Beyond the Boundaries

9

9 - The Weight of the World

I stood alone, my eyes stinging from the thick, arid smoke that hung in the air like a suffocating blanket. The sky above, once bright with lights, was now choked with a dark, swirling cloud that blocked out the huge light known as the "sun," casting a sickly orange glow over everything. Ash fell from the skies like snow, sticking to my skin and hair, each flake carrying the weight of the lives that had just been taken. The ground beneath me crackled with lingering fire, and the air was hot, thick, and impossible to breathe without feeling it claw painfully against my throat.

In the distance, twisted wood and metal projected up from the rubble, pieces of what once held life, now reduced to silent, eerie ruins. The forest, where screams, good or bad, once filled the air, lay flat and scorched—a graveyard of trunks and branches. I felt my heart sink as I looked across the devastation, every small spark of fire reminding me that this wasn't a dream. I swear—I could hear the echo of all the voices that had been completely silenced.

All we ever wanted was a good life. Why did the council have to take it away so quickly?

I slowly stepped foot to the Penurious side, and bent my knees down to Liam. He died thinking I was truly an Affluent. Stomping an old man's head out of fear. Becoming the monster I so feared and were disgusted with. I picked up the book he was holding, and flipped through the yellow pages once again.

Everything had happened so fast, I could barely comprehend it all. I guess that was why I didn't feel as sad as expected. That moment just felt wrong.

Knowing that all of it was gone was something I couldn't understand. The aftermath was just eerily silent. I couldn't accept it, in so much grief and denial, I felt as if I would never recover.

It wasn't just my trio that was pulled apart so quickly, it was everybody and their lives. And it's all my fault. Putting my nose in too many things, being so worried and concerned about what's outside this Utopia... And leading to the death of those I loved. I wish I remembered more—the happy memories of everything that I've gone through on the Penurious side.

I fear I can't remember anymore. I fear I can't remember any secrets—any of the things that the Utopia council were trying to keep hidden from me.

I get it now.

This was all for me—they put on this slaughtering of the Penurious side just for me. Blinding me with so much trauma to the point where I would forget secrets I didn't even mean to discover.. How far could someone go to keep a secret?

I wanted to know more, but not at the cost of everybody over here. I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders now, as if I was the start of the show.

I clenched my fists tightly. Now... I just wanted to escape.

All I could do was scream—I knew I couldn't do anything but that. I felt like I was in a circus, a messed up circus—chaotic and absurd. One way or the other I'll get out of here. And for the love of god, burn this place—this Utopia—down to a crisp.

And I'll watch it. I'll watch it all burn 'till there's nothing but ashes left. Liam and Maxwell, I can promise you that.

"This is too far, Luke Novak! You've embraced the role as the leader of Utopia for the wrong reason." Tyler Voss had finally snapped upon seeing the massacre all of Utopia had to witness. The council was beginning to uprise with panic, on what Luke Novak was thinking when doing this.