Robin's Egg Blue Eyes

                If Amberly could have cried, she would be. She would be crying and screaming and yelling, and possibly breaking a couple of noses. But she can’t. All she can do is stand there in a trance with the weight of her crumpled world on her shoulders. But she isn’t alone. The people around her felt the same way. Or a few did. Most of the stadium was filled with people oohing and aahing. People who didn’t know Amberly, didn’t care about her, and never would.

                Amberly’s hands trembled as the images flashed across her mind’s eye. Even with her eyes closed, even in the dead of night, there were some things she’d never get out of her head. And one of those images were a pair of robin’s egg blue eyes.
 
                It had been an honor for Amberly to be chosen as a Piece, she knew that, of course. She was actually excited about it. Scientists had gathered and were going to construct not one, not two, but three perfect humans, using the most perfect parts they could find from comparatively average people. They scanned the world for the three most beautiful of everything, and Amberly had been chosen for her beautiful blue eyes no one could quite name the color of.
                Amberly was shipped off on a train with a handful of other children from her town, and dumped into a large hospital/lab until the doctors had time to collect their Piece. Amberly knew her replacement eyes would probably not be as beautiful as her blue eyes, but she’d gain far more respect when she told people she was a Piece than she could ever receive from her piercingly blue eyes.
                Amberly’s roommate was already in the room by the time she came, a girl with dark eyes and thin eyebrows.
                “I’m Elsa,” the girl said, “I hope you don’t mind, my little brother’s coming over soon. He’s giving a liver.”
                “That’d be fine,” Amberly said, unpacking her bags, “I’m Amberly.”
                “My! You have pretty eyes,” Elsa said, her voice rising and falling like a small bird flying in a harsh wind. There was something fragile about  the girl’s wiry frame.
                “Thanks,” Amberly said, “they’re my Piece. What’s yours?”
                “Well, I-“ there was a knock on the door before she could finish. Elsa rushed to open the door as a young boy was wheeled in by a spiky-haired boy who looked around Amberly’s age.
                “Hi, Elsa,” the boy in the wheelchair said, “thanks Talon.”
                “No problem, little dude,” Talon said. Talon sat on the bed next to Amberly and shook her hand as the siblings caught up on little boring details of what they’d been doing that day.
                “Talon’s the name,” Talon said, smiling a crooked smile that revealed the chip in one of his teeth.
                “I’m Amberly,” Amberly said, “my Piece is my eyes. What’s your’s?” Talon shrugged.
                “Some brain part, I wasn’t really paying that much attention when they were talkin’ about it.”
                “And has the boy already given his Piece?” Amberly asked.
                “Eldon? Nah,” Talon said, “few years ago, he was walking by a construction site and a brick hit him in the back. It hit his spinal cord and he lost movement in his legs; that why he’s in the wheel chair. His Piece is some arm muscle he’s developed from rollin’ himself everywhere.”
                “What’s Elsa’s Piece?” Amberly asked.
                “Her right lung I think,” Talon said. A silence passed between them as the siblings babbled on about people back home. Talon’s eyes never left Amberly for an instance, and she blushed.
                “Robin’s egg blue,” he said.
                “What?” Amberly asked.
                “That’s the color of your eyes. Robin’s egg blue.”
                “Yeah, I guess. You like birds?” Amberly asked. Talon shrugged.
                “My mom does. She has about seven bird feeders in front of our house. She says each one is supposed to attract a different kind of bird, but all we ever seem to get is thrushes and robins.”
                “Oh. I don’t know that much about birds,” Amberly admitted. Talon grinned at her again.
                “I don’t know that much about anything,” Talon said, “but I know it’s hilarious to see a piano teacher with bird poop on his head.” Amberly could barely suppress a laugh.
                “You play piano then?” she asked.
                “No, my little sister Wren does.”
                “How old is she?”
                “Four and a half. You should hear her play Mozart.”
                “Sounds like a prodigy.”
                “That’s what people keep calling her. But she’s still my little sister to me.”
                “I always wanted a little sister.”
                “You can have mine, I’ve got three.”
                “Really?”
                “Yep, Eight-year-old Lark, then Wren and little Dove who’s three.”
                “Are the other two prodigies?”
                “In their own way, I guess. Dove’s gonna give Einstein a run for his money someday, and Wren’s the computer whiz. She can completely disassemble a computer and put it back together, and it’ll probably be running faster afterward than before.”
                “And you?” Amberly asked.
                “What about me?”
                “What can you do?” He looked down at his hands.
                “I told you,” he said, sounding resigned, “I don’t know much of anything.”
                “Oh…” Amberly said not knowing what to say. He shrugged, and like a switch had been flipped, he was happy again.
                “Hey, Elsa, how many Eldons does it take to change a light bulb?”
                “I don’t know,” Elsa said good naturedly.
                “Well, it’d better be one, ‘cause I don’t think the world can handle more than one Eldon wheeling about.” Elsa rolled her eyes, smiling.
                “That probably wins a prize for one of the lamest jokes I’ve ever heard!” Eldon said, laughing.
                “I bet I can think of one that’s lamer,” Talon said.
                “I bet you can’t,” Eldon said, the young boy smiling ear to ear.
                “Three cents?” Talon challenged.
                “You’re on!” They spent the rest of the evening listening to Talon’s lame jokes that were so bad they were funny. Amberly decided Talon hadn’t completely been telling the truth when he’d said he didn’t know much of anything. Talon knew life, and he knew how to make people happy. Amberly could see, when Talon left the room, that both Eldon and Elsa were terribly worried about something, but when Talon came back, they put their worries aside and allowed themselves to have a good time. Finally, Talon and Eldon had to leave, but not until pizza had been delivered to our room and the warning had been given for lights out.
