The walk

My mother always said that whenever I’ll find myself alone, mother of all would help me fight against my loneliness. But now when I look up to her, I see her in despair. Carrying the loads of millions, fighting for us, caring for us. She told about the time when the blessings of the nature god healed every wound on our mother. She told me how they use to dance in rain before acid took over it. 

When I walk out today, wrapping my face for oxygen, I see a dog walking on three legs searching for garbage  on road to eat. Back in the times, my mother told me there was enough food for every creature. Happiness was basic not a luxury. 

Today in spite of the barriers, I decided to go a little further. My teacher once told us about the food creators called farmers. Living down the periphery. Those poor, uneducated farmers. They still keep worshiping the rain god, less those fools know about the mighty giants whose wrath spread on earth like a hot blanket. What wrong were they doing, I wondered. For years on this holy land, the blessings of the mother nature remedied the needs of the needy. But now as the blue turned grey, the green turned brown and the colours just disappeared, those people couldn’t do anything but worship. Pray the mother of nature to bring back the prosperity.

My alarm went off and I realised my oxygen is about to die. I rushed back to house but my oxygen level dropped significantly. I fell on my knees and grasped for air. The manual said specifically to not take off the mask if you run out of oxygen in the open. Earth’s air could be toxic and could kill instantly. I recalled the names of my forefathers and prayed to mother nature for the last time as I realised my time has come and everything faded in front of my eyes.

I woke up with a massive head ache and tried to reach for the water bottle I keep beside my bed every night. Seconds later I realised I am not in my home and the memory of me dying struck my head. I jumped out of the bed. I was somewhere, maybe in the ruins of an old building’s room. Is this how heaven looks these days? Have we human ruined it too? The door beside me opened and a giant-bearded man entered. Though he looked hideous, I wasn’t scared. 

“How are you feeling?” He asked and straightened his huge hand, offering me something what seemed like peanuts. I declined, “Don’t be scared, have some. This is good for you.” So, I took few; I was feeling hungry anyway.

“What is this place?” I asked, hoping it to not be heaven.

It was his home, he told me. The whole building is full of people, called the deserted. I learned about these people in my online class a couple of weeks ago. Government collected these people from destroyed places and gave them new homes. Though the place smells a little, but it is better to have a roof than no roof, right? 

“How old are you?” He asked. I am big enough to be allowed to walk alone in 500 meters radius. “Where are your parents?” Unfortunately my parents live in a place called after life and I am forced to live alone. Every morning and evening, mailman drops food and water for me to eat. Sometimes I feel hungry in the afternoon so I eat leftovers that I preserve, as taught in the online class. It’s funny how mailman delivers food and water twice a day but I get unlimited highspeed internet to attend my classes four times for five days a week. 

The deserted man told he doesn’t have to attend classes. He only worries about the food and nothing else. Well, that’s few things to worry about. For me, I have to worry about my classes, my house, those people who come every Sunday for my signature otherwise my food and water and highspeed internet subscription might stop. 

“Who are those people?” He asked. They told me they were from the government and my papa send them for my well-being. My father is rich. “I’ll bet on that.” He chuckled. Though the person seemed nice, I wanted to go back to my house. But he told me I can’t because there is no extra oxygen for me. Which means I have to stay in this room until the deserted arrange some oxygen for me as he promised. I wondered about those farmers in the meantime. How the so called food creators foolishly worshiped the rain god to pour them with his blessings. My teacher told it was important to preserve farmers but she didn’t tell how.

“well, that is what education do.” The man said, “They tell you to do something but doesn’t tell you how or what.” What does he know, I thought. Anyways, the building was sealed and was safe enough to roam within the premise. So, I took off for a walk. The building was huge, ten floors high and each floor had about fifteen rooms. I couldn’t figure out the source of smell though. I was on the third floor. Although, there were no windows or balcony, I wished we were higher, somewhere on the nineth or tenth floor. I walked in my corridor. Few of the doors were shut, few were slightly open to peek inside and few didn’t had a door. People were mostly asleep or drunk, it was hard to tell but they all looked miserable. These people are the first non-believers. Back in the end time of golden days, when earthquakes, floods, droughts and other disasters, destroyed only few things, the deserted people stopped praying the mother nature. And thus she was never same again. Nowadays, hardly one person out of ten believes in praying mother nature. And I am not one of them. A skinny brown lady, covered in dust came out of her room. She was tall and dusty, wore rugged clothes covering her whole body except face. She looked at me and passed a smile.

“What are you doing here little person?” She asked. I told her about my little journey and she didn’t care about it.

“So that giant man bought you here?” She asked.

“Yeah, do you know him?”

“Nah.” She left, telling me she needs to hunt so that her husband could sleep with her properly. Empty stomach does make a lot of grumping noises. I know, because one Sunday when I tried to sleep at afternoon, my stomach made noises which didn’t let me sleep. Moving on, I didn’t find anything interesting enough to wander more. So, I went back to my room. The giant man was asleep already on the bed. I laid down on the floor because I didn’t want to be of much trouble. I wished my mother was here. She told me whenever I’ll find myself alone, mother of all would help me fight against my loneliness, but today when I look up to her, I see her in despair. I miss her keeping her hand on my forehead. I could still feel the warmth sometimes. My father barely stayed with us. Government told, he was working on a space programme, finding a solution for our problem. But I miss my mother. 

The floor was dusty so it was hard to fall asleep. My back hurts and somehow I feel like crying. It’s been a long time since I thought of it. This feels weird, as if everything is shaking and I am shaking with it. Wait a minute… is everything shaking? Oh my god! Everything is shaking! I felt two giant hands wrapping around my waist and pulling me up. 

“We need to run to the ground.” He shouted and we ran down with those hundreds of other people. Even that skinny lady with her husband. As we reached the ground floor, we heard a loud crack and a giant pillar fell upon the ground, people stuck beneath it. The giant man covered my eyes but I resisted. He pulled me to the corner against my will. I wanted to run away but the pillars kept falling; the thud and the crack and a boom. I looked up to him, and his tearful eyes looked into mine. We can’t run out neither we can stay in. I know what this is. I have been here once before and now I am in tears. I wrap my arms around the giant man and dig my head in his belly. He too took me in his arms and for the last time… we prayed.