A Different Vision

I was alone. I was one of a kind. Something unique from the rest of Neopia and I knew it. It didn’t make me feel special at all. It made me feel like an outcast, someone that no one wanted to do anything with.

I was a blue Bori, by the name of Detinuah, but I knew that I wanted to be something else. I knew from the day that I made my decision; I knew I wanted a Halloween Paint Brush. I wanted to be Halloween. Then, I could go around Neopia scaring every other Neopian there was on the whole world of Neopia any day that I wanted to, not just on Halloween. That was my first ambition, which led me to a whole world of confusion.

You see, when I painted myself Halloween, I didn’t realize something else that it entailed, even if there was just a small chance of it happening. Anyway, the moment I became a Halloween Bori, my eye color changed into red, but something about my red eyes made me see that world differently. It might have been good change or a bad one, I really didn’t know.

But what I did know was that I saw the world in four different colors, and only four different colors, which were red, orange, yellow, and purple. The other colors have all disappeared, gone. There was another catch, the colors could move. Orange could turn into red or yellow. Red could turn to orange, then yellow. Yellow could turn to orange, then red. The purple always stayed the same, though.

I freaked out, like anyone normal would, if they could only see in four different colors, but I didn’t question why I saw things this way. I just assumed that every Halloween Bori out there sees the world as I do.

Anyways, seeing in four colors, there isn’t much variation. I saw other Neopians in those four colors, every single last one of them. The only difference was the shape of their body, which was the only way I could distinguish one species from another. I couldn’t tell the colors from each other, so I just stuck with their species. I couldn’t even tell who was who, until they told me their name, and I couldn’t determine which way they were facing! At first, it was funny, and now, it was frustrating.

I remember the changes of the colors in my friend’s face when I first asked who he was. I would have loved to see his expression, but I could not, I could only imagine. Where his eyes should have been was two red dots. The nose was red-orange, while the mouth constantly changed from red to orange, then back. So I came to a conclusion that whenever an arc of red or orange on the lower part of his face changed upward or downwards, I knew they were smiling or frowning. That was the only expression I could see. I couldn’t see the twinkle in their eyes anymore just that arc moves goes up and down.

So that went on for many, many days. Until one morning, when the dew was still fresh on the grass, the situation with my eyes got so frustrating that I couldn’t stand it. I was walking around Neopia Central and stopped by Plushie Galore. I wanted to get my friend something for his upcoming birthday. He told me that he collected plushies and loved the cloud ones, but the problem was, I didn’t know which one was what color, just the species.

I asked the shopkeeper, which was a female Lupe, and she showed me which ones were painted the color cloud. I bought the plushie according to shape. Afterwards, I began wondering why I could only see in four colors and not the rest. I stopped on the way out, turned around, and padded towards the shopkeeper.

“Is it normal for a Halloween Bori to only see in four different colors?” I asked. The moment that I said that, I knew I sounded silly. She wasn’t Halloween; she wasn’t even a Bori for that matter. And if she somehow knew, the rest of Neopia would know also. Rumors or interesting facts spread like wildfire and every Neopian knows that.

“I have no idea,” the shopkeeper said, shaking her head. “But there is a clan of Halloween Bori living in one of the caves in the Art Centre. You might want to ask someone there. They’ll be able to give you a better answer.”

I smiled, grateful that she didn’t tease me, and thanked her for her time. I picked up my plushie and sped out the door. My next destination was the Art Centre. I needed to know the answer. I was so absorbed in my craving for an answer that I didn’t even notice that it was a little past noon already and my stomach was rumbling with hunger. I hadn’t eaten breakfast, because I was so frustrated.

Anyways, I ran through the streets of Neopia Central and arrived, fifteen minutes later, at the Art Centre, next to the Rainbow Pool, where I gotten myself painted Halloween. I slowed down a little and jogged into the Art Centre.

Once I was in there, I saw some red and orange shapes of Bori. Some had purple in a couple different sections. I walked towards them. “Are you guys the clan of Halloween Bori that live here?” I questioned.

“Are you blind?” one asked, mockingly. I didn’t like that attitude from him.

“No, but I can only see in four colors and I was just wondering if that was normal for a Halloween Bori,” I stated. They looked at one another and quickly moved back a little, like they were terrified of me or something. “What?” I asked.

“We can all see in perfectly normal vision, not just four colors,” another one, who had a soft, musical voice, answered me. I became troubled by this new piece of information. My existence as a Halloween Bori was different from the other Bori.

“Thank you,” I said to them and quickly turned to leave, but then the same musical voice said something. “Huh?” I stated as I turned around.

“I said, you could ask the Lenny Conundrum Lenny about it. He knows everything,” the musical voice repeated.

