02-22-2007, 07:24 PM
No talky?
Anyway,
There was no one in sight; darkness had set in like a blanket, engulfing
the streets. The rain was heavy; shimmering droplets poured from the
skies like crystals. Just the sound of crisp footsteps on the concrete
disturbed the silence. Huge tower blocks loomed overhead, they reached
towards the heavens with no visible end; their blocked out windows stared,
like eyes at anyone who dared venture below. They lurked at every possible
angle, harbouring the enemy behind them. Every step, every turn, every
corner threatened death, there was no escape. Then suddenly the sound
from behind, the boom of a loaded shotgun, up was the only way, up and
up and up. Up, the unforgiving stairs that creaked and gave under weight.
Up, into the open air above, the sprinkle of on looking stars. The edge of
the building screamed and tormented like the sharp blade of a knife until
there was no way but down. Down away from the defeat of a bullet, down
to the safety of…
‘Game over, thank you for playing.’
‘Damn it!’ Zeena pulled the glasses off and stepped out from the
dark rectangle into the light. Squinting, she vaguely made out an
image in front of her. She rubbed her eyes.
‘Zeena! Do you realize what time it is?! You should have logged
onto school almost… um … 30 minutes ago!’ Zeena’s eyes slowly
adjusted and the large mass began to form into her mother. The angry,
flushed face contrasted to the bright, light coloured walls of the large,
minimal room. The low, humming buzz from the many computer
screens droned constantly on. Only the curves of her mother’s body
disturbed the ridgedness of the surroundings.
Zeena walked over to a small box protruding from the wall. On it was
a speaker and a red button. She pressed down on the button and moved
towards the speaker, ‘shut down.’
‘Shutting down. Goodbye, see you next time.’ The black, fuzzy rectangle
was consumed by the white wall with a hiss. When Zeena turned, her
mother had disappeared. Her eyes were drawn to the social box, alight
with a soft, mauve glow. She guessed she had logged on to the café with
some friends; this was where her mother spent most days.
Alone, Zeena closed her eyes. She moved to the centre of the room and
began to spin around on her toes. She span faster and faster and when she
re-opened her eyes, all she could see was a multi-coloured whir, a state of
confusion that represented her own mind. Day after day, enclosed in this
room, the closure of a game being the only form of an end. Was this life?
Was this the real world? Cyber relationships, virtual meetings: Superficial,
convenient and safe. This was all she had ever known. There was no physical
‘outside’; there were only the glowing boxes of life. They took you outside,
you could go anywhere you wanted, and you could meet whomever you
wanted. This was all anyone needed.
Zeena ran, she ran fast, she ran anywhere to escape. She didn’t stop at the
wall, didn’t stop at the end of ‘virtual’ world, she ran through and out until
she landed with a heap on the ground. Zeena’s joints thudded down with
excruciating pain, a pain she had never felt before. The flesh against her
clothes felt warm and wet with blood from the jagged stones that had torn
and dug through her delicate skin. She heaved her body up, wincing as she
put weight on the fresh wounds. Her gritty hands ground at her eyes as she
rubbed them; they flickered and watered in response. Finally her vision
became clearer, she was somewhere else, somewhere.
Zeena’s breath halted as she gasped, where was this place? Her long, dark
hair swept over her face as the wind blew it; swarms of dust licked at her feet.
The mountaintop sat above, looking down on the barren land, volcanic rock
and dirt stretched for miles; these seas of brown separated only by the vivid
blue sky carrying birds that whirled and soared over the expanse. Corpses
lay in every direction, rotting flesh and brittle bones. Was this the old world?
Was this what was left behind? Zeena let out a cry that echoed far beyond and
caused the birds to squawk and flap widely and small fragments of rock to topple
down the mountainside. Her body shook furiously and real tears bubbled from
her face. Yet this could not be real, reality was not here, just another game,
another escape. With this, she stepped to the edge and looked dizzily down
the great height towards the end, towards ‘game over’ until she had jumped,
jumped back to safety, jumped back to ‘reality’ but ‘game over’ never came.
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