Eclipse

A

Azazel

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Original poster
My name is Nathan Owens, I don't know how long I've been here. I don't know why I'm writing this. I don't know who will read it. First the sun blotted out in an Eclipse, one that didn't end.

Our scientists didn't see it coming. Then came the cold. Eventually some sort of grid was atomized into the air absorbing starlight and making it into sun light so life could continue but it wasn't enough to stop the cold. The world froze over. The oceans froze only some animal and plant life lived and it was always a grey shade in the wild always grey. Then there was the explosion. No one knows who set it off or why. Humanity lives in pockets now fearful of each other and what might be out there. It is said some people mutated into walking husks I don't believe it. I miss my wife.


I set down the pen and stand up placing the small notebook in my pocket. The wind howls outside and then is still. I walk out of the small make shift shed. Building covered in ice for over 30 years now. Small torches lit here and there. People moving around some don't even remember a life before this. I was 20 when it happened. I run a hand through my salt and pepper hair and sigh. My mother always said I had beautiful blue eyes, but now they are as grey as the world around me.
 
A spritely young thing carried an armfull of supplies, crossing what could be considered the remains of a dusty old road. Her hair was knotted and pulled up into a ragged bun, flopping behind her in a mound of molasses as she trotted. Whatever she was doing or wherever she was going, it seemed important. Her body was bundled, kept warm by a mismatch of clothing she had aquired over time.

Suddenly, she found herself colliding with another body, falling backwards onto her rear on the edge of the road; materials and scavanged goods falling all around her as she yalped.

"Sorry! So sorry!! I'll pick that up!"
 
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Taken aback by this sudden run in with another person made him fall over. He watched the girl who had just hit him stumble over her words through the cold. Alex couldn't help but notice the almost blinding beauty that seemed to emanate from her so shocking in the surrounding grey.

"Don't be ridiculous, I'll pick it up..." He reached for a small package at the same time as her and their hands brushed. Before he pulled away, he thought what it must have been like to feel human contact daily. Now he barely even glanced at other people, today was a very rare coincidence, she was so beautiful.
 
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"No no no, really" Andrea sucked in a quick breath of air as he accidently touched her, recoiling and grabbing a peice of cloth that had falled to her side. "t-thanks..." There wasn't much else to say, considering the man wasn't going to let her take responsibility.

"I should have been looking, but no one is usually out this early... " A tint of red flushed against the peach of her cheeks, embarrassment causing the young thing to cast her green eyes down to the ground.
 
The days seem to pass unnoticed. Never sure when they end or start. You simply sleep and wake up. That's it. Gazing around I see two figures down a road but don't approach. There's no way I can know if they are friendly or hostile. Besides arms all we have for defense are knives and a pistol or two with limited ammo. We tend not to use it as it alerts others to our presence.

Two tents down is an eating area. I stopped guessing what the food was long ago it keeps me going that's what counts. An old lady serving some kinda meat patty...ok Nathan don't think on it. I sit down on a log and breath in the cold. Then I start to eat. (Ooc it's all good just go with it I took awhile.)
 
Alex flashed her a small smile.
"Do you need help getting where you are going?" He asked in the kindest way he knew how
 
Since when were men this nice?! Andrea's eyes flashed up to his face and then immediately away, as if she were afraid a palm of correction would smack her vision away. Still with blush kissed cheeks, she turned her body away, moving carefully to not rip the jacket that was a couple seasons too small for her. Perhaps these materials were for repairs? creation?

"No! I'm fine..." she mumbled something under her breath, but it was either here nor there; unimportant and bland.
 
Alex's face fell slightly, he had hoped she would say she needed him.... Oh what a feeling it must be to be wanted, needed. He had wished for so long to find a friend. Although he was a few years older than her, he couldn't shake the feeling of wanting to be near her, and he didn't even know her name!

"Before you go, at least grace me with your name?" He wanted to stroke the one strand of hair in her face behind her ear so he could clearly see her eyes, but bit back the temptation.
 
"name?" She fumbled with the concept. So long had she been alone and worried nothing about simple conveniences like knowing someone's name. Her eyes moved down the road, noticing another man sitting down and eating the questionable meals that were served in the commune tent.

"Food." she said. No name, no apology for why she couldn't give it; just food. Before he could respond she adjusted the things in her arms and darted to a broken down porch, climbing underneath the splintering hardwood side and into the darkness.
 
Alex blinked sadly and shuffled down the street to where the man was sitting eating. He gave him a brief bow, (He thinks that what people used to do in greeting, he read it in an old ripped book he found), and sat near him.

"I'm Alex. Who are you?" Alex realized just how solemn his voice sounded and tried to smile and lighten the mood from ultimately depressing to just depressing.
 
