Aftermath

It grows darker by the day and it is getting harder to see the stars
each night. I have always cherished the moments that I can look up into
the world beyond ours and see the bright, twinkling lights in the sky.
It makes me realise how small we really are and gives me hope that
somewhere out there, we are not alone.

I worry so much for my family. My first two sons are grown now and have
their own children to care for, but my youngest is still so fragile and
defenceless. She seems to be growing so much more slowly than the
others did. She had been one of three, but the others didn't survive.
It was a difficult time, that was when the darkness began to rise and a
silence came over us all. I haven't heard a bird sing for months now
and even the insects have gone quiet. They used to annoy me and keep me
awake for hours, but what I wouldn't give now to hear the irritating
sound of their wings beating as they forage through the plant
life.

Plant life. Not that there is much of that anymore. It's getting
increasingly more difficult to find food these days, and that which I
do find seems to have a metallic taste to it. Perhaps I should pack up
my family and move to somewhere else; begin a journey to new lands
where food is plentiful and light shines down on us, warming the
ground. It is so cold now. It's supposed to be well into summer now and
yet the scent of winter hangs in the air along with a strange, alien
odour that I have not smelt before.

The others can feel it too. We don't discuss it, as if we are afraid
that if we admit the changes that are going on then we will have to
face the reality. A reality that terrifies us so much it chills each
fibre of our being.

We try to continue with our lives as best we can, caring for our
children and watching out for the hunters that prey on us, but it all
seems somewhat senseless now. Even the big ones seem afraid of the low
rumbling that started months ago when all of these changes began. Right
after the deafening explosion that caused the ground beneath our feet
to tremble.

I pray that we survive. I plead each night that my family will be
spared and that we will have a chance to live once more in the
beautiful land that we love. And that my daughter one day will lay her
own eggs and experience the joys of raising her own baby
brachiosaurus's