Midday
I couldn’t believe that the sun actually made an appearance. It’s been raining all summer and stayed cold. But the weather finally warmed up and the sun felt good on my face. I wasn’t sure how long it’s been since the war ended, maybe five years, maybe ten. It wasn’t much of a war. More like a month of eradication of human beings. Pretty much ninety percent of human beings perished within a few weeks. No one really knows what it was about. All I remember was that the skies suddenly turned black and those thunder bolts rained down burning everything all over the world.
Anyway, that’s enough of that. Somehow, I survived. But everyone I know died or disappeared.
Like with most things, the hellish fire balls eventually stopped. But the skies all around the world remained black for two solid years. It happened so fast, no one knew exactly what was going on. It was a miracle that I survived two years of sub-freezing temperatures, no food and pitch-black skies.
I remember hearing peoples’ cries and whaling that didn’t stop for the first two months and gradually silence blanketed the planet.
As the months went on, the military came by to drop off little rations of food and other necessities. It’s funny how we adapt to new realities so quickly. The two years of death, hunger and uncertainty went by quick enough. Eventually, the black clouds disappeared, and the temperature warmed up again. The streets were charred but works were already in progress to repair the damage new buildings were being built. It was as if everything was planned out.
For the first year or so, people lost trust of each other. The power and communication came back online. There were countless theories of what caused it all, from an alien invasion to World War 3 and revolt of the artificial intelligence. None of them added up to anything concrete. All I know is that the nightmare was over, and we were all finally getting on with our lives. I lost everyone in my family and every now and then, someone from school finds me on Meta but, at this point I don’t really want to see anyone from the old world.
One of the good things about the ten percent that survived the catastrophe is that I got pampered by the government. I now live in a beautiful house, pay no taxes and have no need for a job. I get to go on hikes, look after my puppy that I got a few weeks ago. In lot of ways, the new world was better in every way.
I was a little worried when the heavy rains came couple of months ago. I prayed that it wasn’t another attack. But it turns out that it was just a bit of rain.
I haven’t seen another person in the flesh for years. They assure me on the net that there are scarce pockets of survivors all over the planet. For me, it’s enough that there are people out there.
A robot sat on a park bench, held a leather-bound notebook, scanning the words in two microseconds. It computed every word, but the content was complete nonsense.