Overlookers

The boy sits on a small bench in the middle of a sunlit clearing, he looks out onto the mass of green around him and the small village that is just visible from his secluded spot, he looks down at the small miss matched houses that cluster around a small paved town square and watches the people, every one of which he knows by name. He looks up at the blazing sun which is beginning to sink steadily towards the horizon and even though he knows he should be going he gazes out at the distant, rolling hills beyond the village and then the snow capped mountains that rise up from the ground like shards of glass. It is late now; he thinks, too late, he gets up and starts off along the small trail that leads down through the forest. He walks briskly for a while realizing how hot it is considering the time, he is sweating through his t shirt and tiring easily. As the boy nears his small village the men sigh, they look down on him and his small village full of sadness, they have put it off far too long and they know it, but they just could not bring themselves to interrupt such a peaceful place. Now, however, they know that the time is right; they look at one another wizened by age, and begin.

Just as the boy is entering the village he hears a deafening noise like a colossal trumpet being blown, it seems to permeate his entire body and shakes the earth beneath his feet. He sees that the small populating of his village has taken to the streets and is winding their way towards the town square. Some people are shouting, others just looking around with wide, terrified eyes. A mother screams for her children and once they are all safely in her arms rushes towards the square with the flow of people. The boy has not moved, he has just stayed still watching the terrifying scene around him, but he must get to his family, he thinks joining the frantic stream of people that are rushing down the streets. When he reaches the town square, full of people, he looks around for his family, frantically scanning the crowd for them. Then he spots them, a few yards away standing huddled together without speaking. But then his mother spots him and, crying out, hurries towards him knocking people over in her haste. Her eyes are wide as she reaches him and she just says “Come on” and pulls him over to the rest of his family who sigh with relief at the sight of him. And then everything is silent, the ground is still and the noise has gone, maybe everything will be okay, thinks the boy still looking around cautiously.

“The sun!” somebody shouts, in a high petrified voice, “Look at the sun!” everybody looks up and the air is full of shouts and screams. The sun seems to have turned a much darker and more violent, it also seems to be growing in size, stretching across the sky, the air is becoming increasingly hot and the suns fiery surface seems to get closer every second. Children start to cry, clinging to their parents staring up at the now red sun. Crash, the earth is vibrating again but more violently now, the earth seems to be crumbling and a strong wind has picked up, blowing through the exposed square and causing families to huddle even closer, protecting themselves. The boy and his family are squeezed together their eyes shut against the atrocious events around them, but the boy cannot stand not knowing what is happening ,he looks up at the landscape which is hazy and red, he sees the mountains which are no longer capped with snow.

And then he sees the top of the highest mountain crumble into dust and then being sucked down behind the mountain, what is going on, thinks the boy, bewildered. It doesn’t stop there, now the rest of the mountain and the surrounding mountains seem to crumble into pieces and then gets sucked away, like dust going into a vacuum. Soon all the mountains are no more and nothing but black emptiness is left behind, the rolling hills are starting to crumble and disappear gaining on the small village every second. Soon the hills have gone and the first houses are being ripped apart and pulled away. Then more houses and then the very edge of the town square is breaking apart as if in slow motion. The boy sees the ground and the people standing there being sucked down into the endless abyss and then he is on the edge looking down for a second before he is jerked violently downward and is thrown this way and that into what he is sure will be certain death. And then nothing. All is black, the boy opens his eyes and is blinded by a brilliantly white light as his eyes adjust to the light his surroundings swim into focus, he seems to be surrounded by white fluffy clouds, they swirl around him happily.

He stands for a while marvelling at the strange shapes of cloud around him and the soft surface under his feet which feels almost like grass, and then a hand appears out of a cloud near him, it seems to glow with some strange light, beckoning him forward. He follows without question.