+ ((( Rainbow in the Dark ))) +

These Memories (Part 4/4)

Hello again! I come with another chapter. But also with some good news!

At this point in time, the story has reached........

50,000 words!!! 

(Or 150 single spaced pages in my drafts, which would be about 200 in double space.)

You know what that means? It means that this story is officially the length of a short novel!

Normally, I would do something to celebrate, but right now, I think the best thing to do would be to finish this story and to make the finale a good one.

Maybe later I'll do something, but until then, just have a chapter.

........................................................

//CHAPTER 8.4

Orange (🦎🍊)

Awake, the room breathes quiet, cold and spare,

The nightmare fades, but still, you linger there.

......................................................

Orange awoke with a gasp. He panted as he sat up quickly, his thoughts spinning. He looked around, remembering that he was still in his cave, and slowly sank back to the floor with a sigh of relief.

It was just another nightmare.

He took a moment to catch his breath, it was much harder with the collar around his neck, but he eventually managed to get it under control.

Orange crawled down the side of his ledge, landing on the floor next to his automatic feeder. He pulled the lever, and some food spilled into his bowl. He began to eat it, although much slower than usual.

He often had nightmares on that particular subject. In fact, he had been expecting one after everything that had happened just the day before.

He thought to himself about the conservation that he and Purple had just before he had gone back to sleep. Orange was so grateful that Purple decided not to tell anyone, or at least he hoped Purple wouldn't tell anyone.

If Blue or Cyan found out about the shock mechanism on the collar, then they would try to confront Red. But Orange didn't want that to happen. Red was probably loaded with a bunch of sciency weapons that they didn't know about.

And if Red truly didn't care about any of them...then Orange had to believe that he would have no problem getting rid of anyone who tried to resist him at this point.

It was all he could do to put his head down and obey. It was the safest thing.

Even after everything he'd seen, he'd been through, he would still continue to kill humans if it meant keeping his friends safe. Orange was already bad enough, he couldn't afford to also be a traitor to his Rainbow Friends.

He sighed. He couldn't believe that he hadn't noticed before. Although Orange had only seen the blocks just recently, he felt like he should have caught on to the fact that Red never showed his face directly before hunts, even if it was safe.

He now knew that it wasn't a coincidence. However, it was too late to do something.

For now, he would just have to embrace his monstrous side. The side that didn't care about killing thousands of innocents. The side that killed his best friend, and the side that could one day kill one of his other friends if he wasn't careful.

He tried his best not to think about it too much. After all, this is what he had been living with for some time. He could just keep doing it. Keep killing. Keep not caring.

Right?

It wasn't like Orange had any other choice.

He didn't know what to do. He felt trapped, even more so after all these years of staying locked away. Now he actually had a reason to stop, to show mercy, but he couldn't.

Orange climbed back up onto his ledge and reached into the corner, where there was a medium sized rock. He picked it up, grunting as he moved it to the side.

Beneath the rock were some drawings.

Orange sighed again, this time wistfully, as he picked up the drawing on the top. It was the one from his nightmare, the one that his friend had given to him on that day they played knights together.

He remembered it like it was yesterday. All of the times that they played pretend together, they all chased each other around, played with toys, told funny stories, laughed, messed with the caretakers, all of it.

Orange looked through the other drawings. There were so many of them, so many adventures that they shared together, even though they had never left the building. So many happy times.

It was the highlight of his life, even now. Orange would do anything to go back to that.

He felt a single tear slide down his cheek. He hoped that wherever Chase was, that he was at peace. He didn't deserve what Orange did to him. It wasn't his fault, it never was.

He was only a child, just like the children that he had ruthlessly murdered for years.

Orange picked up the last drawing. The one that was still stained with blood. He brushed the dust off, although it did nothing to help restore it to its original beauty. He sat there, looking at it.

Chase really did seem to think that the Rainbow Friends weren't monsters. He was wrong, of course, but it always comforted Orange to know that there was someone who had cared.

He supposed it was a child's sense of curiosity and wonder that did that, that created such a magical world that they all lived in. The escape from the agony that was their existence.

There was no shield from that now. The Rainbow Friends simply just lived in that agony now. Never able to leave, never able to escape the cycle.

But perhaps there was a way to stop the cycle?

Orange wondered if he could be onto something. Maybe, if he could find some way to sabotage the hunt again. He could mess it up so badly that some humans could definitely get away in time.

But...then Red might actually kill him if he were to find out. Orange would need to spend more time thinking about it. For now, he decided that he would just have to deal with it, and deal with the collar.

Orange put the rock back on top of the drawings and climbed back down from the ledge. He didn't know what was going to happen now, but he knew that whatever it was, he would be ready for it.

And he would be taking whatever opportunities he could find.

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And there you go! Another day, another chapter.

Again, thank you to everyone who has been reading or commenting on my story, I am so grateful to you.

And may you, reader, have a good day/night!

Next Chapter: The Night Looks Brighter (Part 1/6)