Morning all. Running a little slow today. Just hit the snooze button one too many times. Other than that, it was not a bad morning. No longer overly groggy and my sinuses seem to have accepted the change in seasons. I would like to say gracefully, but they sis put up quite the protest before giving in so I think grudgingly would be a better term. Regardless, let’s jump into today’s prompt shall we?
Okay I really enjoyed this one. I wasn’t planning on dystopia. But really, who plans for dystopia?
Thursday, April 20th: It was the most beautiful place she had ever seen.
It was the most beautiful place she had ever seen. She moved forward slowly not wanting to disturb the beautiful silence. The world around her was loud, and filled with people. All of the buildings were utilitarian and built to house as many people in as small a space as possible. Towers rose towards the sky, but they were concrete blocks with numbers painted on the sides so everyone would know what block and sector they were in, should they ever stray from their home zone.
Here, beyond the walls was the desolation of the old city. In school they were taught of the war, of the greed and horror that produced weapons capable of killing the planet or at the very least rendering huge sections of it unusable. They were told of horrors and he necessity of keeping to the schedule, the routine, the way of life that came after.
They were not taught of the beauty of what was lost. Today she went beyond the wall. She hadn’t intended to at first and then she thought it right that she allow the poisons of the old city to kill her. It was what she deserved.
She stepped forward carefully, slowly. For the moment her troubles were forgotten as she marveled at the graceful arching lines of the building around her. It was smaller than the buildings she was used to but somehow seemed larger than she knew it to be. The space felt light, airy almost s if the building was as insubstantial as a dream. She inhaled and smelled the scent of decay.
Dreams didn’t smell that way so she knew it wasn’t a fantasy. The sound of burbling water drew her forward and her eyes grew wide as she saw a small fountain in a courtyard. Vines had snaked around the statue but it could still be identified as that of a woman, water poured from her urn into the small pool below. The water looked clear and clean.
The lessons of all the poisons used in the war remained in her mind and so she doubted it was as clean as it looked and resisted the urge to drink. While she may have felt death was her due when she fled, as she settled down she began to feel that perhaps things would work out. Perhaps it wasn’t as bad as she feared.
Her foot crunched down and she looked to see she stepped on some broken glass. She lifted her foot and put it down on a clean spot. The glass was blue. Blue was the color of the healers. No one else wore it, no one else used it.
‘Maybe this was a place of healing,’ she thought. She looked around again and nodded with this new thought circling. “That’s why it isn’t as poisoned. There was something in the healer’s space that kept the poison at bay.’ Her reasoning felt sound. She skirted the broken blue glass and continued on.
Ten til Midnight 