I blinked. A bow? That's odd but I gave him, Alex he said a nod. " my names Nathan Owens. What brings you to these parts? If you want done food it's two tents down. I'd hurry before the line gets longer." I didn't smile there wasn't anything to smile about anymore it was just survival. If this guy made it he'd learn that. The world would never be what it was. How could it, at least not In our life time.(might be my last post for a bit today)
 
Alex sighed inwardly at the depressed nature of this man. He had always tried so hard to be positive, or something that resembled more than the deepest depression. he had wanted to make people aware that even though hope was a thing of the past, kindness and friends didn't have to be.
 
Andrea had found herself in a huddle, setting up the supplies in the shallow hovel she had made her temporary home. The darkness was comforting, settling down over her body and dulling her eyes in the most comfortable of ways.

"soft and warm, warm and soft. Waiting out the winter...." Her song was eerie, wavering in her voice as she took tally of her belongings and made her way to a bundle of scraps. "Bed until the winters end" she murmered, tucking herself in for a nap before searching out more items.
 
Alyssa was tired. She felt far older than her 35 years. Wearily she brushed a strand of hair back from her face as she leaned over the large cooking pots at the back of the tent. Somehow she had ended up as head cook, owing that fact to her ability to make what could be gathered mostly edible at least. She sighed, though careful not to contaminant the so called food any more than it had to be. At least it was warm by the cooking fires, and she spared a smile here and there for those who the elderly lady served the meals.
 
Alex nodded at Nathan and made his way back to his tent and tried to ignore the nagging feeling in the back of his mind. He couldn't get her out of his head, but he knew he would probably not see her again. Nathan had been somewhat reasonable to be near, but not nearly as good as the girl had been. For some reason when he saw her he felt like the world may never have ended as they knew it, that there was still hope for beauty in the world. He had to see her again. As he lay his head down on the folded up fabric they passed as a pillow, he began turning his mind inside out trying to think of ways to see her, and hopefully get to know something about her.
 
Was it night or day I have idea. Alex looks like he has something on his mind. Hopefully he will figure it out. I stare into the sky my meal finished, hands folded in my lap.

The beast is above me, a giant black glowing ball that used to be the bright sun. Is survival all we have left? Is there something out there in the grey? Maybe a city not as desolate or ruined? People actually thriving rebuilding? I don't know I'm not sure, but I don't think I can sit here much longer waiting to die. There are people here perhaps they are curious as well.
 
His head spinning he tried to sleep. His eyes burned from the lack of light, but you get used to it here. The sun, or what was a so called sun, was hanging loosely in the sky outside his tent. Alex felt the coldness seep into his tent and upon wrapping his blanket tighter around himself, a small slip of paper and a pencil fell from his coat pocket. He had forgotten it was there. He sat up immediately and got the most wonderfully perfect idea. He would write her a note, hopefully catching some interest from her. He began to scribble furiously on the paper with his little pencil and then sat back to admire his note.

It read:

I don't know your name, nor the place where you reside, but I wish to know more than your name and more than your home. I wish to become something long forgotten in the past. I wish to become something called friends. Many have forgotten this, but with all my strength I hope that you haven't. Please don't brush me off like I'm sure you have other men before. Just give me a chance to show you that even in this blanket of darkness that covers our world, friendship can still be a light.
-Alexander Marvalo Valium


He realized that without knowing her name, it would be hard for her to actually even receive the note. He decided the only thing he could do was to place it in front of the last place he had seen her, crawling under a broken porch. He slipped outside his tent and shivered in the cold. He placed the note directly in front of the porch under a small stone he picked up. He smiled and walked away. All his hope was that she would read it and give him a chance, loneliness was as dangerous as cancer in this world, it killed you slowly everyday.
 
Alyssa noticed the man staring out into the cold sky, the sky that would probably never give off any warmth henceforth. She was cleaning out the pots of whatever scraps could be used for the next meal. Surely there had to be more to their existence than this. After she finished she walked over to the older man. "Almost makes you want to give up, hm?" She said softly, not really a question.
 
The nap was full of fear. The scary things that had haunted her whole life returning every time she closed her eyes. The beauty of her face was sunken in and solemn, ringed with circles of sleeplessness and anxiety. Like all else who lived under the blackened sun, she was just waiting for the end.

After another quick count of her supplies, she crouched down and pulled herself out of the hole under the porch. In the lusterless night, she noticed a peice of tattered paper, only after accidentally stepping on it.

The words on the page looked like alien language, vibrating off the lines and stunning Andrea's eyes. Of course, a woman raised in the darkness could not read.
 
" don't give up." I hear my wife say as she lays in her hospital bed. The cancer moved quick and it had only been a day or two since the sun went black. She passed away that day never knowing the horrors that followed.

" no not give up, just not hope. Live just to live. But I need a purpose so I'm going to propose we find a more livable place then these wastelands. We are barely making it here. Tomorrow I'm moving out with what little I have. Everyone knows this place won't last. The food for fire Almost used up, foods almost gone. The streams too far and our instruments are too dull to keep cracking the ice for water. We gotta move on."

I rise to my feet and look at the girl, then slowly walk to my tent not sure what she'd do.
 
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