                As soon as the door closed, Elsa seemed to deflate.
                “What?” Amberly asked her. She sighed.
                “I’m… nothing really; probably just big-sister worrying. I’m worried about Eldon,” she said, moving to her bed. She seemed like the sibling most likely to be stuck in a wheelchair; Eldon seemed so strong, and she looked like a wind could blow her over.
                “Worried about what?” Amberly asked. Elsa  shook her head.
                “It’s nothing. Nothing,” she looked down, and swallowed. Amberly knew enough not to push her, she was blinking fast and swallowing often and her hands shook slightly.
                “We better get some sleep then,” Amberly said. She looked up, pulled from her thoughts.
                “Yeah,” she said, “good night.”
                “Good night,” Amberly said and turned off the light. The next day, while they were eating breakfast, Eldon and Talon came over. Amberly paid more attention to Eldon this time. Amberly hadn’t noticed last time how young he was; he couldn’t be older than ten, just a kid really. But he had a loud laugh that filled the room and a quick smile. He had so much life, his sister seemed a shadow in comparison; a polite, frail shadow.
                “You know what I saw today?” he said, bouncing in his wheel chair, as if he’d explode if he didn’t get rid of some of the energy flowing through him, “a spider! And it was this big!” He made a circle with his fingers, indicating the spider was about the size of a golf ball.        
                “I doubt it was that big,” Elsa said, then gave a little cough. The smile vanished from Eldon’s face for less than a second, and then was back on.
                “Yeah it was,” he said, “you should of seen it, Elsa! The scientist had it in a cage next to their pet mice. One said I could feed the mice some cheese tomorrow if I came early enough.” Amberly glanced at Talon while Eldon was coughing. He’d noticed the smile’s lapse as well.
                “You? Get up early?” Talon said, “Not in a million years.” Elsa tried to smile.
                “Maybe if you dragged him out of the bed,” she said. Talon laughed. He was good; it was only slightly too loud, and Elsa didn’t seem to notice.  Her smile became less strained.
                “I’m gonna go grab some pop,” Talon said, “anyone want any?”
                “I’ll take a coke,” Eldon said.
                “I think you have enough caffeine,” Elsa said, “get him whatever’s non-caffeinated. I’ll take a ginger ale.”
                “I’ll come with,” Amberly said, standing up.
                “Okay,” Talon said, holding the door open for me. They left the room and headed silently down the hall, Talon in the lead since Amberly still didn’t know where the pop machines were.
                “What’re they so worried about?” Amberly asked.
                “Several things, actually. I don’t think Elsa’s completely… well. I’m not sure what’s wrong with her. I think it might have something to do with her lung.”
                “But that’s her Piece.”
                “That’s why they’re so stressed out.”
                “Then why is Elsa worried about Eldon?” Talon sighs, his rust-colored, spiky hair falling over his face.
                “Everyone around here’s kind of freaked out,” Talon said, his tone dismissive.
                “That’s not going to work with me,” Amberly said, annoyed, “why are they freaked out?” He looked down at me intently.
                “Robin’s egg blue eyes,” he said suddenly.
                “What? Yeah, no. Answer the question,” Amberly said, stomping her foot like a child. He smiled down at her and tucked a wisp of hair behind her ear. He’d been smiling all day, but this smile was different. This smile meant something.
                “I love your freckles,” he said.
                “What?” this threw Amberly through a loop. Everyone always complimented her eyes. Every one. No one ever said anything else though, just staying to talking about how pretty her eyes were.
                “My freckles are ugly,” she said, “they’re just weirdly colored, jelly-bean-shaped spots of skin that don’t belong.”
                “They’re beautiful,” Talon insisted. Amberly found her brain wasn’t working right. And for some reason, it seemed like Talon’s lips were getting closer, and closer, and closer…
                “You still haven’t answered my question,” she said in a rush as soon as she found her voice, taking a step back. Talon too pulled back, disheartened.
                “There’s rumors going around,” he said starting to walk again.
                “About what?” Amberly asked, becoming exasperated with how much poking and prodding she had to do to get Talon to tell her anything he didn’t want to tell. It scared her he was being so secretive.
                “Well, only a few people have went to surgery so far,” Talon said, weighing every word carefully, “and sometimes it takes awhile for people to recover, and no one knows where they are; though I’m sure they’re just recovering. So people start to freak out; saying they’ve disappeared, saying they’re…”
                “Dead,” Amberly said, “they think some people died giving their Piece?” Talon stopped again and grabbed Amberly’s shoulders, staring her squarely in the eyes.
                “It’s just rumors. They’re probably just recovering,” Talon said forcefully.
                “But why wouldn’t they let people in to see them?” Amberly asked.
                “I don’t know,” he said, “maybe they went back home.”
                “Maybe,” Amberly said, but they both knew she didn’t believe it.
                “Besides,” he said, “you don’t have anything to worry about. Your Piece is your eye.”
                “But you do,” Amberly whispered, “and Elsa does.”
                “Here’s the pop machine,” Talon said, turning down a short hallway that led to several pop and candy machines. They head back in silence, Amberly glancing at Talon from the corners of her eyes. He looked… tired. But as soon as they stepped back into the room, a grin came across Talon’s face and he began trying to juggle the pop cans. It was the same one he’d been wearing all day, except it seemed so different now. Because now she knew the difference between his fake and real smiles. And this was fake. This was all just an act. It didn’t mean anything.
 
