Blood Reflects Pink by Franco Machado-Pesce
They said that the sky would glow pink for one day and one day only.
It’s been pink for 243.
The chills from the wind brushed her hair as she biked to school every morning. Lucy adored her bicycle beyond anything. She didn’t care that it was older than her grandmother. She loved how the edges under the seat rusted, how the handle bars squeaked every time she turned the wheel, and how she had to pump the front brake to make up for the broken back one. Naturally, anyone else would’ve taken this bike into a shop or sold it on the internet, but not Lucy.
Her bike wasn’t as broken as everyone told her it was, but it was imperfect. Just like her.
Lucy could never bring herself to understand what was going on. School was uneventful every day. She sat. She listened. She left. She languished. Until she realized that everything They were teaching her was a lie. The sky told her that.
During her lessons she would scribble in her small pink notebook. Whatever came to her mind appeared in that journal. Rabbits, stars, musical notes. Anything and everything that Lucy’s imagination could conjure up managed to materialize when the ink touched the crisp pages. Nothing brought a smile to Lucy’s face like a wonderful drawing. When others looked at her creations they would ask, what is that?
To which Lucy replied, “I don’t know yet, but I will.”
This was enough to get people to stop bothering her. There was no time to answer questions. Not when Lucy wanted to draw; with her passion came a determination that nothing could hold back.
Until They came.
It’s been exactly a year since the revolution started and every memory from it struck Lucy sharply. She remembered seeing Their weird ships arrive on the port. She listened to the news reports as her parents argued. Peace. Cooperation. Unity. No matter what her mother said, Lucy’s father believed in those three words that then described Their arrival. Words that echoed in Lucy’s head as she remembered the first couple weeks, but her mother was right. They should have left.
It began as Lucy remembered, with the ships. Then there were the town meetings. Lucy couldn’t remember what they were about, but they seemed important. Her father mentioned negotiations and reforms for the better of the community, but Lucy didn’t believe him. His mind was clouded. It had been since They arrived.
It was all lies. Her mother knew it and so did she, but they stayed.
122 days later, They started to live in the town, there was a coup. A rebellion. The city became a war zone. For 1 hour. That’s all it took for Them to take over.
Stranton Coast was one of those towns where nothing happened. Everyone lived their suburban lifestyle: reading the paper, walking the dog, and going to minor league baseball games on the weekends. It wasn’t grandiose by any means. Everyone knew everyone. Every kid rode a bike to school until they graduated high school. All the adults worked downtown. The weather was always nice.
Life was on a fixed schedule at Stranton Coast.
However, Lucy accepted her prosaic atmosphere. She was comfortable. Nothing caught her off-guard and if she was honest, she liked being the only oddball. Standing out was her talent.
Besides, if Lucy left, she’d miss the food.
Everyone went to the Stranton Coast barbecues. Lucy smelled the burgers burning on the grill as she reminisced in her seat. Those burgers were what she would look forward to every weekend, especially with that spicy barbecue sauce that her mother would carry around in her purse. Her father always judged her mother, but Lucy loved her weird quirks. It reminded her that being abnormal was fun.
This all ended with Them though.
They started setting regulations. Food rationing. Strict schedules. Curfew. Lucy spit on that word as she wrote it in her journal. She wasn’t allowed to do anything because once the clock struck six it was time to sprint home. School got out at five in the evening every day (they even had class on the weekend) so this gave her thirty minutes to talk to Bran, and thirty minutes to bike home.
As frustrating as it was, Lucy and Bran made the most out of their thirty minutes together. Whether it was spying on Them from the top level of the library to just laying on the grass and talking their time away. Bran and Lucy balanced each other out. He was mellow. She was wild. Bran was cunning. Lucy was direct. Their combative relationship was complex, but she wouldn’t have had it any other way.
“It’s a gift and a curse that you have Lil’ L,” Bran said.
“Shut up,” Lucy replied, “I guess I just like remembering what we had.”
