After Canary Wharf
I walked down the deserted, eerie Cardiff rode reluctantly, my steel toed boots thumping on the ground with their heavy weight slowing me down. I could barely remember anything. There were even brief periods where I had forgotten my own name.
It was cold outside, extremely, bone chillingly cold. I looked down at my gray long sleeve sweater and my white padded winter gloves, which practically glowed in the shade with ash or snow or I don't even know what… They both weren't providing any warmth and seemed to be colder when I was wearing them. That was strange…
I walked, boots thumping along. I was going to go hiking today… I had my silvery colored hiking clothes on with my steel toe boots. I was wearing my mask to protect from the cold as I left the house, but even when my plans were basically stepped on, I still didn't feel compelled to change.
I must blend in with the surroundings a lot in all of this gray, I had initially thought with a laugh. But I couldn't laugh. My muscles ached, my limbs where stiff and I was walking like a robot. I probably looked ridiculous to outside viewer. I tried to laugh at that thought too, but I couldn't talk. No, I didn't want to talk, or open my mouth, or anything. I felt empty, strange…
The day started off fairly normally, me, my husband, and my ten year old son were heading out of the house to go for a nice weekend hiking trip. Husband? Oh yeah, I'm a woman… I had almost forgotten. Jeez, whatever injuries I had really did a number on me…
Then came the ghosts. They had been coming for months now, but this time it was different.
They acted strangely, not like usual. But the ghosts weren't really ghosts… They were these men in armored suits, hidden in the shadows of Earth, disguised as our lost loved ones for months now… It was despicable.
But that was only the beginning. The Canary Wharf building was on fire! Strange lights were coming from it, and the men in metal suits marched into the building. Everybody was panicking by now. The men in metal came out of Canary Wharf and started speaking in these high, insufferable metallic voices about "expanding their armies" or something…
And then they took them. They stole my husband and my son away from me, but left me behind.
Just when the day couldn't get any worse for me, Canary Wharf collapsed. Out of the rubble hovered five short and squat machines. With a high and grating voice like running a knife along a rusty metal pipe slowly, they grated out "Exterminate!" and other words like that. And then I blacked out.
My memory is returning. I remember being observed by one of those metal men. It had fresh, clean armor, and it grated out something. The words just hung on my soul, weighing my heart down. But I cannot remember the words! It is killing me! I got the memory that broke my heart forever back, and I can't even remember most of it.
I remember ash floating to the sky in layered pillars of black smoke, people running in the streets, thousands; no, millions of strange machines butchering people in the streets, and among it were my screeches for help, hoping that somebody would come and rescue me.
I fell down. I remember. I remember everything from that day. My memories… Returned… I collapsed. I heard the grating screeches of "Exterminate", the metallic squeaks of "Delete", and the metal man who grabbed me. I remember exactly what he said…
I REMEMBER YOU FROM MY PREVIOUS LIFE
YOU ARE ELIZABETH AMELIA AARONSON
YOU WERE MY WIFE
YOU WILL BE WITH ME FOREVER
YOU WILL BE ONE OF US
Everything went black as the entire memory replayed itself over and over in my mind perfectly. The Daleks. The Cybermen. The man who previously was my husband and the feeling of him pulling me by my neon yellow and pink hiking gear, all the way to a dark alley somewhere.
I forget the rest.
But something was off. As my vision returned I heaved myself off the ground, and almost against my own will I started walking. Trotting along the empty, chilling road, I realized something…
I'm wearing gray instead of yellow and pink.
I never owned steel toed boots.
I miraculously know what "Daleks" and "Cybermen" are called.
Something off… Could I have remembered something that they told me, but not remembered when they did? No… Because I know everything. I know everything from obscure movies to entire sheet music to Beethoven's 5th… I have the whole internet running through my brain! How is this…? But…
What happened?
I ran. I ran as fast as I could, trying to cry out with my mouth, but just feeling muscles moving. I cried out with my mind instead, and I heard a metallic voice in the distance. I ran even faster towards the wreckage of Canary Wharf, tripping and stumbling as I dashed. In the wreckage of the once great building I saw a mirror and trotted up to it, wanting to see if I was okay.
I wasn't…
When I looked in the mirror I saw a silver face staring back at me…
With gaping eyes..
And a thin mouth.
Around the face I saw plastic or matte metal head armor
With a square handle snaking from my ears to the top of my head
The Metallic Voice I heard was me
And I gasped
And I cried
As my brain died and me with it I thought of one thing
DELETE
DELETE
DELETE