An Astounding Vision of The Not-Real Kind | Teen Ink

An Astounding Vision of The Not-Real Kind

December 14, 2016
By denydestiny SILVER, Overland Park, Kansas
denydestiny SILVER, Overland Park, Kansas
9 articles 1 photo 1 comment

Favorite Quote:
“Yet, even amidst the hatred and carnage, life is still worth living. It is possible for wonderful encounters and beautiful things to exist.” - Hayao Miyazaki


“Burn alive, heathens!”
The last remaining human yelled, as thunder broke across the small town. The gray cumulonimbus clouds swirled faster and faster in tandem to their stomping steps across the roof, as they paced in a circle. Lightning struck as they jumped two whole feet in the air. Only to stamp their feet on the roof with the force of a baby utilizing its rooting reflex to hold onto a fully operational chainsaw. Thunder struck down again, burning houses left and right, while a torrent of rain absolutely barraged the streets. School buses and cars melted under the rains, dying the muddy waters in various metallic shades. Children screamed in agony as household pets turned inside-out and grew bat wings made of fire, taking to the skies and creating murderous swarms of murdery murder. And to think, the last individual was safe and snug due solely to their fashionable life-saving outfit.
Thank stars they decided to splurge on Cyber Monday.
The world was on fire, but they were alive. Everyone else was dead. Dead and gone, gone to the afterlife. Probably.
Except not really, because it wasn’t raining. Without a cloud in the sky, the only one screaming in agony was them. Because their knees chose to buckle as their vision cleared, falling butt first onto the concrete roof as the murderous swarms of fiery death-bringing household companions dissipated along with the gray clouds and gave way to an aqua skyline.
The world didn’t end today.
The world didn’t end, and there they were, on top of the clock tower in a panda kigurumi onesie.
And that group of dead bodies down at the building’s base, was really just a group of concerned townsfolk. Concerned townsfolk that obviously wanted the individual to come down off the top of the clock tower so that the workday might start, unfortunately.
“Do a kick flip!”
Correction. Bored townsfolk.
They felt kind of silly, this indistinguishable individual, that might or might not have been human. Standing on the top of a clock tower with no clear way down. All too aware of the growing crowd beneath them, they considered their options. Come clean and tell the townsfolk about the soothsaying old man they found in the dump on their way home from community college the other day or lie. You know, like a liar. Situating themselves on the ground in the middle of the rooftop, the individual looked into their hands and sighed.
Looks like they’d have to go into work today after all.


The author's comments:

This flash fiction piece started out as a sort of stream-of-consciousness/dream-retelling event that went a little further after I woke up. The dream itself was just about a world in ruins, and the individual on top of an all-brick clock tower in some Podunk somewhere presumably on Earth. There’s not much else to say about it. Except now I want a llama kigurumi onesie. A light blue one. John Mulaney’s wonderful comedy skills inspired the tone of this piece.


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