                A knock came less than an hour later. Amberly had been watching Talon amuse Eldon and Elsa intently. Now that she realized this was all fake, she couldn’t understand why. Amberly already knew Elsa was worried; in fact, she’d moved well passed worried and was now making her way through the levels of freaked out, nearing hysteria. Her hands shook, her voice shook, her foot wouldn’t stop tapping. Eldon could tell his sister wasn’t fine. He was restless and trapped in his wheelchair and he was scared. But they all kept on acting anyway, hiding behind a thin veil of smiles and jokes, masking their fear and their doubts. Why? It didn’t seem to help at all.
                When the knock came, Eldon and Elsa jumped about a foot out of their seats. Amberly opened the door. Two guards smiled down at her, a smile that sadly didn’t reach their eyes like Talon’s fake smiles did. One was bald and the other wore a fake wig.
                “Are you Elsa Simmons?” the bald guard asked.
                “No. Elsa, they’re here for you,” Amberly called gently to her friend, but Elsa didn’t seem to be able to get up, she was shaking like a leaf and the color had drained from her face.
                “It’ll be fine, Elsa,” Talon said for once serious, “they’re just rumors.” Elsa glanced at him, nodded, and stood.  She walked through the door with the two guards and the wigged one shut the door. That was the last Amberly ever saw of her.
 
