Beneath A Dying Sky

Chapter 2 - Grey

Edith was stuck, her hand on the hatch as her body stood frozen on the ladder. She swallowed, her heart pounding in her ears as she stared at the exit. It was so easy, just turn the hatch and push, and yet...she shook her head, letting go of the hatch and holding onto the ladder, resting her forehead on the ladder. The gas mask clinked against the metal, she had to do this. She had to get out of this hole, or she'd die here.

After everything she'd survived so far, this couldn't be the end; she'd be okay if she died out there, maybe fighting someone or just from radiation. But dying in here a coward? She couldn't do that. Not after making it this far, her tally marks said she'd been in here a few months, maybe now the radiation wouldn't be as bad. And surely the bodies of the dead would have been rotted enough.

It was a terrible way to think. At some point, those bodies were people, someone's child, sibling, or lover. They were someone, and now they had been wiped from the face of the earth like they were nothing.

She took a deep breath, placing her hand on the hatch again, but this time, she twisted, pushing the hatch open as a cold wind blew dust into her hole, fogging up the mask as she climbed out. She took a moment to wipe the ash from her mask, adjusting the weight of the bag on her back as she looked around.

The world was unrecognizable, cold, dreary, and grey. Sunlight reaches through the cloud of ash just enough to provide some light. It was daytime. She stopped and looked up, an odd feeling welling behind her eyes as she gazed at the grey sky. Daytime. She swallowed, her mind drifting into a distant memory as she began to walk.

**********

The sky was bright and sunny, Edith sat at a park outside, scrolling on her phone as she listened to a pop song by her favorite artist. The hangover she was nursing left her craving the fresh morning air and light birdsong the park provided.

She hummed to herself, thinking idly about the party she'd been at the night before and refreshing her text messages to see if the girl she'd met would text her. Or if her hookup was just another mistake in the long line of twenty-year-old mistakes she'd been making in college. But to her surprise, her phone buzzed, a message appearing at the top of her screen.

Lillian: Crazy party last night, am I right?

Edith smiled, resisting the urge to giggle to herself. It was just a text. It was not like she was being asked out on a date or anything. Calm down, be cool, Edith, cool.

Her fingers hovered over the keyboard as she chewed her lip, when it came to girls, she was admittedly a bit lost. Hell, she never really had the chance to pursue women until she got to college in the first place.

But she could do this; she had to. Lillian was gorgeous, sweet, and funny, and god, what on earth could she say to this woman?

Edith: Yeah, totally crazy, I can't remember half of it.

Shit, that probably wasn't the best thing to say, considering they hooked up, and she quickly sent a follow-up text.

Edith: The half I can remember mostly involves you.

Edith closed her eyes and put her hands on her head. Oh my god, I'm hopeless. She'd saved it and then somehow made it so much worse. She sounded like a creepy frat boy who also suffered from severe social anxiety. Or just the inept lesbian she was. She nearly jumped out of her skin when her phone buzzed again.