Armageddon

Melissa

It was a bright, sunny day — the warm rays of sunlight gave me a sense of tranquillity as the faint summer breeze blew softly against my cheeks. 'Riding my bike to work had been a perfect idea,' I thought as I stopped at Cross Road Junction. Being the only bike rider on the road, I felt misplaced among the crowd of hovering cars that waited for the light to turn green. 'Why does it always take so long?' I wondered as my eyes scanned the people crossing the road; a peculiar form of entertainment I had picked up a few years ago. If only I hadn't noticed the boy with vibrant red, curly hair; then I wouldn't have had the answers everyone wanted. I watched as he struggled with his messenger bag — clinging onto the loose papers that threatened to fall out of his grasp. Then, out of the blue, he sneezed. Havoc ensued...

The great change of atmosphere was clear; the sky turned dark, there no longer was a sun and green emerged from the ground and started to spread across the city of Eros. The tall buildings that used to discreetly ensure the people's safety, started to loom over them; threatening to collapse onto their little heads. Finally, I broke out of my stupor and knew that I had to get as far away from the curly haired boy as I could. There were no warnings signs that told me this, but it was almost as though my instincts were urging me to do so.

However, there was an end to how far I, or anyone else for that matter, could run. Eros was known as the floating city. A cloud pulled from a child's dream and manufactured for the future. It was the city everyone wished to live in. No crime, no pollution and no poverty. There was only one way to get into Eros; you had to be either famous or clean. Nevertheless, this perfect city had a downside. Every month a person would be chosen randomly, regardless of age or gender, and be tossed off the Edge: the end of Eros. A three thousand and thirty-eight-metre drop to the Earth, where boiling pits of lava were frequent.

Unfortunately, no one was thinking about that during the mayhem. People piled upon people, terrified of the unknown power that had just been unleashed. My mind shot from plan to plan, trying to find a solution to the big question: what should I do? Panic took over and the only answer I could muster was to run. Run as fast as I could.

My legs developed a mind of their own as they took me in the same direction as the crowd. My body may have been moving swiftly, but my mind was blank. I knew we were trapped. I knew that there was no way we could escape, but we had to try... I had to try.