Chapter 1
Once upon a time, in a place quite nearby, there is an island. The island is so tiny that you wouldn’t be able to see it unless you were looking for it. On that island, was no color. Only black and white and very few transitioning shades of grey. There were no animals, few plants, and one girl. Girl might be the wrong word for her, but it would be the first one you would think of when you saw her. She was actually a demon- a demon shaped like a little girl- but a demon nonetheless. She fed on feelings. Confusion was her favorite, although joy and love were also allowable. She was dying.
Don’t be alarmed though, she was dying quite often and was used to it. Those who had put her on the island as a toddler ( she aged just like you and me) and given her no instructions in life, did not like her very much. They often forgot about her and her need to eat, until some human unknowingly walked close enough by the island to set off the alarm.
Lillian was the demon’s name, and she never knew friendship, or companionship, or even acquaintanceship for very long. When the unknowing human was sent to her ( since the ones who put her there were too lazy to look for anyone else) they were too afraid and confused to live very long. Confusion is a key part of the human soul, and without it being given willingly, the human will die quickly and with some pain.
Xander was a human boy filled with curiosity and a love for nature. He was made of confusion. That sounds unusual, but all humans are mostly made up of something. There are of course other things thrown in, but mostly, all that a human is is that one something. You might be mostly anger perhaps, or mostly joy. You have other things in you somewhere, but you always default back to what you are made of. It’s human nature. Anyway, Xander was made of curiosity, and with that curiosity came confusion. They go hand in hand really. You get curious, try to learn about something, get confused, and usually quit. Xander had been curious about a small lizard that didn’t seem to mind when he touched him, when he was taken to the island.
A whiplash of a flash and suddenly, you’re colorblind and about ten feet away from Lillian. “ Hello! My name is Lillian and I have no soul!” She said it with the illusion of cheer, but it came out just as dark and lifeless as the island. Xander tilted his head, unsure of what to say, when to his surprise, his confusion personified in a mark above his head. He took it off and examined it, then looked back at Lillian. She seemed more interested in the question mark than him, so he gave the mark to her. He knew what it was like to be curious about something but too polite to ask to see it.
As soon as it was in her hands, it seemed to absorb into her, and she gave a flat sigh that seemed to be in contentment. Xander already had more marks above his head, and he gave them to her in wonderment. He watched her as she absorbed more, and Xander felt something other than curiosity, or confusion. He felt sad. Lillian looked lonely, and she certainly didn’t have anyone around her here. Had she never seen color? Had she never had a friend? He looked up to the question mark above his head only to find two of them bending into the shape of a heart.
His soul knew what he wanted, although his age was much too small to express it with more than shy smiles and teasing. Xander gave Lillian the heart, and although her mouth opened in surprise, the heart dissolved the same as the individual marks. She has started to glow a faint greyish blue, and seems to be standing on a few inches of air instead of the ground.
Once again Xander has created a heart out of twisted question marks. He hands it to her, more sure now, and holds out his arms for a hug. He himself hasn’t had a hug in years. He was an orphan, and lived in the town’s foster home. The longer his arms are held open, the less calm and the more flustered his face becomes. Lillian absorbs one of the marks and places the other above her own head. The little demon, in the shape of a girl, was confused. She opens her arms in the same way, not moving closer. The mark above her head rips and tears itself into two pieces. They circle each other above her head, trying to figure out what to do.
Xander steps up to Lillian and holds her close. The island is covered in a light pink, then all white, then back to black and white with transitions of grey. Neither of them see this though, as Xander is looking down at the little girl in his boy arms, and Lillian is looking down and trying to escape the embrace as gently as she can. Xander smiles as her even while she tries to escape, and slowly opens his arms for her. He wasn’t confused at all when she was in his arms.
A few steps back, Lillian looks at the ground and reaches above her head, grabbing one of the two marks still trying to find purpose there. She leans down at sets it at Xander’s feet. She then turns around and walks away from him. She takes steps slowly, as if each foot were leaden, as if each inch away was agonising pain.
Xander calls to her, begging her to stop hurting herself, even if she can’t give him another hug. He calls that he understands and that he just wants to be her friend, if she would let him. She stops walking. She doesn’t turn around, she doesn’t run back to him. She drops to her knees.
Xander runs to her, calling her name and asking what is wrong. When he gets to her he realizes she is crying. She touches her face… and produces a question mark of her own. Her tears dry, her body looks less broken. Xander hugs her while she is still on her knees, whispering that she will be okay. He does not understand what is happening, and if you were to watch this all transfold you would be able to tell because of the forming mark above his head. He buries his face in her shoulder, just hoping, when he feels the arms of a demon wrap around him.
She lifts the two of them up off the ground, and made Xander lift his head by doing something he had never hear her do. She was laughing. “Look! Look!” She said and her words were just as colorful as the island they stood on. Pink, blue, orange, red, brown, purple, and any and every other color you and I see everyday, was pouring out of the island and coating everything in its path. The demon laughed and smiled at Xander, hugging him again and again. Well, maybe demon isn’t the right word for her, although it would’ve been right for a few moments earlier. She was a human little girl, with a heart made of two question marks above her head.