“It was fun back-in-the-day,” Bran whispered as one of Them rolled by in their cars, “before we lost it all.”
“Yeah,” and just like that, the thirty minutes were up.
That’s all they ever had time for.
Although it was quick and concise, Lucy cherished every moment spent with him. Her best friend. Friend.
Lucy looked up at her instructor and then the clock. Ten more seconds. Five. Boom. Class was out and Lucy smuggled herself into the hall before the bell rang. Bran should be waiting for her. He always swindled his teachers with a lame excuse. An archaic doctor’s note. Pick-up his sister. Anything to get him more time with her.
There he was, at the end of the corridor. Waiting. Lucy sprinted up to him and punched his held out fist.
“A bit slow there,” he chuckled, “guess they didn’t let you loose. Hey, look at that. Loose, Lucy. That explains so much.”
“Are you always such an idiot, Bran?”
“Eh,” he turned to exit, “it comes and goes.”
The two adolescents strutted out of the school. Suddenly, the ground began to tremble.
“What’s going on?” Lucy yelled.
“I don’t know,” Bran grabbed Lucy and the two ran off. They hid behind a tree and held its branches so tightly that their knuckles began to glow white. Across the street, an electrical post fell and released sparks onto the grass, which sparked a fire. Bran’s hand suddenly flew around Lucy. He pulled her against his chest.
She looked up to see a huge ship submerge itself into the ground. With drills on every side, it carved itself into the hard cement. Bran and Lucy clung to each other as they watched the terrifying spectacle. Then it was over, the sound of the drills and engine died out. Nothing. Silence. Lucy trembled.
There was never silence since They arrived.
A door opened from the side of the vehicle and Lucy saw Him. He wore a grey trench coat with black boots. His hair gave off a pink shine that reflected the sky. Lucy heard his heavy footsteps stomp as he left his ship and stormed into the school, a line of Others sprinted in after him. Lucy and Bran dropped and covered their mouths until the taps from Their feet dissipated.
Silence once again.
Lucy and Bran both relaxed, but then they heard the screams. Lucy jolted up and noticed pink lights striking through the windows. Each one quicker than the next until they started to match the same chaotic rhythm as the yells. Lucy was petrified. Frozen as if everything around her was happening in an extreme slow motion that didn’t let her move. She felt herself falling into a chasm of fear, until Bran pulled her out of it.
“Lucy, come on we have to go,” she shook her head and her ears were pierced by another scream.
“We can’t just leave everyone there!” As soon as those words exited her mouth, the flashes stopped. The two kids looked at each other. “There’s no one...” then the door of the school flew open. Lucy only made out the black boots before being pulled away.
Lucy saw her bike next to a fallen tree. She had to save it. She pulled away from Bran’s grip.
“Lucy! What are you thinking?! Come on!”
She stopped and looked at her bike. She had to leave it. The disordered footsteps settled into a dominating storm. She held her hand longingly towards her bike and let out a soft sigh. She turned her back to it and they sprinted down Lister Avenue. Lucy took charge and led them to her house. She got to the lock and struggled fitting the key into the minuscule crevice. It fell onto the porch.
“Hurry up Lucy! Come on!”
“I’m trying!” After a couple drops of sweat hit the ground the two teens ran into the house and slammed the door behind them. It was calm. The synchronized footsteps of Them echoed in the distance. The sound waves of their footsteps vibrated in the window sills as Lucy and Bran rested themselves upon one. They peeked their eyes slightly through the glass and saw Them marching towards the house. The rest of the neighborhood was noiseless. Where were her parents? Where’s mom?
He reached her porch. Bran and Lucy sat back and covered their mouths, their hearts rose in their throats. A second went by. And another. And another. Nothing. Lucy edged forward and then a loud bang rang throughout the house.
That’s when it hit her, no one heard the screams, because no one else was left. Lucy looked at Bran. Tears flowed down his cheeks. He shivered. Lucy didn’t know what to do and he fell into her arms. Broken.
She turned to gaze at the sky and was met by an infinite horizon of pinkness.
