John

John was contemplating a dream he had  
There was a very bright light and the ground shook  
With a sound that was unbearable    
John ran around looking for a place to hide    
The dream seemed so real    
    
But it must have been a dream because something woke him    
A little bird was squealing while a cat was trying to consume it    
John had a headache and felt very weird    
Nothing seemed real but he knew he was awake    
There was dried blood all over his face, how long had he been there?    
      
John found himself stuck under a tabletop    
It was a heavy table and took a lot of effort to lift    
For some reason he had very little strength    
Once free he looked around    
Pieces of the ceiling surrounded him    
     
John walked up the stairs to his room    
His room was covered in dust and sand    
The window was gone, it was in pieces on the floor    
John decided to go back downstairs    
He noticed a slight stomach ache    
     
Downstairs was just as dirty as upstairs    
There was glass and debris everywhere    
John tried to turn on the lights because it was very dark    
But there was no electricity    
What a very strange thing    
     
He decided to turn on his portable radio    
There was only one broadcast    
It was very hard to make out because the static was fierce    
Something about shelter but it was very hard to understand    
John turned the radio off    
     
After a time John began to get hungry    
But all the food in the house was gone    
John noticed dirty footprints on the ground    
He decided to go down to the little store at the end of the street    
It was open but it was dark inside    
     
There wasn't any food left on the shelves    
He picked up a pack of lollies that was squashed on the ground    
John went over to the counter to pay for the item    
Mrs Smith was in her usual chair    
But she didn't seem very talkative    
     
John looked at Mrs Smith    
Her eyes were open but she wasn't breathing    
There was a knife sticking out of her chest    
And her funny shirt with the smiley face was covered in something moist and red    
John decided to take the lollies without paying    
     
On the way back home John noticed something strange    
There was a fine black powder falling from the sky    
It got all over his clothes and made him cough    
John looked up at the sky and it was so dark    
But it was only mid morning    
     
As John arrived home there was a light inside    
It was a flickering light, like a fireplace    
There were strange voices coming from his house    
Everyone was shouting and someone was screaming    
John decided to find somewhere else to eat    
     
As John arrived at the park he saw everything covered in that dust    
He sat down on the dirty swing and opened his bag of lollies    
As he swallowed one he felt very sick    
He decided not to eat anymore.    
And he noticed that there was blood on his seat    
     
As he stood up he felt very dizzy    
The dust made it hard to breathe    
He looked down at his shoes and saw they were soaking wet    
It felt very sticky and he realized it was dripping down his leg    
He never noticed the blood in his underwear    
     
John decided to have a walk to clear his head    
He carefully stepped over the people who were lying down    
Some looked like they were sleeping    
But like the lady in the shop they did not breathe    
John started to get a little scared    
     
As he left the park he saw someone familiar    
A little girl holding an amulet in her hand    
John bent down and looked at her    
He had a feeling he knew her even with part of her face gone    
And he began to feel sorrow    
     
John took the amulet and opened it    
Inside was a picture of him and he felt very confused      
Who was this strange familiar girl?    
And why was she all by herself?    
She looked like she was sleeping too, but she did not breathe    
     
It began to rain when John stood up    
It was cool against his skin and felt nice    
He stood up and looked all round him    
John wasn't sure if it was because of the darkness    
But the rain looked black too    
     
John began to walk down a familiar road    
He had a feeling he had been here many times before    
Walking started to become very difficult    
Breathing was hard and everything was becoming blurry    
Then on the left he saw a familiar house    
     
It was the house with the big flower garden    
But all the flowers were dead    
John made his way to the front entrance    
He felt he had been here many times before    
The door was gone and it was dark inside    
     
Looking inside John saw an elderly lady    
It looked like she was smiling    
But when she came closer she began to look very sad    
A large dog shuffled alongside her    
It looked very sick and was breathing funny too    
     
The lady greeted John, he tried to speak but had no voice    
She walked up to John and gave him a hug    
There was a sharp pain in his already hurting stomach,      
And the last words John ever heard were,    
"This is because I love you John"