penn garrick . 8m . fin

[LAIN 🍽 1M | Mattio]

penn garrick . eight

color fails these days
red green.. not enough ..pink blue?
monochrome prevails

cold is never fair
locked indoors suffocation
swallowing us whole

sixteen . fifth hunger games

[LAIN 🍽 1M | Mattio]

Color fails him these days. Brick red bruises his eyes, the sky's blue reign seems better fit in darkness. It's not enough anymore. Pink flowers claw through chipping concrete just to shrivel under unattentive shows, their green stems curling back into the sidewalk's submission. The crispy yellow blocks of cheese he once enjoyed leave behind molded remnants as they remain out of reach to him, his sister, and his parents. Monochrome prevailed five years ago and roamed at his fingertips as lately as the past year.

With the money he'd saved before the rebellion, Penn purchased fabric behind closed doors. A creative outlet undisclosed to a disapproving world around him, two choices stood ahead of him: join the manufacturing ranks and lose his dream or be an independent creator, risking the trouble. Suffocation of joy and suffocation of freedom, respectively. He chose the latter, for color and imagination soared through his eyes leaving an opportunity he couldn't pass up. Even Lauren, his sister, chipped in every now and again, especially if she wanted something new. He played with patterns, shapes, color. He preferred risk to reward as his work remained relatively closed off to almost everyone he knew. He'd hide his shirt underneath a heavy and thick coat in the winter and fall, wearing them in public even if they were a bit disguised.

A knock on his bedroom door one afternoon let monochrome invade his space and dull up the place, like a black and white movie on the television screen. Peacekeepers told him that what he was doing was illegal and could be seen as an act of rebellion if he wasn't careful. Puzzled, Penn asked what made them think he would do such a thing. The Garrick family consisted of people who kept their head low and nodded along when necessary, not people seeking to piss authority off. They rummaged through his clothes, all his shirts and some jackets custom made to him. One peacekeeper tossed each one of the shirts to her partner to examine, until they held five different ones. Four had words stitched on: free, live, peace, and stop the blood. The fifth was simply a gradient design, a shirt with the bottom meant to match his skin tone as closely as possible, and the top red, his favorite color. Their excuses for why the clothing were unacceptable were shallow, Penn knew that. He couldn't have the guts to make such statements, and he never dared to show anyone else other than his sister on occasion. But it didn't stop him from keeping silent. The peacekeeper said that because the expression violated rule something something something, blah blah blah, she would have to his creations as well as his fabric and machinery.

{"If you want to make stuff, Mister Garrick, join the workforce."}

That was the moment monochrome prevailed, chaining his fingers together like handcuffs so they could not stray too far from the acceptable norm. They suffocated his freedom, that was the risk, but the only other option that remains is suffocating his joy.

[LAIN 🍽 1M | Mattio]

L△LIA

he is finished!

[L△LIA]

ACCEPTED!