The Darkness

Deep in the murkiest, coldest, quietest part of the great forest, centred in the clearing of arched oak trees, stood a tall, dark mansion. The window pains were cracked like the polar ice caps, the walls were as dry and grey as the withered coral and the ebony black tiles which lined the roof were as sparse as trees in the deforestation zone. The darkness loomed over the house, it crept up the sides of the house and climbed the walls.

The big oak doors focused the front of the mansion, large circular handles carved out of stone and hinges welded from iron, they were the entrance to this residence. The residence of the mother.

Mother had salty blue hair which flowed like the waves of the oceans, pupils as round as the world and skin as smooth as the whipping desert sand . Mother’s skin was a beautifully rich chocolate brown as if she had been crafted from the rich soil of Eden, no freckle or blemish polluted her face, she was a natural beauty. The whites of her eyes were to clear that they resembled the ice of the north pole. But what stood out most of all about mother was her dress.

A corset of rich flowers clasped her body, their stems folding elegantly over her breast and cascading down her arms. The petals were a rosy red which blushed as if they had just been pecked on the cheek, their pollen dusted their leaves like pixie dust. Her skirt was an enormous, ocean blue, and forest green flower which enveloped her legs. The thousands of petals in the skirt fitted perfectly together like tectonic plates and as she turned they swayed like the morning breeze.

Mother’s fingers were as delicate as the twigs of a sapling as she closed her hand around the door handle and tried to close the great doors. Still as small crack remained in the door, a slither, a threat. The darkness skulked its way through the slit and dispersed beneath her feet. What was this darkness? Where had it come from?

She didn’t know what to do, she needed to get rid of it. She grabbed her ocean hair and ran it through her palms like the sea brushing the edges of the sand. Leaning down she attempted to mop up the darkness, soak it into her hair to be rid of it. As the darkness oozed into her locks she began to feel itchy, began to feel heavy. In a flurry of fear she ran to the hallway mirror to glance at her reflection. As if floating in her hair there bobbed around small shards of white, like plastic. This debris clumped around her hair line and drifted in and out of every strand of hair. What was happening?

She tried to drain her hair of this polymer like substance, she picked and plucked at her scalp to eliminate this pollution. She couldn’t. It was too much for just one to do alone.

Meanwhile, while she had turned a blind eye on the darkness it had grown larger and accumulated around all the floor on the bottom floor. The darkness fingered her petals, the ends of her flowers started to curl and turn grey, shrivelling. A sapphire petal dropped from her petticoat and died before her eyes, withered like the roots of haggard trees. She needed to get rid of it.

Mother scooped up the darkness into her arms in an effort to throw it back out through the window. As the darkness collected in her youthful touch it began to burn. Her skin cracked and clumped like the dry, arid ground of the desert. The water had left her skin, it has evaporated from the heat of the darkness, her skin was in drought. Mother began to feel scorching, so hot that her eyes began to water, the icebergs of her eyes melted and ran down her face and collected in her hair. This added weight to her ocean hair began to drag on her head, she began to feel weak, her hair had to rest on her shoulder. She had raised her sea hair to a higher level to withstand the new pressure.

From her skirt another petal fell, the flower of her dress was becoming scarce and dull, her petals were falling away like the dead. She clung on to her flower to keep it from falling away, her natural beauty was fading, her rich brown skin turned grey, and her petals withered. The roses of her corset, now blushed with black particles, fell away and disintegrated at her feet.

The darkness was increasing.

Mother scrambled up the stairs in a desperate attempt to escape the darkness which surrounded the house like smoke, she couldn’t escape her fate alone.

As she stood at the top of the house the last few petals remained on her flower, more had left her as she darted up the broad staircases of the mansion. The darkness sneaked up behind her and engulfed mother like how a plastic bag sticks to a helpless turtle and suffocates them. In a desperate struggle Mother tried to waft the smog away from her, it suffocated her. She passed out.

Around Mother’s lifeless body, the darkness engulfed her and consumed the last remaining Azul and emerald petals which remained of her once blooming, natural flower. Around her unconscious body, they dissolved into a pile of ash and blew away in the draft through the floorboards. Mother died that day.

The darkness retreated back to its source. The factory. This mass of carbon dioxide, carbon and smog had been left to venture from its cave and proceed to kill our mother. The darkness had melted her icebergs, the darkness had polluted her ocean hair, the darkness had dried up her skin and cracked her surface. The darkness had ruined her flowers, they had killed her life.

No one came to help her when her body had been polluted.

Mother Earth died that day.