The Rain of 2041

All I ever knew were masks.  My mother sometimes showed me her whole face, but only if we were out in the open, far away from anyone else; and she only could show me her smile for 10 seconds at a time. We weren't allowed to take them off. She used to tell me stories of the days without masks. She told me that a virus made everyone sick, when she was 6 years old. She said the Earth wasn't ready for a pandemic of that size. The different nations had started wars with each other over vaccines and supplies. It got so bad that many nations turned to nuclear war. The radiation spread faster than the virus. We all had to go underground. She said that our bunker was one of the few communities that had gotten a vaccine that actually worked. We had been so lucky. At the time I remember thinking she was just making it up.

She told me that during that time people ate food with their mouths, and tasted things. I never understood the concept of taste. She told me it was like seeing colors, but more like feeling them. I couldn’t even begin to understand the idea of gaining sustenance from anything but our tube feeders. I used to go up to the observation deck where they had one single window in the ceiling and stare at the hazy yellow and green sky trying desperately to imagine the sky my mother always described. She said there were puffy white cotton balls against a canvas of light blue. I had heard rumors of pictures that still showed the beautiful pink and blue sunsets. I had never seen any. Sometimes I wondered if everyone was just making it up to fill our dreams with pleasant images, instead of the gore and sorrow that normally haunted them.

A few days after I turned 10 my mother made me an odd thing she called a kite. She told me it was similar to a drone, but I could guide it myself instead of the soldiers, and it mainly stayed in one spot once it was up high. She told me we were going to make it fly. We went into the massive wind tunnel that gave us the illusion of something my mother called a breeze. We had to stand in front of the tunnel facing the common area, because we needed the wind behind us. My hair was getting in my face, so Mother pulled my hair up with some twine. She told me to hold onto the plastic spool as tightly as I could while slowly letting the string out. It was attached to a bright red diamond shaped paper. Mother held the kite a few feet in front of me holding the kite up in the air. The wind was fairly strong, so it took flight fairly easily. Once it was up in the air it danced and swayed a few feet below the high ceiling of the common area. I didn’t know why but I got a warm feeling watching the kite float around. It was like the joy I felt whenever I was given an extra ration. I was almost in a trance.

Something shook me from the dreamy state. It was a loud deep sound that shook the bunker slightly. I suddenly let go of the kite and it fell to the ground. I ran to my mother and held onto her, “Mother what was that?” It was similar to the sound that happened when we had earthquakes, but seemed to come from above the bunker.

The alarm started going off and a soldier started speaking on the comms, “Remain calm folks, it may be an earthquake. Prepare to follow emergency procedures.” It didn't feel like an earthquake to me, mainly because the boom was short and we only shook for a moment. Mother had a strange look on her face and pulled me along with her as she ran through the common area. “Mother where are we going?” She didn't answer me and kept running, my feet could hardly keep up. I realized where she was going; the observation deck. We looked up at the small window. It looked weird, I couldn't understand why, it was still transparent but it rippled. Mother laughed. At this point I got really scared. I looked at her face through her mask and saw she was crying, but her eyes didn't look sad. I looked back up at the window. It was water! That's why it looked distorted. I didn't know how it could have gotten there though. Suddenly another boom. It was louder than the first one. A few seconds later there was a bright flash outside the window followed by another boom. Mother hugged me tight, laughing, “It’s rain sweetie! It’s rain, thunder, and lightning”. Rain?

I looked up again. The water was the rain. That meant the sound was the thunder and the flashes were lightning. Somehow after she told me this, I wasn’t scared anymore. I heard people talking about weather before, but I had never experienced it. The soldier voice rang through the comms again “Folks we’re safe. It’s not an earthquake, it’s called a.. Um… oh yes, storm. We will broadcast the sound from outside since most of us have never heard rain before, or at least don't remember. Oh and don’t worry about the loud booms. Those are just part of the storm apparently, aren’t a danger to us down here.”

