Violet could feel the sweat running down her forehead, dripping into her eyes. Her feet were raw and her back ached, but this was no time to quit. She raised the long, multicolored flag over her head and listened as her voice chanted along with the others standing all around her. It was a blistering ninety-six degrees outside, but none of them were backing down. Behind them, the word EQUALITY was spread on a large rainbow banner.
Violet turned her head and nodded to her sisters, who stood beside her. Delilah, the oldest, carried a tall cardboard sign with the words love is love scrawled in bright red letters. She was the saint of the three of them, with a heart of gold and hair to match. Vibrant blue flowers were strung all throughout her long braid, and despite the extreme heat, was a vision of loveliness.
Penelope, the younger, stood waving her fists and screaming at the top of her lungs. Penelope was known for deliberately dying her hair white. The reason for this was lost on her sisters, but today her hair was more colorful than the earth itself. Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Purple curls danced in the warm breeze like they had never danced before.
And then there was Violet. The middle sister. She was plainer than her siblings, at least in her own eyes. She had been quiet her whole life and watched the world from the outside while others only seemed to live within. She had seen the hate people carried in their hearts, and it had nearly broken her own. But with her sisters at her sides, she had grown stronger, and it was time to speak her mind. The hatred had to end.
Out of the corner of her eye, Violet spotted a flash of dark gray amongst all the color and turned her head. Delilah as well noticed and her face grew dark.
“Is that him?” she asked.
“Unfortunately.” Violet handed her the banner she’d been waving. “Stay here, I’ll deal with him.”
She weaved her way through the hot, sweaty crowd, searching for the man in the gray suit. She found him in the very back with crossed arms and a disapproving look on his face.
“Hello Violet,” he said coldly.
“Hello brother,” Violet chose not to call him by his first name. Though calling him brother did not come easily either.
“I thought I told you to stay away from this,” her brother told her. His dark eyes projected the image of a steel wall, barring her way.
“You told me you wanted us to stay away from it,” Violet challenged, “but it just so happens that I don’t care what you want. Not anymore.”
Her brother’s face scrunched up in anger. “What about food? Warm beds? A roof to sleep under? I took you in when our parents died, Violet. You and our sisters. If it weren’t for me, you’d have been put into foster care long ago.”
“Are you telling me your love comes at a price?” Violet’s will stood strong as a diamond. “That is not love. And love is exactly what I am fighting for here.”
“You are fighting for strangers!” her brother raged. “Do they mean more to you than your own flesh and blood?!”
“I am fighting for the future.” Violet met his gaze defiantly. “And you can try to fight back, but you’re only going to lose. No one has ever been able to stop the progress of time, and no one ever will. This is where the world is heading, brother. This is the right direction. You can take the other turn if you want to, but it will not lead you where you want to go. I for one know where I’m going, and I plan to get there with you or without you. The world belongs to those who embrace it. Not those who try and change it.”
Violet turned without another word, going back to join her sisters. As she went, she kept her eyes focused straight ahead, never looking back. After all, the future was not going to be found on the road behind them, but rather on the path unpaved.