Photo Prompt One
So I have finished the first prompt.(Word Count 1078) The link to the photo can be found here.
I claim no rights to the photo they go to -Pi- (Mael VALLAT). Okay so on to the story.
Sixty years ago, the world came to a stand still. It was as if a frightened hush enveloped the earth. A solar eclipse is a beautiful thing to behold the first twenty minutes, the years that follow it tumbled us into a despair that no one had prepared for. What do you do when you expect the sun to hide its golden rays for maybe an hour and suddenly its expands to years, then decades? The disbelief hit first, followed by panic and then chaos reigned. Mass riots decimated cities and swept across the world. Food went fast, and as it disappeared so did lives. Many of the young died from a lack of nutrition and sun. As the chaos faded and the strive to live returned to the forefront of minds, a society of sorts began to emerge. People clumped together into “villages” in a bid to survive. The old adage “safety in numbers” becoming a running theme. As villages formed, a barter system was created, beginning a tentative peace in certain regions. Some traded technology, food, knowledge and others materials for clothing or house ware items. Those of us that were alive before the fall of dark began dwindling in numbers. The memory of sunlight on my skin becoming like a faraway dream.
“Maggie! Maggie!” Jerking my head up I glanced out the door my eyes long adjusted to seeing things in the perpetual, dim twilight. Smiling I watched as little Rosalyn came barreling down the hill towards my home. “What is it child that has you so excited?” Without pausing to take a breathe she began to tug me out of the doorway and down the dirt packed road. “Come, look. They found something! They say it was hidden in one of those factstores!” “You mean a factory?” Grinning her wide, toothy smile at me, she began nodding her head excitedly. “Yea, yea one of those!” Smiling back at her I tried to withhold my own hope that maybe this time they had actually found the last piece we needed to get our “greenhouse” running. Without the help of sun our options for food sources that can be grown were limited. Mostly we survived on mushrooms and other fungi that grew in the dark wetness our world had become. There was very little game left to be hunted, humans not being the only predators to have survived the fall of darkness. Over the last ten years our village has been trading for the knowledge and technology to set up our own greenhouse. We hoped that even if we could no longer benefit from real sunlight, we might be able to benefit from artificial rays. Surprisingly the seeds needed to grow food was not the hardest things to acquire. It was the knowledge and the technology needed to create and power the rays that was scarce.
Coming to a stop outside of what was dubbed the “central hall” I watched as men carried crates of what seemed like useless trash into the entrance. Counting heads I noticed someone was missing. My heart seemed to turn to lead in my chest as I realized it was Jordan. Though I had never had children of my own, I helped raise and nurture him from the day he was adopted into our village. I couldn’t help but love him the first time I set my eyes on him, when I found him in that abandoned hovel. He was my son as sure as if I had given birth to him myself. Quickly looking through the gathering crowd, I headed towards the closest dark alley. Although he has been with us since he was around seven years of age, Jordan still tended to stray from crowds. Instead he found solace in the quietness of the dark. Stepping into the alley running between the central hall and the kitchens I spotted him seated atop some discarded crates, stray beams of moonlight highlighting his work roughened and scared hands. Smiling softly I approached him and promptly enveloped his tense figure in a hug. Despite his first reaction to any form of touch he relaxed enough to return the hug before pulling back.
“So what’s this I hear about you finding something in the factories?” Jordan winced at my disapproving tone. Turning his head slightly to glance down the dark alley he began to mutter. “Well, we thought at the time that it would be our best bet of finding what we needed before the hard freezes set in.” “You thought? What about the reports of murderous bandits taking shelter in those warehouses? How do you think we would feel if word of your death was brought back to us?” I sighed softly. “I worry about you Jordan. I know you still don’t believe me after all these years, but I love you.” His eyes darted up towards my face before turning to look down. “I know,” he whispered softly. Smiling softly I took his hand in mind and tugged him off his precarious seat towards the crowded central hall.
As we entered the hall we saw that Nyson was up front explaining to the village what exactly it was they had salvaged. From my view in the back of the room it looked to be a weird metal box with jumbled multi-colored wires tumbling out. Not something I would think to cause the excitement in the group of “scientists” surrounding it. The glowing smile on Nyson’s face as he explained that it was the last piece they needed to complete the engine on our artificial sun made a flutter of hope bloom to life in my chest. Something I haven’t felt since the death of family so many years ago. By the end of Nyson’s explanation an excited mummer began to sweep the room.
Deneaux, the leading expert we have on all things electric stepped up beside Nyson and began to explain that while it will be complicated to connect they should have the engine finished within the next few days. Many of us stood surprised by the amount of speed in which it would be done, but soon erupted into cheers. It seems that though the world has fallen into darkness, there is still some light to be found. Turning I looked at Jordan, my face breaking out into a grin as he flashed me a quick smile. Yes it would seem the light of hope has yet to burn out.
