An Explosion of Colors

Sabrina gave a cry of joy and tossed her hands in the air as she danced wildly. Hundreds of people gyrated to the fast-paced Indian music all around her. People were singing, dancing, and throwing vibrant powdered colors all around. A young boy dashed through the crowd, wiping hot pink color across bodies as he went. As he ran past Sabrina, a bright slash of pink erupted across her white tank top at the waist. She grinned as she noticed this newest splash of color. The party had started hours ago, but it would continue until well into the night. She looked forward to spending every minute of it dancing, singing, and becoming a human piece of modern art. This was the purpose of the Holi Festival—to celebrate the coming of spring as the world began to fill with colors again.

Sabrina had wanted to come to India ever since she did a report on the country in sixth grade. After spending the last two years of high school living in a small town in Ohio, she decided to spend some time before college exploring the world. Exactly 16 days after graduation she packed her backpack, laced up her hiking shoes, and got on a plane. She’d been traveling nonstop now for two and a half years. It had led her to this moment and the final destination on her bucket list. Her last fling of freedom before being tied down at college back in the States. In a little less than a week, she would have to go home and face real adulthood. She was determined to enjoy her last moments of young freedom.

Sabrina, though she knew she should feel dirty, felt liberated by the bright colors, sweat, and colored water that covered her from head to toe. People all around her threw puffs of green, yellow, red, and blue powdered color at those around them. Friends tried to smear each other’s faces and hair with colors that would probably be impossible to wash out. The entire scene was one great jumble of dancing bodies, vivid colors, and puddles of reddish water.

Suddenly, someone came up from behind her and smeared blue powder on the side of her face. She gasped and pulled away, looking back to identify her attacker. It was a man, about her age, smeared with blue and yellow. He laughed and started dancing to the music. Sabrina got out some of her powder—bright red—and dashed toward him. His eyes widened, and he tried to make a break for it, but the walls of people prevented his escape. She got him upside the neck and on his cheek, now crimson red. “Ha, I got you!” Sabrina exclaimed.

“Hey, you’re American!” The man yelled over the music, stopping in place.

“So are you!” Sabrina yelled, smiling. “Isn’t this amazing?!” she exclaimed, twirling on her feet and throwing her arms out to the sides.

“Totally! I’m Max!” he yelled, holding out his hand.

“Sabrina!” she yelled back, firmly shaking his outstretched hand.

The two danced near each other, playing with the colors for hours. Every time Sabrina moved to a new part of the square, Max would follow her. Occasionally he would grab her hands and twirl her around while people around them threw colors at the spinning couple. Both laughed hysterically as the dizziness subsided. After nearly four hours of dancing, Sabrina moved to a nearby street where the kids were running around, spraying each other with squirt guns, shrieking with delight. She sat down on a short wall, breathing heavy but feeling extremely happy. Max appeared a few minutes later with a couple of water bottles. After guzzling her entire bottle, she jumped up, grabbed one of the squirt guns and sprayed Max in the face. “Hey!” he exclaimed, laughing and wiping at his eyes. He jumped up and dashed after Sabrina as she ran away. He caught her with an arm around her waist, picking her up and hauling her back to him as he pried the gun from her fingers. He held on to her a few moments longer, both laughing too much to move.

The moon was bright that night, stars twinkling. Drunk people teetered down every street, trying to find their way home. “I’m walking you back to your hotel, so lead the way,” Max said.

“Excuse me?” Sabrina said, casting a sideways glance at him as they strolled down the street.

“It’s not safe for an unaccompanied young woman to be walking around at night with all these drunk people around,” Max said, gesturing to a man lying in a puddle in the corner, humming to himself.

Sabrina stared at the man a moment. “Fine,” she said, wrinkling her nose, “but don’t get any ideas about coming inside with me.” She led him down several streets until they reached the entrance of her hotel. Most of the lights were on, probably for people trying to get cleaned up after the day. “Thanks for walking me home. It was really nice to meet you, Max,” she said, turning to face him. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. He was much closer than she had expected, just a few inches away from her.

Max stared down at her for a moment. “It was nice to meet you too, Sabrina,” he said quietly, lifting his hand and cupping her chin. She blushed, her cheeks suddenly warm. “I hope someday we meet again. Until then…” He leaned down and kissed her. Thousands of colors exploded inside of Sabrina, and her eyes fluttered closed. He broke away from her and smiled. He seemed to hesitate a moment. “Can I get your phone number? I think you’re a friend I’d like to keep.”

“…Sure. I mean, yeah,” Sabrina said, shaking herself. “Hold on just a minute.” She ran inside, leaving him there on the porch. When she came back outside, she had a little piece of paper. “Here, that’s my number. I go back to the states in four days.”

“What state do you live in?” Max asked, accepting the paper.

“Ohio, but I’ll be going to school at Northwestern in a couple months.”

Max’s eyes widened. “You’re going to Northwestern University?” he asked, intense.

“Yes…? Why?” she asked slowly.

“I’m a sophomore at Northwestern University,” he said, staring into her eyes.

“Wait, seriously? No way!” she said, beaming. “Um, what’s your major?”

“Editing.”

“No way! I’m going into journalism.”

Max just stared at her for a second, then grinned sarcastically. “I guess you and I work well together then, huh? You can’t exactly be a journalist without an editor.”

As Sabrina stared into Max’s eyes, she felt a warm feeling grow inside her. Maybe college would be her greatest adventure yet.