There was silence for a minute before we heard him switch over the comms. The sound was strange. I kept listening and closed my eyes. I pictured the window from the outside in my mind. The water, the rain, falling in little droplets onto the glass. The wind would feel similar to that of the wind tunnel but probably colder, and more sporadic I thought. The sound of droplets was uneven and unpredictable. I found myself releasing tension throughout my body as I listened to the relaxing calming sound of the rain.

Suddenly the sound was cut off, interrupted by the sound of the marshal. He was very old and his voice was scratchy. “Hello, this George, the marshal. This is truly amazing isn't it. The rain. This won’t mean much to most of you, but for the ones that remember this sound, this is a glorious moment. We will keep broadcasting the sound until the storm passes. I’m so glad all of you get to experience this”. We listened to the sound for almost 2 hours before it started to fade. Mother and I both sat down and had propped ourselves against the railing of the observation deck, listening and watching the rain. Many people had joined us and were sitting all around, everyone gazing up at the window.

It had happened so slowly that I didn't notice until after the rain started to stop, but as I looked out the window through the water that had pooled above the glass, I realized the colors were different. As the dark clouds were dissipating I saw it. I blinked several times, wiped off my mask and looked  again. Blue. Actual blue sky. I sat up straight and looked at my mother again and I could tell from her eyes that she was smiling a huge smile under her mask. “Mother is that it? Is that the blue sky?” As I asked this I saw the other adults in the room standing, gasping, and some laughing. “Yes my sweet girl. That is the sky that I remember.”

The marshal’s voice rang over the comms again “I c- can’t believe it- It’s there. It's a clean blue sky… I… I’ll be right back folks.” People were starting to crowd into the observation deck almost like they did when they offered up extra rations. Everyone was smiling, I could tell by the way their voices sounded. I didn't know why the blue sky made everyone so happy, but I know how I felt watching them all hug, laugh, and cry. This time the soldier spoke over the comms “OK people, w-we have to stay calm, but I have wonderful news. The marshal would tell you himself but he… Ha, he’s crying too hard! Sorry George, but I'm sure everyone will understand. Well… we’ve been checking the readings from outside and uh… Well people, the radiation levels are dropping.” He struggled to continue without sobbing, “It’s dropping so fast! I don’t know how this is happening, or why… This is hope. We have hope. If the radiation levels keep getting lower then.. Well…” he laughed, “Oh I've dreamed of saying this my whole life. We might get to go… outside.” He couldn't go on and we could hear the marshal and other soldiers, scientists in the main office crying and laughing. Although only for a moment though, as the sound of all the people in the observation deck and the common area started screaming with joy themselves.

I couldn't even fathom the idea of going outside. My mother held me and sobbed. “Oh honey I wish your father could have seen this.” My father had died 6 months before I was born. He and a large group of soldiers had gone outside in radiation gear to gather resources. They brought back so many things we needed. Everything, including the soldiers was put into the anti-radiation chamber to get clean. Unfortunately, it didn't work on the soldiers. The supplies we needed were safe, but their bodies were not. My father survived a year after the supply run before dying of radiation poisoning. I only had one picture of him. I kept it folded up in the book that was his, that I always carried with me. It was called ‘Ready Player One’. I had read it probably 20 times. It was his favorite book. I didn't understand most of it, and the references my mother said were “too old even for her to understand''. I just liked the way the author wrote.

I pulled the book out of the pouch of my suit, gently opened pages that were starting to fall apart, and pulled out the photo. I unfolded it. In the picture was my father and mother, when they were teenagers. They were covered in paint standing in front of the mural that was at the back of the common area. It was a bunch of huge flowers covering half the wall. My father was smiling. It made me smile and as I looked back up at the blue sky through the window I finally started to weep.

I wasn’t sure what all of this meant or what would happen next, but I knew my father would have loved it. Mother held me tight as we both laughed and cried staring at the blue sky. This was a new beginning. I didn’t know then but that was the start of the regrowth. The day that the radiation disappeared and gave humanity a second chance.