The darkness of the wizard’s curse had lifted, for 5 years the people had lived in the dark, the fog, and the shadow of a fire breathing monster.

During the first three days the people had tried but failed to leave their homes, for the light which had once been a source of hope and aid, was blinding to all.

On the fourth day, people that had tried and tried to leave their homes were finally able to bare the blinding light, one of these being Gwen, a 12 year old with no home and no family to speak of.

She was a “child of the earth” as the people would cal her, that is when they didn’t call her “street urchin” or “rat.”

She was small, but had a strong spirit, her dark hair was usually kept clean from the river but she had been living in the space between two houses during the time that the light was bright.

She was excited to see far and wide again, to see all that the light touched, she ran with all her strength to the river to get cleaned up. The sound of the water rushing across rock and river bank came to her ears, the excitement grew within her as she could smell the flowers that grew on the hill just above her favorite spot.

The river came to the base of this hill and crawled lazily around it, the grass would bend this way and that as the wind told it where it should go, and the flowers, oh the flowers!

All the colors of the rainbow and they all had such a sweet sweet aroma, she would lay there for hours and just dream the day away.

Not anymore, with the lack of sunlight, the vegetation was sparse, the only reason there were some planets alive was due to the good wizard’s magic that caused a faux sun to give the plants a chance to grow.

The only drawback was that it would burn the skin of anyone that came in contact with its beams. So, the people would lock themselves inside and wait for the magic sun to do its work and after it expired the people would be free to walk outside and go about life in the darkness.

As Gwen climbed the bare earthen hill a tear made its way from her eye as she thought of how sad it was that it would still be some time before grass would come back and the flowers bloomed.

As she sat at the top of the hill, wondering what caused the sun to come back, she noticed a trail of green that snuck itself in between the trees. Trees with leaves on them! But how?!

She ran full speed down the hill, crossed the river were there was a small bridge built by the hunters years ago and dashed towards the comfort of color. She couldn’t believe how great the soft grass felt underneath her feet, or how the wind sang to her with its gentle end and flows through the leaves in the trees.

She danced, then ran from one tree to the next, breathing in the intoxicating fresh air. Her head started to spin! She twirled a few times before falling down and laying in the grass she looked up into the sky. From here, sky seemed to have a more vibrant color to it, it was more blue than she had remembered, and the clouds where a bright white.

She couldn’t contain herself anymore and she let out a yell of joy! She sat up quickly when she heard a twig snap from further in the tree line. She looked left and right, but she couldn’t see anything. She sat still for a time and when she thought it safe, she got up and started following the trail of newly grown grass and flowers.

It definitely lead somewhere, and she wanted to know where that somewhere might be. Her hands hung by her side, feeling the life that was all around her. She noticed that there were birds and even a few small mammals hiding in the green trees.

The birds were singing and the snickering of squirrels could be heard from all around. A smile crept into the corner of her mouth, this felt good. It felt…right. Filling the trail of life that wound this way and that, she realized that she had loss track of time.

To be continued…

I don’t know who I am, or even how I got here. This dusty, dilapidated and abandoned diner is just as unfamiliar as my name. I wonder if anyone would be able to help me identify myself?

I look around and see the front door to the establishment, hanging open by the lower hinge alone. I lift myself from the stool and counter that I am seated at, and start for the door.

I take two steps and fall flat on my face, dust ripples out from where I land. ‘Huh, you forget how to walk too?’ I think to myself. “Well, I may have had a concussion or I might have been out drinking, so there is a chance I’m going to have issues walking” I say to the voice in my head.

“I’m going to guess concussion or maybe I’m insane, I mean I’m having a conversation with myself for god’s sake!” ‘Meh, don’t worry about it, at least you have someone to talk to.’ “Yeah, well I would rather talk to another person than the voice in my head.”

‘I’m afraid I have to ask but, do you see anyone else around?’ “Well, now that you, or I mention it…I really am losing my mind-you’re right though, we’ve been walking for a couple minutes now and I haven’t seen one person. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen any wildlife either.”

‘Erie huh? Well, I guess you probably don’t mind having me here then do you?’ “….yeah, it does help to make it seem less…lonely, in a psychotic kind of way. I wonder what happened here.” ‘If you were to ask me, I’d say this looks very post nuke-ish. Yep, definitely post nuke-ish.’

“Post…nuke-ish? I’ll ignore the fact that your made up word sounds ridiculous, but I think you’re correct. From the way the buildin-” ‘hey, shut up!’ “Who do you think you are to tell me to-“ ‘no, really. Shut. Up.’ . . . . . “What do you he-“ ‘Shhh….’ . . . . . ‘Ok, I think IT is gone.’ “It? What it?!” ‘Seriously, if you don’t quite the fuck down right now…I will end us.’ … “Ok, sorry. What it are you referring to? I would like to know so that it doesn’t take me off guard.” ‘Honestly I don’t know, I’m just in your mind remember? I only saw it from the corner of your eye while you were blabbering on about some nonsense thing. It was a large shadowy figure in the entrance way to that hotel across the road.’

“Well then, I guess we should check it out, might be another person. Right?” ‘Hell no! I said it was large, like big, you dumb-dumb. I’m talking like grizzly bear big, but with glowing red eyes!’ “Glowing red eyes? Are you sure?” ‘Ok, to be honest, I did make that part up, but it might as well have had glowing red eyes. I’m just saying, I really really REALLY think we should go back down the other way or turn at the intersection up ahead. Please.’

“I was starting to think you were the type that would never say sorry, well….fine. We will take a right at the intersection, but if we see anything that even remotely looks juman I say we investigate, fair?” ‘Fair.’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . “Hey, do you think we should find some food, or maybe water?” ‘I mean, I don’t need it, I’m feeling pretty good now actually. Probably because that monster is a few blocks away. So, I guess if your hungry we could- . . . . . . . “Wha-…. Where am I?”

“Welcome back Mr. Conners. You’ve been in a coma for about a week now. You’re lucky you know. One of our scouts just happened to be making a final run in the area when she saw you slumped against that building.”

“She? Runner? Wait….my name is Conners? How do you know that?”

“Your driver’s license, either you look a lot like the man in the photo or he looks like you….or..and I’d guess it’s this answer, it is you.”

“Wha-what’s my first name?”

“I don’t know, that part was faded away, as if it had been rubbed away. It looks as if you..or whoever, had started rubbing away the last name as well.”

“Is it still 2067?”

. . .

“Uh, the year is 2025, I think you need to rest for a while.”

…”but…how? That’s impossible! I graduated in 2060, there’s no way! Unless……..it worked!”