Bygone

2

Jaclyn

An instantaneous glare of white rendered his sight deprived, the sounds of his environment growing thicker till it had been a muffled cacophony. His perception was disorientated, his mind perceiving himself to be in a dream.

Gradually the brilliant glare faded, the abilities of his ears returning to hear a water blown whistling before the wind's breeze. Both his palms felt the cushioned bed of dirt that he'd been kneeling upon.

What..?

His eyesight sharpened from the blur as his mind did, slowly distinguishing his surroundings. A bright amethyst-teal shadowed over the land, of which had been fields and fields of aquamarine grass; one that had been unlike the ones he'd been accustomed to. Tilting his head directly into the vibrant sky, no sun had begun to blind him. The grass chirred, curving in the direction of the soft breeze. His hearing returned and he began to subtly question.

Marcus' heart raced as he wondered where he had been, with his mind's bound eagerness taking hold of his reactions. He rose up to his feet, looking to the far edges of the beautiful fields of alien long grass.

Another rose from her feet to his side, his peripheral allowing his discern on the unusual, yet familiar companion in wonder. His heart raced even faster, pivoting to his front rightward and seeing the third recognizable figure.

And it slowly began to click.

This isn't possible.

He took in wary breaths, observing as they had gotten up from their knelt positions on the dirt bed. But their presence hadn't been the one thing that had allured his attention. As he turned, his peripheral was once again greeted to a ruinous sight.

To their left, an endless plain of freedom that led and reached the great beyond. And to their right, a desolate and befallen metropolis with collapsed skyscrapers and deceased streets; gray, and only gray painting the city in its bleakness.

Marcus exhaled with a relieved tension, his body loosening up as the other two had begun to partake in what had been done unto them.

Jaclyn stood closest to him, her eyes jumping from view to view, her breaths rapid and concrete. Her friends. She had abandoned them for her parents. Her parents, she.. She never even.. She deserted them. Thoughts fell over thoughts, wonders folded over wonders, fears accumulating amongst fears. She had forsook everyone she had hoped not to.

Jaclyn grew frantic, her wild and dire intentions building in with her inquiry.

I.. need to go back. I need to go back.. I need to go back.

Chloe stood slightly farther from Marcus, lightly exhaling her breaths as she had taken note of her estranged surroundings. Blue grass, pink sky and a damned city. Fear had plotted itself within her, the same fear overthrown by her interest.

She was reminded of the Birman's soft fur having momentarily been in the palm of her hand. Her natural curiosity had always gotten the best of her, but now it had done more: taking her thoughts into its own. She was filled with an aberrant peace.. and an ameliorating entropy.

what the hell..?

Fixating his gaze toward their front, he noticed the fourth of their unusual cast. She stood there, a young woman in her twenties clad in menacing steel. Marcus knew who she had been. By memory, that is. Then and there he knew this had been something far greater than he himself could've ever imagined. His troubled breaths adjourned, the tense muscles of his jaws loosening up as his mind screamed adamantly.

There'd been something beautiful in this brave new frontier's lands. It hadn't been immaculate, yet it felt as such to both her and Marcus.

But there had been a great difference between the girl who questioned the light in herself, and the boy with great fire in his spirit. For so long he had written up a story built to be what had been perfect, now there was a chance, maybe, that perfect wasn't only written, but lived out.