Dead City

The rays of the never-dying sun shone anemically. The rays shone weakly through the canopy of stunted trees, with dark greenish grey leaves.

The village was almost deserted. The houses seemed to lean against one another, like elderly folks who no longer had anything to live for.

The sun shone on the cluster of houses under the tree canopy, with its yellow light.

Nothing stirred, not even a single leaf on the indifferent trees.
Overhead, a few space-cars passed by, droning like disgruntled hornets.

A young man sitting on the park bench stirred as he looked up to the sky. His shoulder length hair made him look older and yet he was just into his first teen year.

He breathed in the polluted air, feeling within himself for its freshness. He breathed in the familiar carbon which smelled of smoke and burning clothes.

He went into the house and looked around. He stared at the suit and mask on his bed. No, he told himself, enough. He was not going to wear that again. He had worn it all his life. It was time for freedom.

He walked into his backyard and looked at the double grave. His parents. How they tried to keep alive by wearing their suits and mask all the time, but they died anyway.

The earth was polluted. No more fresh air. It was dying.

The evacuation to Mars started five years before as the air went thinner and thinner. But his parents had opted to stay as thousands of others all over Earth had.

The thousands of others had started dying, and so had his parents. When they breathed their last, they looked like they were in their 60's and not in their late 30's as they were.

That was three years ago when he was ten. How he had survived was short of miraculous, but artificial food did not go bad and his father had hoarded tons.

The young man walked out of the house with his knapsack. He did not meet anyone on the lonely asphalt road towards the city. he did not know why he had to go there. It was just an overwhelming urge.

The sun did not set and it never would.

He felt his chest grew tight and his breath went shallow. He did not really care.

The sun and moon shone pale in the sky. He walked on. In the distant he saw the city, its skyscrapers like ancient hands trying to gouge the sky. Every now and then a sky car passed the dead city.

He walked on.- Ends


*this story was entered in a competition here. Thank you for reading.*