No Word Limits

#2 The Withered Field

Writing Competition
Write a short fiction about climate change.

Original word limit: 750 words

The paddy field, all withered out. Devoid of life, only dead strands of straw poking out from the cracked clay.

Standing in the middle of the open field, I watch as the rainstorm clouds hover above my head. The sky is pitch-dark. After uncountable days of drought, a dream for rain is finally resurrected.

The dried straw crunches, as a pair of hands tightly wrap me from behind.

"Why the long face?" he utters, stretching every word. Is being cheerful even possible in this situation?

"It will get better, don't you worry." Nonsense. "Plus you still have me, don't you?" he says as he fixes my hair instead of his own jumbled mess.

"In that case I would rather die alone." I reply. Not really meaning it, but I just love seeing his childish reactions.

"You meanie!" he screams with half playful tone as he stomps away. He's childish, and he knows it. But he doesn't care, sometimes even intentionally magnifying it.

He will come back soon enough. Maybe in about 30 seconds after he is reminded that he has no one else to talk to.

***

The downpour is rapidly swamping the formerly dry soil; audible gushes of wind almost snapping the remaining trees.

Sitting at the back of this old bus station, it looks eerie despite being brimmed with desperate residents. The temperature has plummeted, even with him profusely cuddling with me here, effectively killing my chance of running away, my shiver is still noticeable.

Every time I turn my focus away from my phone, I would catch him readily stealing glances at me, as if I'm his high school crush or something. He is also fiddling with his muddy plastic dinosaur toy like a little kid, the one that he refuses to let go of. That toy is some of his last surviving artifacts of his childhood, a toy that his mom bought over 2 decades ago.

Feeling sleepy, he tucks the toy into my pocket and dozes off on my lap.

***

They are late. It has been two hours late, yet I still see no signs of the rescuers. Why are they late? Have they been caught up in a flood? Why are we still here? My mind races, it races. I can't help but to worry, can't help but to consider every worst-case scenario there is.

A notification pops up on my phone. A message, an alert message.

Siren blares throughout the building, with the same message being displayed on the murky screens of the bus station.

I stood up, pushing his head away. My mind in disbelief as I reread the message repeatedly.

"What's happeni-"

There is no time to think. I snatch his hand as I swiftly hide our heads underneath the bench. I pin his hand to the floor, not letting him move away.

Everything starts shaking vigorously. Dusts and debris tickles and clog up my nose, making breathing harder. Everything jingles and crashes, people's screams are muffled by loud bangs of falling objects. My heart thumps faster as more and more things clash onto my body, praying that none of the crushing hazards will be bigger.

The next few seconds stretch into an eternity. It's driving me insane. I close my eyes, waiting for everything to still.

I spring us back up right after I sensed the ground unmoving. Panic condenses in the air, seeping thick into the atmosphere.