Author Information
A day after the lights went out
The sun was shinning, the clouds were white and puffy, the trees were green, and the flowing crystal clear river made a soothing sound. Everything seemed normal in the woods. A small crow was resting in a long branch of a big old tree, while looking at its surroundings. Suddenly, a voice called.
“Hey Steve!”
Steve turned its head to look at who called him.
“Hey Roger! What’s up?”
Roger perched himself besides his friend and sighed.
“Uh, not much. I just came back from the city with the huge green lady and well, you know how that goes.”
“You mean the city with dirty streets, abandoned buildings and cars, and humans fighting each other?”
“Yep, pretty much. Ever since the big lights went out, they can’t seem to stop fighting.”
The sound of footsteps interrupted the soothing sounds of the river.
“What are you talking about? They were fighting each other even before the big lights went out.”
“I guess so, but at least they stop being mean to us…Well, enough about me! How was your day?”
“Uh, same old, same old.”
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps grew louder and louder. A young, distraught woman with long blond mud-stained hair was running towards the tree. She looked sweaty, thin, and pale. So much so that she looked like Mr. Smith, the white cranky rabbit that lives two trees down. Blondie looked around desperately as if searching for something; she kept grabbing small branches and rocks.
“What do you think she’s doing?”
“I don’t know Roger. When have we ever understood what humans do?”
“True.”
Then she screamed loudly,
“Somebody please help me! They’re going to kill me!”
Roger and Steve looked at each other and suddenly they heard the sound of footsteps getting louder and heavier. Out of the corner of Steve’s eye he saw them. Like Blondie, they looked pale, dirty, and sweaty. Their clothes seemed ragged and even dirtier than Blondie’s. The beards in their faces made them look intimidating, but what really scared Steve and Roger was the way they were looking at Blondie.
“A human once looked at Mary like that. Remember what happened to her Steve?”
“Yep, she ended being somebody’s dinner.”
“Poor Mary.”
Blondie suddenly bolted and ran away from the tree and the group of men. The group hollered, “Get her!” and they ran after her while firing their boom sticks. Soon, the soothing sound of the river returned and everything went back to normal.
“See what did I tell you? Same old, same old”.
