CHAPTER 1
As I close my eyes, I feel myself drifting away.
Let go, just let go, I told myself. Nothing can harm me much further.
I let the pain engulf me in flames, licking every part of my body.
Poking my skin in millions of different points. I don't make an effort to move away from the heat.
I had already chosen to die beside him.
In a way, I felt peace. I felt proud. Smug, even.
Like all my sufferings led me to this moment with my only love.
And nothing, I repeat, nothing can ever take it away from me.
Except maybe, just maybe, the ringing of the alarm clock, indicating that it's already time to wake up.
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I dress up in jeans and a strapless shirt, after what seemed a long shower. I took my time under the sprinkling of warm water. I didn't bother to dry my hair. In this heat, it would be, soon enough. I go to my small improvised kitchen, prepared a bowl of cereal, and started to wipe dust here and there, occasionally stopping for a spoonful of cereal. I'm not really hungry, just a habit of eating at the right time. I like the tasting and remembering different flavors, floating above the sweet warm milk. I've stoped feeling hungry, nor thirsty, a long time ago. So long that I don't even remember.
I cleaned my tiny apartment mechanically. It's only the second time that I've been here after renting it. I haven't really been around much to improve nor decorate the place, or make it as technologically updated as others' homes. After last night, it's the only place where I think I can feel safe. The only place no one else in my life knows about but me. One of the few places I can feel at home.
My apartment isn't really the type that accomodates people. It's a tiny spare room in an old abandoned factory, located in the country side where no one else bothers to come. I'm the only one who bothered to find the owner of the place and rent that room. Anyway, I got it real cheap. I might have as well rented or bought the whole factory, since no one ever comes in here. The countryside has always been a dangerous place ever since the global wars. This was where one of the battles happened. After that, either countrysides have been covered with crawling vegetation, thick forests, or dusty land covered with debris leftovers from machineries and civilization. The old factory can be found in the latter, but about a mile behind it, there's an old forest. The type where red everwood trees grow to the height almost the same as buildings, where different plants and animals can be found, and also where monsters lurk.
The monsters, they used to be people too. Previous generations told fascinating stories about them, although I can't remember much. People like me, used to be one of their race too, although now, that argument will surely be considered invalid. The monsters, are just ghosts of what the human race used to be. They weren't able to evolve much further, nor agreed to adapt like the rest of us. They hide and build their homes up in the trees, or in caves. They hunt whatever animals they can find, sometimes raw, or eat whatever leaf they can manage to chew. They're always covered in dirt, or worse, blood. There used to be a lot of them, until they started to kill each other off, tribe by tribe. Who knows what goes on inside their heads. Until recently, they were just called monsters, but was later on nicknamed lowlifes, classified as endangered species. No one wants to save their race though. They were hostile and dangerous, they turn on one another at the slightest provocation.
As I finished cleaning, I opened the little round window above the sink, to let the air in. I got out of the room, climbed my way up to the second floor of the factory, and crawled out of a broken part of the roof, and sat there, taking in everything around me. It wasn't yet noon, the sun was still warm. I look around at the view. It was beautiful, in a way. The world was naturally beautiful. As much destruction and obliteration was caused here and there, war after war, after war, can never strip away the beauty of this planet. When I used to go to institutions, they showed pictures of the world before. The planet was much more prettier then, I became envious of the monsters. They had this rare treasure that no one cares about. Later on though, I started to appreciate what was left of its beauty, and I still can't halp but be mesmerized by it. Sometimes, I catch myself thinking how it was like if I lived here at the same time as the monsters. Whenever I do, I can't help but feel a shiver run through my arms.
When the sun started to get high up in the sky, I crawl myself in through the hole, and back inside the factory. I have nothing to do, for now, so I chose a book from my poorly supplied shelf, and dumped myself on the bed. You have to give it to the dafts, their literature is amazingly complicated, but once you learn to understand it, you'll realize it's one of the things that makes living in this planet worth it. After about an hour or so of being immersed with the story about a boy's travels, I was brought back to reality by a sound. Not just any sound. It was the sound of heavy, slow footsteps coming towards the door of my apartment.
My body moved before I can think clearly, call it instinct. I leaped out of bed, threw the book at the corner of the room, grabbed a knife positioned on the table and hid crouching behind the door. I know it's locked, I always do it as a precaution. I expected that whoever is outside will try to open it. That someone surely did as I expected. Someone banged loudly on the door a few times, kicking it from the outside. After I while, its attacker seemed to give up. I noticed that the round window was still open, I was about to abandon my place to close it when a spearhead came through the door, just a few inches from my face. I held still, sure that the spear will not be there any longer. Someone pulled it out, and I sensed somebody peeking through the tiny hole. I heard shallow breathing from the other side.
After what seemed a while, the footsteps slowly started to back away from the door. I move fast, crawling on the dusty floor to the other side of the room, standing up only to close the window, then crawled back to my spot behind the door.
There was clattering outside. Cautiously, I allowed myself a quick peek through the hole. Monsters. Lowlifes.
There were two of them, one was a men, standing still a few yards away with his back to the door. Another was a boy, one who may be labeled as an adolescent, the one who was causing the clattering. They were dressed in rags, or strips of clothin sewn together, covered in dirt, and was barefoot. The man had on a stony expression, focusing on his surroundings, listening for any threat. I can see that the boy was scavenging what was left of the machines in the factory. He must be looking for something useful, but I know better, he will find none among the trash.
I don't let my guard down, staying still. From the color I can see outside through the small window, it must already be early afternoon. I have been crouching for at least 4 hours. I'm not uncomfortable, the feeling doesn't register on my mind. After about an hour, I heard the monsters arguing. The man insisted, in a deep bass voice, that it was time to leave. The boy, disagreed at first, but after a few exchanges, gave up on his hopeless scavenging. I waited for a while, my breath slowly becoming cold as night approaches.
I don't feel fear, nor terrified, even for myself. Not even a little shaken, although my heart did beat a little faster from the excitement. Nobody got inside the factory before, or maybe that's just me thinking. I was only here once, surely the monsters had observed it and found out that none among my kind goes much to the countryside anymore. Those who dare though, are thought to be a little unhinged. Just a little. To seek a little fun and thrill.
I stayed a few days more at the factory, until I decided that my vacation was over. Packing up my things, I fetched the motorcycle I had hidden in one of the large crates outside the factory, thankful that the monsters haven't been intelligent enough to find it. I kicked the engine alive, and headed out on the vast plain. Away from the factory, and away from the forest.
