Disclaimer: John Preston doesn't belong to me, nor do the events of Equilibrium, however much I wish they did. I do own Shara, and the situations I put her and Preston into. I'm doing this for love, not money, so please don't sue me. I'm skint enough already :grin:
Author's notes: This may have been a "low budget" film but it's inspired me, plus I totally love this movie and it's characters. And there's always room for half naked Christian Bale right? :grin:
Feedback: Unless I know what I'm doing wrong (or right LOL), how can I improve my writing?
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A New Dawn
The deep, dark blue of the night sky is just beginning to lighten, heralding the coming of another day. A new day; one in which everything I strove to protect is gone. Father is dead. The council is leaderless. The city is in chaos. Yesterday, people went about their daily lives, not knowing that in a mere twenty four hours everything they knew, all they believed in, would be gone. And now it's over, our great society is gone. Libria as I knew it is no more.
And it's all my fault.
I thought I knew what I was doing. I was sure that my cause was the right one, that my actions would bring about a new world. A new world has indeed been born this night, but I'm not sure it's the one I wanted. Once Father was dead, I destroyed the projectors which continually spread his message across the city,
signaling to the resistance that I had kept my promise to them. Standing in the Cleric headquarters, I watched as bombs went off at the Prozium factories and clinics, just as I had been told they would. Riots broke out across the city as sweeper teams and city guards were slaughtered by Sense Offenders.
Sense Offenders. People condemned to death... just for feeling.
It's who I am now. I have become everything I once abhorred. I still can't figure out what happened that fateful day, the day I ceased my dose. I still don't understand why I did it, why I took my morning dose out and placed it beside the sink. Had I followed my normal routine, I would never have broken that tiny glass vile... and none of this would ever have happened.
"Stop it John!" I tell myself angrily, startled by the ferocity in my voice. Anger is something I had never felt, until a few days ago. It was one of a multitude of emotions I had never been allowed to experience, forced to live a half life by a man who believed he had found the way to save mankind. And now, standing on a deserted hill in the Nether as a new day is born, I am overcome by the wealth of emotions running through me.
"Stop what?" a quiet voice behind me asks. I spin round, angry at the interruption, and afraid at having been discovered. My gaze falls on the young woman standing a few feet away, her blue eyes unafraid as she watches me with a quizzical expression. Staring at her, I take in every detail as if it were the first time I had seen another human being. A thick mane of ebony hair falls down her back, gentle curls framing her delicate heart-shaped face. Her smooth skin bears a subtle hint of colour, a light tan from spending time outside in the sun. Although her frame is slender and she appears fragile, I suspect she possesses both strength and resilience in good measure.
"She'd have to, to survive in the Nether," I think to myself, knowing the hardships Sense Offenders have had to endure to survive. The pale blue jump suit she wears gives only the slightest hint of the figure beneath, and I am filled with a sudden desire to tear the cloth away and discover what lays hidden under it.
"Stop what?" she repeats, dragging me from my reverie.
"Feeling guilty for things I cannot change, even if I wanted to," I answer, watching her closely for her reaction to my words.
"Ah!" she murmurs, a slight flicker of recognition in her eyes. "I'm Shara," she tells me, extending her hand in greeting. A strange feeling rushes through me as I take her hand, as though I had been given an electric shock.
"I'm John," I tell her, my fingers tingling slightly as she breaks the contact. A hint of a smile lingers on her lips as she takes a single step backwards, allowing me a small amount of space to try and deal with this new sensation.
Her smile widens as her gaze focuses on something behind me, and I turn to see the sun begin its majestic rise into the sky. My breath catches in my throat as I watch it, the beauty of a routine event which I had been denied until a few days ago. Threads of red and yellow interweave across the land, bringing the warmth and light without which life could not exist on the surface of our beautiful planet. As the woven strands reach us, I close my eyes and let out a reverent breath at the gentle caressing warmth of the sunlight.
"For everything a reason... John Preston," The softly spoken words reach my ears and I turn, looking for Shara so I can ask the meaning of her words but she is no longer standing beside me. I turn around completely, searching the empty landscape with my eyes but she is nowhere to be seen. I feel a dull ache in my chest as I wonder if I shall ever see her again, a thousand questions running through my mind. Will I ever discover the meaning of those enigmatic words? What had caused the strange sensation when our hands touched?
How did she know my name...?