I've written the odd short story in the past but never published any online - I've written a few more in my head which have never seen paper but I decided to take up Andrea's challenge, and so for the first time you can enjoy/suffer my limited literary skill in the form of Colours, a short story about two people lost in a landscape.
Colours
White
A burst of static radiated out across the landscape and a thousand lights flickered in response, then faded.
She raised herself up on her arms still not wanting to open her eyes. She tilted her head down and the wind blew her short white hair around her face.
Grey
Slowly she opened one eye and squinted; the white light seemed to be everywhere but now she could discern shapes on the horizon - grey angular shapes that could have been mountains but were too close. Now with both eyes open she could see that the shapes were tall buildings, but set at all angles. "What the hell happened here" she whispered to herself.
She was now able to see clearly and looked around herself only to discover that she was on the top of one of those tall buildings and around her was scattered broken concrete and rusted metal. She walked to the parapet and carefully peered over the edge. Below her a crater was spread out like a vast arena, edged with broken and leaning buildings.
"There must have been an earthquake, or a meteor or... I just don't know...".
She turned around and walked towards the other side of the roof but stopped abruptly.
From behind a large slab of broken concrete she could see a boot sticking out.
Black
Her blood ran cold and for a second, only that boot seemed to exist.
She moved closer and saw a boy lying propped up against the concrete slab. He was dressed in a dusty black, intricately embroidered page boys outfit and wearing calf length black boots. Was he asleep? Unconscious? Dead?
She edged nearer and as her shadow crossed his face he began to stir.
He had trouble discerning what the dark shape in front of him was, until it said "hello".
"Hello, uh, what the, uh, where am I?" he said
"I have no idea" responded the woman as she kneeled down next to him.
It was at that point that she noticed what she was wearing; a black velvet, knee length dress with the same intricate embroidery as the boys outfit. Bizarrely she was also wearing thigh length leather boots and silk evening gloves.
It also occurred to her that she had no idea who she was.
"Are you OK?" she asked the boy.
"Um, I think so, nothing's broken, I just feel a bit fuzzy. A lot fuzzy in fact". He responded.
"What's your name?" she asked.
After a few seconds the boy turned blankly to her a said slowly "no idea".
"Well that makes two of us then!" the woman quipped.
She reached out her hand and helped the boy to his feet.
"Thanks" he said, brushing his short white hair away from his face.
He surveyed the scene. "What happened? Was there an earthquake?"
"I don't know, something terrible that's for sure" she replied. "I think we should get off the top of this building though in case it was an earthquake and there are after-shocks".
"Good idea" replied the boy and looked around for a way down. On the roof was a small concrete structure with an open doorway. "Looks like that's the only way down" he said and they headed for the structure.
On reaching it they looked inside and found a concrete stairwell still intact and proceeded downwards. Each floor they reached was empty, not just of people but of anything. The building was a shell, devoid of doors, window-glass, furniture or anything that would hint at human occupation. Only rubble and bits of rusted metal lay scattered across the floors.
"This is really weird" said the boy. The woman looked around with a feeling of rising trepidation. "Very weird" she added.
On approaching the ground floor they could hear water running and could see that a large water main had burst and water was pouring through the building. They picked their way to the door and could see that the water poured like a waterfall into the crater below. Carefully picking their way out of the doorway they edged along the top of the crater and around the side of the building.
Before them stretched an overgrown concrete roadway heading into the remains of the wrecked city.
"Which way?" asked the boy.
"That way" pointed the woman briefly as she looked up through the street.
Brown
After walking for some time they arrived at a small flooded park between the buildings. A young deer that had been drinking suddenly shot its head up in the direction of the strangers then bolted across the shallow water and disappeared through a narrow alleyway.
The woman started to say "Well that's the first living thing we've..." but trailed off as the sound of canvas whipping in the wind echoed between the buildings.
To their left a bleached beige canvas awning was spread on poles across the broken entrance to what may once have been an hotel.
"Looks like we may not be alone" said the boy and they both walked towards the awning.
On reaching the entrance they both instinctively paused to listen for who may be inside. Silence. The woman glanced at the boy and they walked on into the building.
Inside, broken equipment lay strewn across the remains of the lobby, now open to the sky as a large section of the interior had collapsed and at some time had been pushed away to the sides. Spare parts, broken vehicles, tables, benches and electronics were everywhere. But no sign of the owners.
"It's like this was some kind of military command post or something" said the boy.
"Let's see if any of this stuff is working, like a phone or a radio or something" said the woman, "surely we can't be alone here".
"Unless we're the only one's left" added the boy.
That was a distinct possibility thought the woman. The only life they'd seen was the deer and a few birds wheeling high overhead. Now they'd found what looked very much like a military camp which most likely had been over-run. That, of course, would mean that the devastation had either been caused by conflict or that some natural disaster had so badly affected the area that armed groups were now roaming the area taking what, and maybe who, they could, in order to survive. Both the woman and the boy were wearing what appeared to be fancy dress - did that mean their clothes were typical of those worn by one of these groups?
