Prism

(text-colour:red)[**Red**] was (link: "a Scorpio")[all passion and stubborness, of course they were a Scorpio]. We met in a (link: "bar")[neon stinging through black, smoke drifting, bar]. We were both there for the same (link-reveal: "thing")[, flushed cheeks, bitten lips]. They made me (link-reveal: "weak")[ at the knees, in the joints, in my mind]. But (text-colour:red)[**Red**] was [[temporary->Orange]].

(text-colour:orange)[**Orange**] was (link:"wild")[ wild hair, wild eyes, wild fingers]. We met through a (link-reveal:"friend")[ (text messages, get togethers)]. They watched me (link-reveal:"drink")[ coffee, sugar, cream]. When they smiled, I (link-reveal:"smiled")[ warm, inviting, honest]. I (link-reveal:"wondered")[ briefly, in the back of my skull,] if they were the one. But just like (text-colour:red)[**Red**] had been, (text-colour:orange)[**Orange**] was [[temporary->Yellow]].

(text-colour:yellow)[**Yellow**] was very (link-reveal: "calm")[, like nothing bothered them, like they were in tune with every particle around them]. I liked to watch (text-colour:yellow)[**Yellow**] while they (link-reveal: "read")[ mysteries and romances, sci-fi and horror]. While they talked about those (link-reveal: "characters")[ like they were friends, like they were sitting right beside us]. We met on the (link-reveal: "subway")[, bustling and noisy, little said that first time]. They showed me (link-reveal: "world upon world")[ in thick pages, black on white, the smell of ink]. With (text-colour:yellow)[**Yellow**], I fell in (link-reveal:"love")[, like hand holding and sneaky kisses kind of love]. But it didn't [[last->Green]].

(text-colour:green)[**Green**] and I met at a (link-reveal:"concert")[, full of other people, yelling over music]. We got along well (link-reveal:"enough")[ to do things like stay together a while, find common interests]. We didn't get along well enough to (link-reveal:"last")[ through trials and errors, through yelling over nothing]. They weren't entirely into (link-reveal:"me")[ but more like just the idea of me]. We were kind of like oil and (link-reveal:"water")[, trying to blend, but not quite, trying to meld, but falling short]. I shouldn't have fallen so (link-reveal:"hard")[ on my knees, tears dripping on my shirt,] for (text-colour:green)[**Green**]. We just grew into different (link-reveal:"people")[ that weren't quite compatible]. Sometimes, being [[temporary->Blue]] is a good thing.

(text-colour:#00bfff)[**Blue**] and I were like two peas in a (link-reveal:"pod")[, best friends for so long]. We fell in love (link-reveal:"hard")[ and fast and strong]. We never shared stolen (link-reveal:"kisses")[, not even one, not even a peck,] and we hardly held (link-reveal:"hands")[ unless one of us was leading the other somewhere]. They knew me better than anyone (link-reveal:"else")[ ever did, knew me like they lived in my skin, knew me like we'd shared a life before]. We didn't mean to (link-reveal:"happen")[ but we did, and it was beautiful, and it was confusing, and it was mesmerizing]. Sometimes, (link-reveal:"things")[ like loving each other and doing nothing about it, like acknowleding love but putting it away,] don't work out the way you want. Sometimes we really want to love someone, but it isn't meant to (link-reveal:"be")[ easy, and it isn't meant to be clean]. I loved (text-colour:#00bfff)[**Blue**] with everything that I (link-reveal:"had")[ and then some, and then some more]. Unfortunately, though, some things are aren't made for [[forever->Indigo]].

(set: $indigo to #800080)(text-colour:$indigo)[**Indigo**]... sweet (text-colour:$indigo)[**Indigo**] was like a (link-reveal:"dream")[, like the sort of thing you never want to let go]. We would stay up late, and they'd ask me to recite (link-reveal:"poetry")[ about love and war and death and want]. (text-colour:$indigo)[**Indigo**] and me, (text-colour:$indigo)[**Indigo**] and I, (text-colour:$indigo)[**Indigo**] as (link-reveal:"we")[, a pair to last, between glasses of wine and Shakespearean lust]. We were all late night phone calls and watching the stars and (text-color:red)[**Red**] (link-reveal:"cheeks")[ still hot from cocoa and open fires, and backseat making out]. They knew how to make me (link-reveal:"warm")[ from each finger to the next, deep in my bones, fire in my core]. I think they'd done this (link-reveal:"before")[, been the kind of charming you need when nothing is settled in it's place]. They knew how to realign an unbalanced (link-reveal:"world")[ like it was easy to settle things perfectly into place]. One night, they didn't stay up with me on the (link-reveal:"phone")[ like we always did, because the day didn't hold enough hours to discuss things like Monet]. Then, the next night, they didn't call at (link-reveal:"all")[ to remind me that they loved me]. Sometimes reality is a [[fleeting->Violet]] kind of day dream.

(link-reveal:"Forever")[ and ever and ever] and a day were my (text-colour:#ee82ee)[**Violet**] and me. We didn't know love was between (link-reveal:"us")[, hiding in the seams, and wisping around the corners], taking cover in our friendship. I don't remember the day I looked at (link-reveal:"them")[, deep into their eyes, fingers completely numb] and realized that I loved (link-reveal:"them")[ while my heart pounded in my chest and I couldn't believe I never saw it before]. I don't know how it escaped my (link-reveal:"view")[ and hid in my peripheral, and eluded me for so long]. They looked at me, too, and (link-reveal:"hesitated")[ just before taking my fingers, and staring at chewed-to-the-quick nails]. They didn't know. How could they have (link-reveal:"known")[ the truth, when I didn't know it either]? But maybe I imagined it, because they cleared their (link-reveal:"throat")[ in a quiet sort of way, real soft, real light]. And they dropped my (link-reveal:"hand")[ and it fell by my side and I looked at them, and my eyes watered]. I couldn't see my (text-colour:#ee82ee)[**Violet**] through the tears and (link-reveal:"need")[ for them to love me, too]. But just so you know, not all things are [[forever->White]].

(text-color:white)[**White**] and I (link-reveal:"met")[ on a really cold, really wet afternoon, cigarette in my lips]. And they reminded me that some things are (link-reveal:"temporary")[ such as ink on skin, and the night crawling over the sky, and pain deep inside your chest]. They reminded me that some things won't (link-reveal:"last")[ and, eventually, they won't hurt so bad, or seem so dark, or stain so harsh]. They whispered that these things were good (link-reveal:"things")[, a small mark of hard work, the world getting to close it's eyes, a stand to grow stronger upon]. They stared at the sky, and said "Some things aren't going to last (link-reveal:"forever")[, because sometimes things die, and sometimes things disappear, and sometimes things fade away]". But then they stared at me, and smiled. "Some things are fleeting, but that's (link-reveal:"okay")[, because there is still rebirth, there are still sunrises, there are things that can return to us]". When they kissed (link-reveal:"me")[ real soft, and honest, and sweet,] it made me (link-reveal:"thankful")[ because not all things are [[forever->End]]].

(align:"==><==")[(link-reveal:"**End**")[**?**]] (align:"=><=")[This story was written by <a href="https://theprose.com/deerdreams"; target="_blank">Mea Robertson</a>, and created in Twine by <a href="https://twitter.com/tom_blount"; target="_blank">Tom Blount</a>] (align:"==><==")[[[Read again?->Red]]]