{"id":5594,"date":"2022-08-04T12:40:16","date_gmt":"2022-08-04T19:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/short-fic-the-gray\/"},"modified":"2022-08-04T12:40:16","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T19:40:16","slug":"short-fic-the-gray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/short-fic-the-gray\/","title":{"rendered":"SHORT FIC: The Gray"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE GRAYby Harper Kingsley<\/p>\n

The color drained out of the world on a Thursday. Drips and dabs absorbed into a swirl of gray until there was nothing left of pinks and blue and yellows and LIGHT.<\/p>\n

Everything became gray.<\/p>\n

Everyone became gray.<\/p>\n

The joy and the laughter, slipped and slid, and was washed away by the gray.<\/p>\n

It’s hard to laugh when everything is gray. When you look at your skin and it’s lifeless and sad in its hues. When you look at the sky and the trees and the earth, and they’re all gray.<\/p>\n

When images on the TV become motions of gray, and the canned laughter rings out, hollow and obvious in its fakery.<\/p>\n

The color drained out of the world, and the emotion drained out of the people. Shoulders slumped, mouths tugged down, and it was hard to walk without feeling as though gravity was so much heavier and hard to bear.<\/p>\n

And that no one was laughing, no one was joyous, it made it sadder and more real.<\/p>\n

Nobody knew how it had happened. Scientists and crackpots alike scrambled to explain the CURSE<\/em> that had been laid on the Earth, that had sapped the color out of existence and turned everything to gray.<\/p>\n

And people tried to go on living, but it was hard. Because those that already struggled with sadness had NOTHING to lighten the mood, and those that were usually happy could no longer taste of the joy that had once sustained them.<\/p>\n

People tried to live on. To go about their days and their jobs and their nights were spent sobbing into their pillows, trickles of gray tears that brought no relief from the overwhelemingness of it all.<\/p>\n

The world had become gray, every bit of it. More than a lack of color could describe.<\/p>\n

It was as though something had been taken<\/em> from the world. And birds had ceased to sing, and eventually they stopped flying.<\/p>\n

And animals and people laid down where they stood, and they never got up again.<\/p>\n

The gray was all consuming.<\/p>\n

And unforgiving.<\/p>\n

=THE END=<\/p>\n

~Harper Kingsley
\nhttps:\/\/www.harperkingsley.net\/blog<\/a>
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\nhttps:\/\/patreon.com\/harperkingsley<\/a>.
\nhttps:\/\/ko-fi.com\/harperwck<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE GRAYby Harper Kingsley The color drained out of the world on a Thursday. Drips and dabs absorbed into a swirl of gray until there was nothing left of pinks and blue and yellows and LIGHT. Everything became gray. Everyone became gray. The joy and the laughter, slipped and slid, and was washed away by…<\/p>\n Read More<\/span> SHORT FIC: The Gray<\/span><\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"Layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["entry","author-harperkingsley0-0","post-5594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2pPoL-1se","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2373,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/there-are-times-when-im-completely-manic\/","url_meta":{"origin":5594,"position":0},"title":"There are times when I’m completely manic.","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"April 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"There are times when I'm completely manic. You don't realize how powerful it makes you feel. It's like the really good drugs ... And just like them it's super dangerous. Like careening off a cliff dangerous. One minute it's all laughter packed into your chest, everything looks vibrant and bright,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mailed"","block_context":{"text":"Mailed","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/kindled\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4180,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/prompt-070\/","url_meta":{"origin":5594,"position":1},"title":"Prompt: 070. portrait ages so subject doesn’t","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"March 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Prompt: 070. portrait ages so subject doesn't 1. Taking a page out of The Picture of Dorian Gray, they had the family portrait commissioned. A. Taking a page out of The Picture of Dorian Gray, they had the family portrait commissioned. 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