Rainbow Skin

The black door in the corner of the room opens with a creak. A girl walks in. The girl, 16-18 years old, has long curly hair and is dressed in all white. The girl looks around the room confused about where she is. The door blends into the wall leaving no trace of it. She looks behind her and touches the wall where the door once was.

The room is also all white and glows. The girl examines the room trying to figure out where she is. She knocks the wall with her fist. She presses her ear to the floor. She goes to the other side of the room, to check if something was there. Finds nothing. She goes back to the wall where the door was and examines it again. Her efforts were wasted. She knew nothing about what this room was.

*

She is examining another wall, her ears catch a buzzing sound. She looks around to see where the sound is coming from. She is surprised when something starts emerging from the floor right in the center of the room. What had emerged was a mirror. Its frame was made of thick white marble-like blocks, their shine exceeded that of the room’s. The girl touched the frame, it’s surface smooth. She sees herself in the mirror and corrects her shirt. She couldn’t notice anything weird about it. She steps back and looks at the mirror her eyes scaling this object from top to bottom.

Curious about the mirror itself now, the girl goes to touch the mirror’s surface but as soon as the tip of her finger connects with the mirror, it starts filling with colour emerging from the point where her finger was placed. The mirror is filled with every colour there ever was. The brighter colours present in swirls, resembling galaxies amidst the vast expanse of space filled with the darker colours. She raises her hand and approaches the image. When she touches it, the entire image falls like a drape down to the ground as if a mirror didn’t exist there just a minute ago.

On the other side of the frame stands another person. It is a humanoid figure, with no face, its body covered in the same swirls as before. The girl stood petrified and didn’t know what to do. The humanoid walks towards the girl. Scared, she stumbles backwards. As the humanoid walks through the frame, the humanoid transforms into the girl herself, the only difference being that while the girl’s skin was a light brown, the skin of the humanoid has the swirls covering her skin.

The swirls were now present on every inch of visible skin of the humanoid, her face covered in stars. The humanoid also wears different clothes, but still all white. The humanoid walks forward, and the girl walks backwards, trips on her own leg and falls on back. The girl quickly picks herself up and runs to the corner of the room. She tries her hardest and beats the wall with her hands trying to open it.

The humanoid walks towards her. When the girl turns, the humanoid is standing right next to her staring at the wall she was beating. The humanoid looks at her with concern, but the girl is still scared and presses along the wall too scared to move. The humanoid not knowing what to do, stares at the girl for a few moments and then sits 5 feet away on the floor. The girl still scared, stands staring at the humanoid. Their eyes meet and the humanoid gives the girl a wholesome smile. The girl smiles weakly at her. She still stands there, frozen. The humanoid keeps sitting there, admiring the room.

She spots the mirror and is confused by it; she looks at it for a few moments intently but then shrugs it off. They both stay in their exact same places for a long time. The humanoid waiting and the girl shaking. The girl looks at the humanoid’s skin and the way the swirls sit on it. Not knowing what else to do, the girl slides down to sit at the same place. Not shaking anymore but not taking her eyes off the humanoid anymore either. The buzzing sound that preceded the arrival of the mirror starts again, this time a white table with two chairs raises from the floor not too far away from them.

The humanoid stands up and goes to the table without hesitation and sits on one of the chairs. The girl doesn’t move from her place. The humanoid looks at the girl still sitting and gestures at her to come over. Hesitantly, she goes to the table as well. It has food laid out on it, a burger neatly set in the middle of the plate, with French fries to its side and a tall glass of cola. The humanoid had already started gorging on the burger.

The girl, a bit apprehensive at first, hears the rumbling sound in her stomach was making and sits down. She takes one bite and melts. The girl stuffs her face slowly keeping one eye on the humanoid who was inhaling the food. The girl just stares at the humanoid as she eats the food, the humanoid picked up the cola and drank it all in one giant sip after which she let out a giant belch. The humanoid blushes white, the girl on the other hand starts laughing.

The humanoid giggles too, wiping her lips with the back of her hand. They continue to eat. Their plates are almost empty, when the girl notices faint music playing, it’s a funky beat. The humanoid also notices the faint music, it seems to be coming from the mirror. They both get up and walk towards it, the music getting louder as they get closer. The humanoid touches the mirror’s frame which seems to be vibrating with the music. The girl goes around the mirror but the music doesn’t seem to have a source. The girl comes back around to the front of the frame and finds the humanoid bobbing her hand to the beat with her eyes closed. The girl looks at her with amazement. Surprised.

The humanoid opens her eyes and urges the girl to dance with her. The girl, startled at the offer, declines. The humanoid not caring, grabs her hands and starts swaying them. The girl terrified shakes her hands off and looks at the humanoid with anger. The humanoid steps back, wipes her hands on her pants. She bows her head down in apology and goes back to the table and sits down, facing away from the girl.

*

The girl stands awkwardly beside the mirror, the music still playing. She looks at the frame and then at the humanoid. She goes over to the humanoid and places her hand on the humanoid’s shoulder. The humanoid gets up and stands next to the frame. The girl waits for a few moments and then goes to the frame too. She holds the humanoid’s hand, their skins in contrast. She starts swaying their hands the same way as before. The humanoid smiles and starts grooving to the music as well. They dance their hearts out.

The humanoid throws out the girl out for a spin and pulls her back. She lands in the humanoid’s arms. The girl never feels the humanoid at her back. The humanoid dissolves into a cloud of colourful powder.

The girl coughs and swats the powder away. She turns around looking for the humanoid. The humanoid is nowhere to be found. She goes to the frame and tries to pass through it. It’s nothing but a frame. She goes back to the table and leans against it. She looks around for the humanoid again. She looks at the table, the plate she ate from is a bit out of place. She reaches out to correct it and she notices something on her hand. The swirls are on her hand, not like the humanoid’s, they are superficial and sit right below her skin. The swirls dissipate into her skin. The buzzing sound comes again, she looks behind her. The door has reappeared, she goes to it. She looks back at the room once again and then at her skin. She caresses her hands, opens the door and leaves.