I claim no rights to the photo they go to -Pi- (Mael VALLAT). Okay so on to the story.
Sixty years ago, the world came to a stand still. It was as if a frightened hush enveloped the earth. A solar eclipse is a beautiful thing to behold the first twenty minutes, the years that follow it tumbled us into a despair that no one had prepared for. What do you do when you expect the sun to hide its golden rays for maybe an hour and suddenly its expands to years, then decades? The disbelief hit first, followed by panic and then chaos reigned. Mass riots decimated cities and swept across the world. Food went fast, and as it disappeared so did lives. Many of the young died from a lack of nutrition and sun. As the chaos faded and the strive to live returned to the forefront of minds, a society of sorts began to emerge. People clumped together into “villages” in a bid to survive. The old adage “safety in numbers” becoming a running theme. As villages formed, a barter system was created, beginning a tentative peace in certain regions. Some traded technology, food, knowledge and others materials for clothing or house ware items. Those of us that were alive before the fall of dark began dwindling in numbers. The memory of sunlight on my skin becoming like a faraway dream.
“Maggie! Maggie!” Jerking my head up I glanced out the door my eyes long adjusted to seeing things in the perpetual, dim twilight. Smiling I watched as little Rosalyn came barreling down the hill towards my home. “What is it child that has you so excited?” Without pausing to take a breathe she began to tug me out of the doorway and down the dirt packed road. “Come, look. They found something! They say it was hidden in one of those factstores!” “You mean a factory?” Grinning her wide, toothy smile at me, she began nodding her head excitedly. “Yea, yea one of those!” Smiling back at her I tried to withhold my own hope that maybe this time they had actually found the last piece we needed to get our “greenhouse” running. Without the help of sun our options for food sources that can be grown were limited. Mostly we survived on mushrooms and other fungi that grew in the dark wetness our world had become. There was very little game left to be hunted, humans not being the only predators to have survived the fall of darkness. Over the last ten years our village has been trading for the knowledge and technology to set up our own greenhouse. We hoped that even if we could no longer benefit from real sunlight, we might be able to benefit from artificial rays. Surprisingly the seeds needed to grow food was not the hardest things to acquire. It was the knowledge and the technology needed to create and power the rays that was scarce.
Coming to a stop outside of what was dubbed the “central hall” I watched as men carried crates of what seemed like useless trash into the entrance. Counting heads I noticed someone was missing. My heart seemed to turn to lead in my chest as I realized it was Jordan. Though I had never had children of my own, I helped raise and nurture him from the day he was adopted into our village. I couldn’t help but love him the first time I set my eyes on him, when I found him in that abandoned hovel. He was my son as sure as if I had given birth to him myself. Quickly looking through the gathering crowd, I headed towards the closest dark alley. Although he has been with us since he was around seven years of age, Jordan still tended to stray from crowds. Instead he found solace in the quietness of the dark. Stepping into the alley running between the central hall and the kitchens I spotted him seated atop some discarded crates, stray beams of moonlight highlighting his work roughened and scared hands. Smiling softly I approached him and promptly enveloped his tense figure in a hug. Despite his first reaction to any form of touch he relaxed enough to return the hug before pulling back.
“So what’s this I hear about you finding something in the factories?” Jordan winced at my disapproving tone. Turning his head slightly to glance down the dark alley he began to mutter. “Well, we thought at the time that it would be our best bet of finding what we needed before the hard freezes set in.” “You thought? What about the reports of murderous bandits taking shelter in those warehouses? How do you think we would feel if word of your death was brought back to us?” I sighed softly. “I worry about you Jordan. I know you still don’t believe me after all these years, but I love you.” His eyes darted up towards my face before turning to look down. “I know,” he whispered softly. Smiling softly I took his hand in mind and tugged him off his precarious seat towards the crowded central hall.
As we entered the hall we saw that Nyson was up front explaining to the village what exactly it was they had salvaged. From my view in the back of the room it looked to be a weird metal box with jumbled multi-colored wires tumbling out. Not something I would think to cause the excitement in the group of “scientists” surrounding it. The glowing smile on Nyson’s face as he explained that it was the last piece they needed to complete the engine on our artificial sun made a flutter of hope bloom to life in my chest. Something I haven’t felt since the death of family so many years ago. By the end of Nyson’s explanation an excited mummer began to sweep the room.
Deneaux, the leading expert we have on all things electric stepped up beside Nyson and began to explain that while it will be complicated to connect they should have the engine finished within the next few days. Many of us stood surprised by the amount of speed in which it would be done, but soon erupted into cheers. It seems that though the world has fallen into darkness, there is still some light to be found. Turning I looked at Jordan, my face breaking out into a grin as he flashed me a quick smile. Yes it would seem the light of hope has yet to burn out.