the balloon floating in armageddon.

Igor

 The hollowness of the streets echoed through the city. The once chirping city is now silenced by Armageddon. The tall striking towers stand stiff and dull, their windows reflecting vagueness and numbness. Through the night, the silence remained. The dim stars are forever bitter from the lack of those that once lay in awe of them. Cracks from the now hollowed earth pierced through what once stood a balloon shop. The balloon shop stood short and torn, with its concrete castle walls fallen. Yet from the fallen kingdom walls, laid a rosy balloon that floated gently in the air. Trapped beneath the ceiling, it feared it may never see the dimly lit stars.

Our rosy balloon floated in solitary, but through his loneliness, he reminisced about the hand that once held his silver string. When the world was bustling, and the streets were crowded, a little girl in the tiny balloon store, stood in awe of what floated in front of her. "Her hair," the forlorn balloon said, "was as curly as the string that tied me to her hand! And when she gleamed at me, the hazel that wrapped around her pupils brought color to my own, and once she saw my imprinted smile, she returned the smile then pleaded with her mother that I was the one." The laughter of the child echoed inside the empty balloon but the laughter soon turned to screams.

Though the balloon was forever blessed with its smile, only now did it realize the veiled curse it was given by those with the ability to cry, laugh, and die. His brothers and sisters all died with a longing smile, yet he felt the lonesomeness of that smile now knowing there was no living thing on Earth to witness it.

"Through her smile, I felt the purpose and beauty in mine. Yet as her tiny hand grabbed my silver string, sounds of thunder began to plague the atmosphere. The stars were falling from the sacred sky. Cries of dread blew with the bitter wind. The ferocious wind began spinning me in circles and the little girl began to fade from my vision, only vagueness surrounded me."

The grey tainted wind blew the dust that lay on the shattered mother earth. "When the world grew clear," the balloon continued, "I-I was trapped beneath the ceiling, just an edge away from floating into the raven sky. All the other floating balloons were swept by the wind and left me lonesome, and as for the little girl...," the balloon grieved.

Only now does the balloon see the flaws in his creation. Never did it need to worry about sadness, fear, or love. Perhaps it was the air that was given to the balloon at birth or the string that once tied him to the ground.

The balloon's ebony eyes traced their way to the broken ceiling that now lay on the shattered tile. From afar, still stone was just stone. Yet to the eyes of the grieving angel, beneath the stone laid a memory.

From the stillness of the concrete stone, a tiny hand reached from beneath the stone. The same hand that once grabbed the silver string of the then placid balloon, now eroded with dust and dirt.

"All I wish is to die a great death, I may never regret. Have me fly with her spirit before the stars take me and let me die floating to the heavens."

The soft wind began to dance in the air. It danced around the balloon ever so gently as the balloon grew closer to the edge that opened the world for him.

The gentle wind pushed him up onto the free sky and for once he saw the world as it was intended to be seen. Empty and unforgiving but rare in its beauty. As the balloon continued to float with the stars, he twirled and spun seeing the dust of the atmosphere from all angles.

"Look! The moon! It's like a bigger balloon! Floating just for us!"

He soon reached the tallest skyscrapers in his city. The light of the moon reflected on the tall windows. As his angelic body turned to the window, he was greeted with a smile. The most beautiful smile anyone could find, his own.

He soon saw thousands of smiles as he passed every window of the grand tower. The poised balloon watched down on the earth like the dead's guardian angel. To the highest point, he reigned over the clouds yet the more his kingdom grew, the heavier the star's envy weighed on the placid balloon. The atmosphere grew heavier on him as he passed the highest point of the tower and the ebony night grew thick and soon began to drown him. The night began to cave, as his floating came to a halt.

"Thank you for letting me live as I die."

And our rosy balloon popped, the echo forever silenced by the velvet night. His remains fell to the stillness of earth. And poor Igor was no more.

And Earth finally joined the rest of the grand planets, alone and empty but beautiful in its dread.