AURI AND THE LOST COLORS

A Heartwarming Fable About Kindness and the Colors of Emotion

Sampler Chapter – Chapter Two

By Roald R. Arcangel

Chapter Two – The Girl Who Still Sees Blue

At school, Auri’s sketchbook was her treasure. She drew what others couldn’t see —
sunflowers with halos of gold, rivers that shimmered with blue. Her classmates laughed
whenever she showed them.

“She sees colors!” one boy snorted. “Maybe she hit her head on a rainbow!”

Even the teacher sighed. “Auri, we live in the Gray Age. It’s best to accept it, dear.”

Auri nodded, but her heart whispered otherwise. She could feel color pulsing beneath the
dullness — faint, alive, waiting.

On her way home, she passed through the quiet marketplace. The stalls were lined with
Gray Tokens — small, smooth stones people wore to “keep their feelings balanced.” They
bought them as if peace could be purchased, as if silence was safer than care.

Auri turned away. Her sketchbook pressed against her chest like a heartbeat. That’s when
she heard a grumble from above.

“Blasted sky! Can’t remember what color I’m supposed to be today!”

She looked up. Perched on a branch was a plump chameleon, scowling at his tail. His skin
was entirely gray.

“Excuse me,” Auri said softly. “Are you… talking?”

“Of course I’m talking!” the chameleon huffed. “I’m Hue, world-class color-changer! Or,
well… used to be.”

He squinted suspiciously. “Don’t suppose you know what happiness looks like, do you?”

Auri blinked. “Blue,” she said. “Like the sky before it forgot.”

Hue froze. His tail flicked, and for a heartbeat, a glimmer of turquoise rippled across it.

“Well, I’ll be a rainbow’s ghost,” he muttered. “You made me blush.”

Auri laughed — a sound she hadn’t made in weeks. The laugh was bright, true, and alive.
The air itself seemed to shimmer.

Hue tilted his head. “That sound… it’s been so long.”

“Maybe it’s still hiding somewhere,” Auri said.

Hue smirked. “Or maybe you’re just too stubborn to stop seeing the impossible.”

She smiled. “Then I guess we both are.”

And on that gray afternoon, a girl who could still see colors and a colorless chameleon
made a pact — to find where the colors had gone.

— End of Sample Excerpt —