To the unique uniques

Once upon a time, there was a sad, un-colorful town.

Everyone acted the same, and every house had the exact same shade of white and black, matching the ground, the sky, and the people.

In this town there was a boy named Johnny. Johnny wanted to do something exciting, something new, but everyday he searched and found nothing.

Johnny always looked out towards the forest but he was too afraid to go in. Johnny thought the forest was scary and dangerous, and that no one ever went in, but he was always curious about it.

One day, Johnny was talking to his family during dinner and he asked them, “Have you guys ever been inside the forest?” Johnny’s mother told him, “No, no one ever goes into the forest.” His father nodded, but he didn't say anything.

Johnny asked his father, “Have you, dad?” Johnny’s father stopped and shrugged, “Once when I was young but only a few steps, and I will never go again, and you shouldn’t either.”

Then Johnny said, “Why not? Why can’t I explore and try something new?” After, his father said, “Trying new things can be dangerous and you could get hurt.” His mother added, “And we don’t want that.”

The next day, Johnny was in school and he was learning about math. Johnny raised his hand and asked, “Why can’t we learn about something new? We learn math everyday.” The teacher stopped and told Johnny to stop interrupting. Johnny felt like he would learn the same things everyday for his whole life.

TODAY

2+2=4

TOMORROW

2+2=4

NEXT WEEK

2+2=4

That day, Johnny went home and asked his sister, “Have you ever wondered why we don’t get to try new things, why we are learning the same things and doing the same things everyday and doing the same things everyday?”

Johnny’s sister said,

“Of course, how about we go into Dad’s old journal and find out what he saw when he went into the forest.”

“Okay!” Johnny responded, and so they did.

That night when Johnny’s parents weren’t home, Johnny and his sister went down into the basement and searched for their father’s old journal. They were very excited when they found the journal in a dusty cardboard box that their father had hidden in a closet.

Johnny’s sister eventually found the journal entry about their father going into the forest. The book said;

April 19th,

I have finally become brave enough to enter the forest and what I saw was a color. I have read about them in books but I thought they were only a story. I only saw one color, usually written as green. It was on things like flowers, trees, and grass. I think that there might be more colors further in the forest. I do not think it is a good idea to go deeper in. If I do go in it might change my life or other lives. I have been told that change can be bad and cause problems. I am going to leave the forest and promise to never go back.

“Wow, what a day he had! Do you think we should go in the forest?”  asked Johnny. His sister replied,

“I think that is a great idea! I’ll go with you. We can go in on Saturday, in three days.”

That night, Johnny went to bed and thought about what Saturday would be like.

The next day, Johnny was in school thinking about the forest and his father's journal. He decided that he would bring a basket so he could bring back new things from the forest.

When Saturday came, his sister sadly told him she was sick, but she told him, “You should go in without me, I’ll come one day, but you were the one who really wanted to go!”

Today, Johnny’s parents weren’t home, so he said goodbye to his sister, grabbed his basket, and went to enter the forest hoping to find something new.

When he went into the forest, Johnny discovered a rabbit very early on, but he was a little grayer than most of the rabbits Johnny knew in his town. The rabbit looked at Johnny and said,

“A new visitor! We haven’t had anyone come into the forest for years.” Johnny hadn’t seen a talking animal before, and asked the rabbit, “What are you?”

“Just a simple rabbit. You have seen some before, yes?” “Yes but never one that talked before.” “That is what happens in the magical forest of color, let me take you a little bit deeper.”