This city is silent.
There are no birds chirping, no leaves rustling, no pitter-patter of giddy children. Earth in the 25th century certainly is not devoid of life, yet the paths, paved in cold, unforgiving metal, remain unused, their surfaces like ice wholly exposed to the sun's ever-weakening heat.
Empty. That is the word.
This city is empty. Every citizen on this planet, he knows, is indoors, readying themselves for the morning, readying themselves to faithfully fulfill whatever task their government has assigned them from birth. (He snorts at that. Their obedience repulses him.) Every animal has long been caged, each in their own artificially created habitats, coldly and methodically managed, their tiny beating hearts considered by their masters as lesser than their own.
Most days he wishes he can go back. Go back to what sweet paradise the past had to have been, with the air honeyed with the scent of summer, with the sun beaming down warmly and the land untamed and the seas unpoisoned.
And on this day?
On this day he's about to do exactly that.
He rises to his feet, the beginnings of a grin coming to his lips. He's been waiting for the rift that'll soon appear at these exact coordinates, and as he stands he checks his government-given atomic watch.
6:14:52, it reads. Then, blinking, 6:14:53.
He is on tenterhooks, trepidation coursing through him as he waits for 6:15:05. His pack, slung across his shoulders, jiggles as he fidgets.
He wonders if he will be missed.
With a little more excitement, he wonders if he will be followed.
He waits.
And waits.
And waits.
Scowling, he checks his watch once more.
6:15:19.
The numbers jeer at him, and he's faintly aware of his knees giving out under him.
What—
In the distance, a scream rents the air, and the sound of shattering glass soon after. He finds himself compelled to look up, his body still trembling, drawn by the uncommon commotion.
Through a broken window, he watches a boy tumbles head-long into a mirror, winking out of sight.
Through suddenly scarlet vision, he realizes what must've happened.
Another scream rents the air—but this time it's coming from him.
YOU ARE READING
shards of time
Science FictionA curious connection through time and space turns Lydia's life upside down. Lydia Teh is as ordinary as ordinary gets. She is fond of routine and punctuality; waking up each day at 6 PM sharp, arriving at the college she attends seven on the dot...