 
 
                Amberly avoided Eldon and consequently Talon for the almost a week. But, six days later, a knock sounded on Amberly’s dorm door. She opened it, her heart thumping terribly, worried it was the guards coming for her. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it was Talon.
                “You know Elsa’s never coming back,” Talon said.
                “Yes,” Amberly said.
                “You know you might not come back either. That you might get an infection and die?”
                “Yes,” Amberly said, swallowing. She’d heard rumors about that too, but she’d tried not to think about it. Talon came in and shut the door behind him, then leaned closer to Amberly so she could hear his whisper.
                “We have to get out of here. You, me, and Eldon. We’ve got to flee.”
                “Yes,” Amberly said, “but how are we going to do that?” Talon shook his head.
                “I don’t know,” Talon said, “but I’m working on it. Be ready to leave soon.” He turned to leave, having said what he came to stay, but Amberly reached for him and grasped his hand.
                “I’m scared,” she whispered, letting the emotions she’d gulped down seep through her eyes. Talon turned to her, then caressed her cheek.
                “I am too,” he said, “I’m scared for Eldon. I’m scared for myself. I’m scared for the kids here who don’t know what’s happening. I’m scared for the ones that do but don’t know how to change their fates. But most of all, I’m scared for those radiant little freckles, and that I’ll never see them again. Amberly, you’re my biggest fear.” Tears trickled from Amberly’s eyes. She couldn’t speak. Her fears mirrored his so perfectly, there was only one thing for her to say.
                “I missed you too,” she said. Talon smiled, leaning closer and cupping her chin in his hand.
                Amberly would never have admitted it to Talon, but she dreamed about that kiss for the rest of her life. It wasn’t a fiery kiss you read about in books, but a sweet kiss, a short kiss, a mind-confusing, heart-colliding, soul-confusing kiss that would refuse to be forgotten, no matter how much Amberly tried to forget that kiss in the coming years.
               
                Two nights later, Talon came back, wheeling a frightened Eldon in front of him.
                “I hope your bags are packed,” Talon said, “because we’re leaving now.” Amberly grabbed her bag and ran out the door.
                “On the second floor, there’s a staircase to the roof. You’ll take the wheelchair and I’m carrying Eldon. Let’s go.” It took a good ten minutes longer to fold up the wheelchair than they expected to, and then the going was slow.
                They made their way up to the roof without confrontation. Once there, Talon found the fire escape to the ground.
                “This is going far too well,” Talon said, and he was right. As they reached the ground, they were spotted.
                A pair of guards comes running towards them, guns in hand. Talon started running, but towards the guards.
                “Please, my friend is hurt!” Talon called, holding out Eldon, “he’s unconscious.” Talon gave a pointed look towards Eldon, who closed his eyes and went limp. The guards slow down.
                “What’re you doing out here?” one asked, “take him inside and let a doctor see him. The door’s that way.” The guards headed off in the other direction, resuming their relaxed paced.
                “Thank you, sir,” Talon said, “come on, Amberly.” They head in the other direction until the guards round the corner, then they start running towards the fence.
                Talon climbed to the top of the fence, then pulled Eldon over and lowered him down. Amberly threw the wheelchair over and followed herself, Talon helping her down.
 
                They thought they were safe. They thought they could wait it out and pick up the pieces of their lives once it was all over. They thought they could find some type of peace, some type of hope, some type of future. They thought wrong.
 
                Since all the terror was over, the group could finally mourn. Eldon cried for his sister for hours. The other two sat there quietly, Talon rubbing his forehead every now and then. When Amberly couldn’t take it anymore, she reached for Talon’s hand. He took her and squeezed it. Amberly grabbed onto his hand with both hands, staring into her eyes as Eldon moaned and sobbed in the background.  His eyes were chocolate brown and Amberly believed from that moment on that brown eyes were far more wonderful than blue.
                After Eldon had fallen asleep, the two elder children stayed up later.
                “Want to have a thumb-war?” Talon asked.
                “Sure,” Amberly said.  Amberly won two out of three. The two played tic-tac-toe and arm wrestled and any other childish games they could think of until they were both laughing.
                “When I’m with you,” Talon said, “it’s like I don’t have to try to be happy, you know? I just am. It’s like… all the rest of the time, I’m trying to be brave because I got to be, but when I’m with you, I feel like I don’t have to be because there isn’t anything to worry about. You know?”
                “I think I do,” Amberly said, moving closer to Talon, “when I’m with you, it’s like there’s no tomorrow to worry about, like today will last forever. I wish it would, that way, we’d always be together.”
                “We could be, you know,” Talon said, “I can’t think of anything strong enough to separate us, not even a bunch of insane doctors. I’ll always be with you, Amberly, from this day forward, I promise.”
                “Okay,” Amberly said, “I’d like that.”
                “Me too,” Talon said, kissing the top of her head. Soon, Amberly fell asleep in Talon’s arms. Even though she was in the most danger she’d ever been in, she felt the safest she’d ever felt that night. No matter how hard she tried, she never felt that safe again.
 
