EIN
If today I die…
Huh.
It's snowing ash.
Again.
True enough, the skies have been blacked out again by the heavy amounts of ash in the atmosphere, dense enough to where the skies look like it was currently dusk while simultaneously raining down gray snow. The ground is covered in a light blanket of it, giving the scenery a very dead look.
Not that it's entirely inaccurate.
Even the road is covered, along with the abandoned cars scattered on the street, most having been empty of everything for a long time now. I do say most, however, because the one I currently was searching managed to give me a somewhat safe looking can of beans.
"You'll have to do." I say aloud to myself as I put the can in my bag and stand back up to my full height on the road, my breather distorting my voice. Checking around the landscape for anything out of place, I go back to walking. That's only been the third car to have something for the past two hours, after all. I guess searching today isn't going to be very profitable.
I wipe some ash off of my hoodie as I begin to walk down the deserted highway. The grass, hills, everything is gray. There's hardly any other color any more, since it's more often 'snowing' then not. Luckily, though, it hardly ever picks up more than just some light snowing, I personally have never seen a 'Blizzard'. Been like that for the past… what, year and a half now? I've honestly lost track. Plus, the ash in the air makes everything colder. Hence the hoodie and pants during March.
Regardless, I continue to walk forward like I had been for the past eight hours, just letting the time fly by. Let the 'snow' fall. Hopefully today will be an uneventful one.
…
Uneventful indeed.
Looks like more walking it is.
Until I see something on the horizon.
Up ahead, I spot what looks like some sort of building in the distance. Small, probably about the size of a shack, nothing else around it. The ground around it is flat and spans out for awhile. good for keeping an eye out for unwanted guests. It should do for a quick rest.
After walking towards it for a few more minutes, I get close enough to see that I was right with my guess and see it is indeed a shack. Run down, wooden, probably older than me shack, about ten feet long and four feet wide. After taking one more look around the surrounding area, taking in the rolling plains with dying foliage peppered here and there, such as trees without their leaves and a cornfield with dying stalks. Nothing of concern, no other life. Just like the past month, no other living being in sight. And with that observation done, I step inside.
A tool shed.
A fine layer of dust covers everything, the wood a dark brown with a dirt floor. There's a window at the back, but it's so covered in ash and grime it hardly even lets in light. Despite the poor condition, I set down my bag before sitting down next to it with my back propped against the wall. pulling off my breather and setting it down, I reach into my bag and pull out my water flask before unscrewing the top and putting the rim to my mouth…
And only have one swallow of water before it was empty.
"Come on…" I plead to whatever deity that was responsible for my pain as I shook the canteen, confirming it's lack of liquid. the last source of water was at least twenty miles back, and that was a small lake filled with ash. Looks like no water for me today.
Setting the empty canteen back in my brown bag, I search through it before finding what I was looking for. I pull out what I consider to be the last thing of any meaning I have left in the world.
A picture.
Crumbled, dog eared edges, and faded with a few small rips showing it's wear with a fold line in the middle. Despite it's poor condition, my eyes lock on the occupants of the picture and forget about everything else around me as I get lost in the faces.
A family of five, with the sun shining and the green grass flowing from the wind in the background. Standing the tallest of the group was a young man about the age of eighteen, with crew cut brown hair and angular features on his face. An arm is thrown around his shoulder, belonging to a man just an inch shorter than him with shoulder length wild brown hair the same color as his beard. He had a bright smile on his face as in his other arm by his side was a woman with straight black hair that ran down to the small of her back, with bright ocean blue eyes that held nothing but love for the two children that she was looking at in front of her. One was a little girl about the age of seven with hair like her mother's, a big innocent grin on her face as she hugged her mother's legs. Then there was the final person.
Me.
"Come on, mom! Let's hurry up, we still need to go get some ice cream!" The young boy cried happily to his mother as they rushed to the hilltop. The mother smiled warmly at her son as she wrapped her hand with her husband's.
"Don't worry, squirt." The eldest of the children responded for his mother as he ruffled his brother's hair playfully. "We'll get your ice cream."
I looked so happy back then. With my shaggy brown hair that I had back at the ripe age of twelve, I run a hand over my head to feel my now short hair that I had shaved myself. Back when I was still a child, still had that world view that everything would be ok. That the good guys would always beat out the bad guys. This younger version of me smiled brightly as he leaned forward and flashed a peace sign with his eyes closed, ignorant to the trials and tribulations ahead of him, as if blocking out the sight of the older him watching. Keeping himself safe from the horrors of the future.
Keeping himself safe from me.
From what he's become.
From what I've become.
…
…
…
How long had it been?
"Ooh! I want rocky road!" cried the youngest one, the girl as she held her father's hand. The father turned his head and smiled at his daughter.
"We'll get whatever flavour you want, honey." The father told her. She gave a happy giggle, music to the family's ears.
Three Years? Three years since everything went to hell? It feels like so much longer…..It can't be… Can it?
…
…
…
Three years…
The last thing I see before falling asleep was my family, as if they wished me good night.
But I knew better.
He believed they would always remain together.
I would never see them again.
…
…
…
This was my life now.
Life truly was perfect.
It truly had Decayed.
Just like AOTC, I'm just moving this to another account, AKA this one.