The Prismers

By Anonymous

The sky had darkened, but the ground maintained its light. A beam of pure, empty white light was making the roads around him glow slightly. The air around him seemed to glow as well. He was holding a bright paper-like substance, with words engraved with darkness in it. He was standing on a typically white stone pavement, but tonight they were pure black. If you tried to put your hand there, you’d probably think it would go through. Each night the bricks would turn dark again, as they harvested energy from the sun in order to be their usual, glowing self.

Corrupted. Another corrupted. After reading and re-reading the words carefully, Jim glanced up. Still not here. Corrupted. Another corrupted. His usual vivid white glow dimmed a little each time he read the lines. Corrupted. Another corrupted. Another mess the lowest will need to clean tomorrow. He couldn’t feel sorry for them, though. The impurities needed to be removed. The Cleans didn’t know what they were cleaning, they just knew to erase the filth, to erase the darkness. In a way, the lowest and the highest both had the same job. Jim would clear the blighted, he would rip it to shreds. Their job was to dispose of the scraps he left behind. They never knew what the Clears had to do. Thinking deeply as he looked over the paper some more, he realized he was hearing loud, clanging footsteps. Glancing up, he saw another beam of light coming towards him. David was a little more pure than Jim, he always was. He was better at keeping his emotions in check, better at controlling himself.

“Hey, Jim!” The other Prismer exclaimed blandly. “Sorry,” David said. “I lost my I.D.” Jim tilted his head at David, then flatly asked.

“So, you’re just Dav now?” The new Dav took this into consideration. “I guess so.” David would pause for a moment to remember what he was told earlier that evening. “He requested that we take a look at these, too.” His hands darkened a shade of white whilst thinking about it. Despite never liking the guy, David knew that he would have other Clears after David if he hated him even a little. Best not to feel at all. He remembered the words everyone always whispered in their minds. It was illegal to feel. Emotions were the reason the Clears had their job. Jim didn’t seem to notice the flickering lights that created David now. Pulling a seemingly plain sheet of paper out of himself, David handed it to Jim. The letters on the paper would glow, as it was created from many different Prisms to reach them. Barely glancing over said paper, Jim would scribble the pictures of these names in his head. Whenever his vision passed over one of the names, the picture he created would instantly glow up. Each and every Clear was created to memorize every Prism’s look, name, and every single flicker of color that dared to escape them. If anyone were to change color for a long period of time, they would be removed with no hesitation. A short period of time would be enough to grant them a threat.

“Really?” Jim blankly stared at the paper, rereading it to make sure. David nodded, he knew what Jim was wondering. “Why is Chroma on this list? She has the brightest smile out of any of us.” David, nodding again, began to explain.

“She was seen once with the anomaly. So, she might have questions. We’ll need to erase just a fragment of her memory.” Jim darkened a little while David made sure to erase a few more emotions from himself, turning him a brighter white. If anyone saw an absence of light on him, David would be forced to lose his partner as well.

“What happened with Krissy, exactly?” Jim wondered aloud. “She used to be so perfect, too.” David nodded, and got ready to explain again. Noticing his change in posture, Jim rushed to avoid the answer he knew he would receive. “ I mean, I know that she turned dark. I know her hands and eyes were touched by colors, by the darkness of emotions. I want to know how. Why are the brightest people always like this? So pure, so untouched. Then suddenly-” Jim made a bang gesture using his arms and manipulating his light. David shook his head.

“If we knew anything, we wouldn’t be working like this. We would be able to fix these horrid mistakes before they happened.” Jim glanced down at this- holding up his hands so that he could imagine what they have caused- what it would be like to bring back what these hands have done. He hasn't even changed a single shade since then. Nothing ever seemed to drag him down despite it all. David glanced at his hands too, but quickly averted his gaze to something else. He shook his head. “Better to not feel anything at all.” Hearing this, Jim nodded.

“I guess you’re right.” Jim would allow himself to turn brighter once more. “Now.” He stared at David, waiting for him to finish the sentence. David gave a murderous grin, letting the light flow to his heart once more. Manipulating their emotions to make sure that their lights matched that around it, he and Jim would make themselves transparent. You can’t do your job if you’re seen.

“Let’s get to work,” cackled an empty space, now known as Dav.