Jaclyn's, she slipped a small piece of paper into my hand. Seeing the look in her eyes, I knew better than too call attention to it. We walked over to our house, which was right next door, and I quickly shoved the paper into my pocket.