Friday, March 25, 2022

SHINING LIGHT - SHORT STORY GENRE: SCIENCE FICTION

 



I’m starting to learn that reality is a fickle thing. The truth can be distorted, stretched into new dimensions and not many can see it for what it is.

At school they call me Grey Cloud. I guess because my hair is grey. My name’s really Ellie. According to Mom, I’m a DreamWalker. She says I was chosen by the gods to walk between worlds when I dream. The truth is I don’t really believe her. She has an overactive imagination. She says I must believe.

“Hold my hand,” I say to Sarah. She grabs my pinkie finger which is frozen. “We’ve only got two more blocks.”

“Sissy, I’m tired.”

It’s hard to see. The heavy wind pushes us back as we try to gain momentum. Storms. I’m so done with the storms. Our weather is so unpredictable. One day it’s hot with thick unbreathable air and the next day we have snow. “I know you’re tired. I’m tired too. None of us have slept in days.” I bend over and wrap Sarah’s scarf a little tighter around the lower half of her face. “Look, Mom needs us to get a few things from the store. Tomorrow’s Christmas.”

She nods.

I grab Sarah’s arm. “Stop!”  

A hologram appears in front of us on the sidewalk. An image of the world spins and slowly darkens. “WARNING. Earth is no longer inhabitable. President Genesis has made it mandatory that anyone under twenty-one years old must leave to live on Mars. We have been told that a new habitat has been created there underground.”

“Sissy, look. Lights.”

I hold my forefinger to my lips. “Shush. Stop annoying me.”

“This is the beginning of the end. The world will no longer exist in eight days. There won’t be a year 3000. Global warming. Our ancestors knew plastics were bad for the environment. They knew that they were non-biodegradable. Even though our ancestors knew the consequences of plastic, they continued to make it. Plastic tables, chairs, toys, toothbrushes, glasses, plates, floors, car parts, even houses. The list goes on and on. It was as if they wanted to destroy the planet on purpose.”

Sarah tugs on my shirt. “Sissy, sissy…Look.”

“Will you stop?”

She jumps up and down. “Pretty lights!”

“I don’t care about the stupid lights!” I snatch her hand. “Now, come on.”

There are crowds of people at the store. Most of them children. They’re the only healthy ones. After three hours of waiting in line, we make our way into the store. “We should’ve come earlier like Mom asked us to. There’s nothing here.” I grab Sarah’s hand and pull her around the store. “No water, bread, non-dairy milk…What are we going to do?”

Sarah shrugs her shoulders.

“Oh good,” I say. “Meatless turkey. Sarah, put it in the front of the cart. I don’t want it to get smashed.”

Sarah wraps her small hands around the cold meatless turkey and drops it into the front. “Sissy?”

“Yes.”

“Why do you hate Christmas so much?”

I start to chew on my lips. “No more questions. We need to get this stuff home so Mom can start cooking.”

We enter the house bubble and lock the chamber door behind us. Slowly, we take our oxygen masks, thermal coats, and gloves off, releasing the pressure. Then we make our way into the living room. The walls are decorated with a paper Christmas tree, some paper lights, and paper stockings. But it doesn’t feel like Christmas. Not anymore. But that’s fine with me. Every year it comes too early. Mom and Dad get stressed out, fight. Everything I liked about Christmas is gone. And now…How can I leave my family? How? What will happen to my parents?

Christmas morning, Sarah sits by the tree opening her gift. “Mommy,” Sarah says loudly. “Someone’s knocking on the door.”

Mother and Father turn toward each other.

“Ellie, take your sister upstairs,” Mother says.

We sit at the top of the stairs and hide behind the wall. I motion for Sarah to scoot next to me. With care, I peek around the corner.

Father moves in beside Mother, placing a hand at the small of her back, urging her to move forward. She opens the door. Two men are standing there, both wearing white robes with a bluish silver belt.

“We’ve come for Ellie and Sarah,” says the older of the two men. His hair is white, and his skin is pale with eyes veiled by a net of wrinkles.

“No, you can’t,” Mother says.

“It’s orders,” he says.

“We’re their family now.”

“But they’re not your daughters.” His voice low but his words are like a crack of a whip.

“We love them and have raised them as our own. We kept them safe as we were asked. They won’t understand.”

“Perhaps not,” he says. “They need to be with their kind. We cannot leave them here to die.”

Mother leans over with her hands on her knees, gasping for air, unclean air.

“G-girls, come down,” Father yells with his voice breaking and his chin trembling.

We slowly come downstairs, taking one step at a time.

Mother and Father rush to our sides and bend down together to hug us. “We will always love you,” Mother says. “Remember that.”

We stare at our parents with tears and confusion.

“Mommy? Daddy?” Sarah says.

“Ellie,” Mother whispers. “Take this.” She hands me a small gift. I tuck it into one of my socks. When the gift touches my skin, there’s a faint glow.

The two men grab our arms and rush us into their silver bullet spaceship. Sarah launches herself at the window, pressing her palms up against the glass. “Mommy! Daddy!” Just like lightning—we’re gone.