“Yeah, right. He would just give you a bunch of riddles,” a rougher voice laughed. “Good luck, kid.”

“Thanks!” I ran out this time, still carrying my plushie. I had a new mission now, and I had to search for it, but it was already dark. The moon was steadily rising into the sky. It was easier to see things during the night time, since all the neohomes had some color of red, orange, or yellow, which stood out amongst all the purple. I knew exactly where I could find my house. It wasn’t a problem.

I had a theory about that. I guess all things that are associated with a living Neopian, like their bodies and their houses are lighter with changing colors, while the other things that weren’t directly associated with Neopians, like trees and grass, are purple. It wasn’t until the next day that I realized just how wrong I was.

The night came and gone, like some ghost. It was already morning when I woke up, still very tired. I hadn’t slept very soundly. It was horrible. I was tossing and turning all night and didn’t fall asleep until dawn. I stretched and yawned and made my way down to the kitchen to grab some food. I hadn’t eaten since the day before. I quickly gulped down the food and went to the door. It was my big day today. I was finally going to get my answer.

I rushed toward this area in Neopia Central, I forgot what it was called, where they held competitions every day, including the Lenny Conundrum. It was pretty far away from my neohome, so it took most of the morning. As I approached the grounds, I could feel excitement coursing through me and I felt very awake. It was time for the big revelation.

I headed over to the usual spot where the Lenny Conundrum took place. I used to come here when I was younger to try and figure out his riddles, but nothing worked, so I gave up. Anyways, I looked for a Lenny, who had a pointy purple object on his head, and I saw one, but the Lenny had purple all over him. I shrugged and went over.

“Are you the Lenny Conundrum Lenny?” I questioned him, feeling very dumb for asking, but I couldn’t see normally.

“Yes,” he replied, using his red-orange colored wings to his purple hat and his purple thing around him. I realized a little belatedly that he was wearing some kind of wizarding clothes. He always did. Maybe clothes were an exception to my theory.

“Do you know the answer to this week’s challenge?” he asked, patiently.

“No, but I was wondering about something else. I’ve been searching for answers, you see, but none of them are exact or accurate. I wanted to know if you know, being so smart and all,” I told him, emphasizing ‘smart’ so that I might have a chance to get an answer from him.

“What then? Spit it out!” he told me. I was surprised by the use of his language, but I told about being painted Halloween, seeing in four colors only, and my visit to the clan of the Halloween Bori. He frowned for a while, but then smiled.

“You’ve got a problem,” the Lenny told me, as if I didn’t know. “You are seeing in infrared, something that has not happened in all of Neopia. You’re the first one. I had a theory on infrared for some time now, and now you confirmed my theory, which just became true as of this moment.”

“Infrared? Theory? What are you talking about?” I asked him, confused by his words.

“Infrared is when you can only see red, orange, yellow, and purple. You see the heat that is within everyone’s body, instead of what they look like on the outside. Purple means that something is cold and doesn’t have warmth. Red means that part has a little warmth. Orange means that it has a little more warmth than red. Finally, yellow is something that has very high heat,” he informed me.

“I see heat?” I questioned and he nodded. I contemplated that for a little while.

“It’s something special,” he said after a while, disturbing my thoughts.

“Special? I can’t tell which color is from which, well besides the four colors I can see. It’s frustrating,” I told him.

“Sure, sure, but it is unique. You’re the only one that sees like that,” he answered me.

“I know that,” I snapped back.

“Okay,” he said, matter-of-factly.

“Is there a way to cure it?” I asked, desperate to see the same way as everyone else, instead of in infrared.

“According to my theory, and my theories are rarely wrong, you cannot cure it. It’s stuck with you for the rest of your long life,” he responded.

“What?!” I shouted and my jaws dropped. “No cure?”

“Nope,” the Lenny stated, flatly. I guess he was annoyed that I was questioning so much, when he had other competitors to attend to. “But it might become useful one day. You didn’t get it for just being normal. You have something greater to achieve.”

“Like what?” I asked, lighting up a little. I was so disappointed that I can never have my old vision back. He shrugged.

“Don’t know, but one day it might come,” he stated, mysteriously.

I had no idea what to make of that. Was he a fortune teller now too? I thought only Kauvara and the faeries did that. I shrugged it off. I didn’t want to hear it anymore either. I wanted to run away, away from the life that I now had.

Finding out that something was wrong with my vision was horrible enough and now I was stuck with it too? I couldn’t accept it. I don’t want to be special or have a different destiny. I just want to be normal again.

Something extraordinary happened in my life, that I disliked, and now, I’m stuck with it, forever. I thought about that a little. Forever was a very, very long time...