She dismissed all of these thoughts as too far fetched and began searching for any undamaged equipment being careful not to make too much noise just in case some of the residents were still present and watching their every move.
As they both searched, the woman noticed for the fist time that the boy had a small back-pack.
"What's in the bag?"
"What bag?"
"The one on your back."
The boy looked over his shoulder and spotted the bag.
"I didn't know it was there" he said and proceeded to remove it and undo the strap.
Inside were a set of keys on a large ring, a small pack containing a set of lock pocks and a single larger key with a triangle set within a circle at one end.
Seeing the large key the woman said eagerly "That symbol on the large key, that's the same as above the door over there" and pointed to a plain looking door lurking in the shadows.
The boy tried the key in the lock and the door clicked open. A light buzzed and popped into life, dully illuminating what at first appeared to be a store-room. Copper-brown boxes and crates littered the floor, and between them shelving racks were filled with books and manuals. At either end of the room was a bed.
"Do you think we lived here?" asked the boy.
"I think we must have at least have been staying here seeing as you have the key" replied the woman.
The boy opened one of the manuals - "Have you seen writing like this before?"
"Nope".
The woman opened one of the books - "Same language here - no idea what any of it means - useless!"
The woman replaced the book on the shelf and noticed a small beige slip of paper between two other books. Sliding it out she could see that it was a large sheet folded into four. On opening it it was clear that it was a hand-drawn map.
"Take a look at this" she said excitedly. Pouring over the roughly drawn map she spotted the flooded park in front of the building they were in; the boy pointed out other features that they'd seen on the way, "let's take it outside and see what else we can identify" he said.
From in front of the building they soon located all the features that were visible. "So what's behind us?" asked the woman, "It looks like a town" she continued, "perhaps the older part of the city, and look here..." she continued pointing to the back of the camp shown on the map "this looks like a back way out".
They headed back inside and made their way to a compound at the back of the camp. Behind some large crates daylight shone through a broken hoarding. They squeezed through the gap and into an open glade surrounded by tall trees that filtered the sunlight into a myriad of shimmering shadows. Through the trees they could see the edge of a town.
Red
The town was a mix of medieval and Victorian era buildings but all in an eastern European style and all made from either deep red brick or dark honey coloured stone. It was now late afternoon and the sun illuminated the buildings making them appear as if flashed with fire and casting dark shadows from one building to another intensifying the the reds and yellows.
" It's beautiful" said the woman.
"And empty" said the boy.
It was both of these things. Just as in the city there were buildings but no people.
By now both of them were becoming disillusioned at the still, quiet emptiness that pervaded this place that neither of them knew but were clearly part of at some time. It was like they had been left behind from some tragedy that had left them unscathed, but how, and why?
Green
From a walkway above the town square they could see the little town laid out before them and as they continued to walk they could see that the walkway curved around and continued out of the town and towards a small wood. The walkway slowly descended into the trees and they passed little shacks like tree-houses before the walkway ended and a path descended down and around further into the wood.
The path was moist with mosses and beautiful white lilies; it twisted gently here and there all the time descending. Suddenly emerging from the undergrowth was a stone archway, it's doors fallen long ago and lying to either side. Walking through it they were both left speechless. Before them was a large courtyard with pillars and arches leading to the amazing spectacle of a huge fairy-tale castle complete with towers and spires. They both looked at each other then walked slowly through the arches towards a stone bridge which lead to the castle.
Blue
Far below the bridge thundered a broad, rapid river that flowed to a waterfall and then onwards to a canyon and out of site. The water was a deep silver blue which foamed and steamed as it cascaded over the falls. They both crossed the bridge towards the castle with some trepidation considering their great height above the river and the parlous state of most of the buildings they'd encountered. On reaching the other side they passed through a gate house, the walls of which were inlaid with shimmering sky-blue, ultramarine and indigo stones which formed words in the same style that they had seen earlier at the camp.
Beyond the gatehouse steps lead down to a wide courtyard where more deer grazed in front of the enormous entrance to the castle. More steps lead up to the castle doors which were partly open; they too were inlaid with azure and turquoise stones which sparkled in the fading, misty sunlight.
As they both peered in through the doors they suddenly heard footsteps approaching them from within.
A tall woman with short white hair and wearing black, skin-tight clothes walked up to them, paused, and putting her hands on her hips looked them both up and down.
"You took your damn time" she said staring at them. She turned, and looking over her shoulder said "Well come on then, I haven't got all day".
The End (or is it?)
Well I hoped you liked that little tale - if you're a gamer you might have recognised the characters and locations as they're inspired by the PS4 game NieR:Automata which is what I've been playing for the last few months and why I haven't been blogging. Sorry, but now you know. If you've finished the game you'll know that it doesn't end well but my story picks up from where it ends and hopefully provides a ray of hope for the surviving characters.
Catch you later!