We travel through dark vastness that’s scattered with light. It’s like an unbounded continuum of music notes that dance and feed off the rhythm of celestial bodies. All working together as one.

“Where are we?” I ask. “This doesn’t look right. Mars is supposed to be red not white.”

“We have taken you to the beginning of time,” he says. “Everything you know to be true, isn’t. Humans were created here on planet Zera. Our kind have used other planets as experiments. Earth being one of them. We wanted to see how long it would take humankind to self-destruct. It’s human nature. It lives in our subconscious. We innately know what is right and what is wrong but time and time again we choose to be selfish and greedy. All planets have failed.”

“This can’t be true,” I say.

The man points to a woman with long white hair. She wears a sheer white dress that brushes the sand beneath her. The sky is iridescent, and the air is breathable. There is no hazy fog like home. Shimmering lights hang from the trees and lanterns line the pathways.

“My name is Aster.” She pauses. “You’ve come a long way.”

“Why?” I ask and then look down at my sister who hasn’t stopped crying.

“Christmas day. This day to most was a symbol of what humanity should be but isn’t. It was pure. Earth’s atmosphere used to shine on this day, like a star. We could see it from here. But now, oxygen levels have plummeted. Threat is imminent. And no one can stop it.”

“We can change,” I plead. “I know it. Send us back and I’ll persuade them all to change.”

“My child, it’s not that simple,” she says. “We planted seeds, sent storms of warning, transmitted messages through dreams. None of it was enough to stop the destruction. Mankind leads with filthy hands. They purposely hurt each other with words. Hatred spreads like wildfires. Oceans of bloodshed. And for what? Nothing. No one gains anything from it. Their hearts have darkened. Their minds have become riddled with jealousy, ungratefulness.”

I narrow my eyes toward her. “So, you punish them with death?”

“No. They punish themselves. Every injurious behavior leaves them emptier inside. They do it.”

“What about my parents? They’re good people. You know that. Why must they die?”

“Life is unfair. Our decisions are based on what the majority does. We cannot single out all the good ones. It would take too long.”

“But doesn’t that make you as bad as they are?”

“Ellie, you do not know what you speak. Your heart has darkened like theirs.” She points into the air. “Men, send these two away.”

One of the men yanks me nearly off my feet and drags me away. The other man marches forward and grabs Sarah by her arm.

Sarah stumbles to the ground. “No!”

I break free from the man’s grip and reach for Sarah, guarding her from the evil men. “Stay away from my sister!” I say, gritting my teeth.

Aster raises her arm and a ray of light pulses from her hand. It separates us. “Girls, please…We don’t want to harm you.”

“Then let us go,” I say.

“Once we erase your memories, then we’ll set you free.”

“But I—”

“No more pain, Ellie. You will live in peace. Isn’t that what you want?”

“What about my sister, and my family…”

Aster shakes her head. “They’ll no longer be your family.”

I blink back tears as Sarah looks up at me with red puffy eyes. She reaches her hand out for mine. Our fingers touch.

“Take them away,” Aster says. “Do not let them sleep. Now go.”

We are put into a white room that has loud piano music blaring into our ears. Sarah cuddles up beside me, holding my hand. Believe…believe…I hear my mother’s soft voice. I take the gift out of my sock and open it. It is a small star with no color. Almost looks as though it’s dead.

“Lights, sissy.”

“Not now, Sarah.”

Sarah stands up and points to the star in my hand. It’s dark.

I throw the star across the room. “Don’t you get it. We’re never going to see Mom and Dad again. Who cares about some ridiculous lights!”

Sarah walks over and picks the star up in her hand and hands it back to me.

I close my eyes, then open them again. The star begins to flicker. But when Sarah removes her hand from mine it turns dark again. I grab her hand and place it back onto the star. It shines but stops. Sleep. Why would they not want us to sleep? “Sarah, close your eyes.”

Sarah closes her eyes and I close mine. The room starts to shake, keeping us from sleeping.

“We’re going to play a game, okay? Let’s pretend were popcorn. Can you do that?”

Sarah nods with a smile.

“Now close your eyes and think about Mom and Dad.”

She closes her eyes as we are thrown around the room.

“Mom, I need you,” I say. “Can you hear me.”

“Believe, Ellie. It’s within you. Your name means Shining Light.”

I open my eyes. “Sarah, am I the light?”

She nods her head up and down really fast, smiling from ear to ear.

“I believe.” Something inside of me grows. I grab Sarah’s hand and hold it tight and lift the star in my other hand. A ray of light springs from our bodies, sending a colorful radiance through the galaxy.

Earth shines again and so do I.

“Wakeup, sissy.”

I rub my eyes. “Home?”

She drags me downstairs. I smell gingerbread and feel the warmth of the fire. “What’s this? A real tree, stockings, gifts. It can’t be. I must’ve been dreaming.”

Mother kisses me on my cheek.

Father pats my head. “Your hair? It’s white.”

“But how?” I ask.

Mother smiles and gives me a wink.

 


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