                “You’re surrounded! Move and we’ll shoot!” the voice boomed, breaking through Amberly’s quiet dreams like a knife falling through water. Talon pulled Amberly closer to him, and Amberly pushed Eldon behind her.
                “Put your hands up,” a different soldier barked. A dozen guns were pointed at the youths from every angle, each one poised and ready to fire. The three victims did as they were told.
 
                They were escorted back to the hospital and were  moved to be Pieced immediately. Eldon was the first they came for.
                “You have to survive this, Amberly,” Eldon said, “you have the best shot. You have to survive this. For all of us.” He rolled away, his head held high, trying to be as brave as Talon. A single tear rolled down his cheek. He was a goner, they all knew it. There was nothing Amberly or Talon could do about it. They were completely powerless.
                Talon was next.
                “Amberly, remember what I said,” Talon said, rushed, “nothing’s strong enough to keep us apart. I promise I’ll never leave you.”
                “Okay,” Amberly said, clinging to him, “then don’t leave me.”
                “I’ll still be with you, Amberly,” Talon said, as the guards pulled them apart. Talon shouted something more, but a guard muffled his yell with his hand and the doors slamming shut cut off his words. Amberly sobbed. She didn’t care if they were her last remaining moments, they didn’t mean anything without Talon there. She was losing everything. Her eyes, her self, her Talon. There was nothing left for her and nothing left of her.
 
                But Amberly had made it. Somehow, Amberly had survived. Whether that was a blessing or a curse was still to be determined. Only a dozen children had made it through out of the hundreds of Pieces, eight of which were still recovering, six of those unlikely to make it through the day, much less the week. The ones who were well enough to were forced to troop to the theatre for the unveiling of the creatures that were made up of them.
                The sullen group sits in complete silence, a few with tears running down their cheeks, though most have none left to cry. Amberly gave a shudder as she remembered Talon’s nicknames for the three: Mary, Frank, and Shelly after Frankenstein’s Monster. Amberly couldn’t see them, but she remembered what the plan had been for them:
                The first was meant to evoke a perfect innocence, with pale skin, Amberly’s eyes and bright orange hair falling in curls around her face. She had pale pink lips and a thin frame. The second was supposed to be a knowledgeable beauty, a boy with olive-toned skin, black hair, and smoky grey eyes that seemed to swirl and mist. He was the tallest of the group. The third was a brilliant strength, with ebony skin over prominent cheekbones and frighteningly straight, black hair. Her eyes were a startling green and there was a quiet strength; as if the girl was built like a puma instead of a human.
                It all means nothing to Amberly anymore. As she looks in the darkness that was now her world, she couldn’t help but think of the futility of beauty; the pointlessness of this ‘perfection’ that so many had been sacrificed at the alter of. There’s no point to art if you’re blind, and Amberly knew that someday, all these people that had worked so hard to create beauty would be as blind as her. Their work of ‘art’ would die just as quickly as them and then what would be left? Striving for beauty, they’d lost sight in everything they’d been working for. They hadn’t changed the world; they’d made the world uglier. All their efforts were completely pointless to Amberly’s eyeless sight.
                The excited crowd was told the perfected humans weren’t able to talk yet, but would be soon. However, as the few remaining Pieces begin to listen to the apparent babble, a disquiet murmur pulsed through them. Amberly listens with a sinking heart.
                “Coldcoldcoldcoldcold,” the one Talon called Mary says, sounding like a cockatoo, “what’s happening? Where am I’m scared. Hope it’s quickly falling. I’m going to dying I am. I-“
                “This can’t be sanitary,” ‘Shelly’ interrupts, “hope they tell my mom the truth I’ve been lied to. No! No, I’m not ready, ow.” They were the Piece’s last thoughts, and they told a terrifying story. Choked with emotions, Amberly couldn’t stand in there a moment longer. She ran for the exit as fast as she could, tripping over everything without her eyesight.
                But right before she reaches the door, she hears something that makes her stop in her tracks.
                “Robin’s egg blue eyes,” Frank says, “you’re more than you’re robin egg blue eyes, Amberly. I love you. I love you, Amberly.” Amberly finally broke down and wept. She cried for Elsa and she cried for Eldon. She cried for herself and she cried for her sight. But mostly, she cried for Talon. And through the tears came the healing.