Drenched in the glow of smog-hued infinites, she lies at the foot of an oppressive skyscraper.
The dull heart of suburbia thumped and throbbed, each beat a hastening decay that heralded a final gasp—a chorus laden with the distant cries of cars and life fast-moving that called for nought good.
Skyscraper windows quaked with the noise. Panes painted neon with the glow of passing bodies. A hand placed against the cold, and for the briefest moment, they took comfort in each other’s despair.
She dared not look up, to cast her eyes to heavens she wasn’t sure still persisted. Lingering fear bit beneath her breast, each shaky breath burden with the ardour of lethargy. For now, she could look down and pretend. A gaze glued to ground meant what was above mattered little.
Yet the ground held as much as the sky ever did.
A life bustled, a body yearned, and a city moved. To the untrained, the chorus was melodic, eyes and ears unfocused left her to the song—swaying to the verse of neon glows and melancholy skies.
Things were starting to turn, and she began to feel hope—then she looked up.
Twilight dead, the night alight not with the infinities she dreamt, but with the sullen grey of pestilence. Austere oppression lording over them like a black flag. If she hadn’t looked, she could still pretend the banner didn’t fly, that there was no wind beneath it.
But she saw. Beared the burden of the truth, the heavens were seldom so.
“I told you.”
She’d forgotten him there, facing eyes like her own, irises coated in the luminous glow of a city. His voice quivered, and despite knowing, confirmation still felt a blade in his gut.
Her hand left the glass, pushing her weight off it to stumble back, her body choked like the city. She wished for anything.
They wished for a way to ascend, to stretch vertebrae and use it as a ladder to reach the stars. To show others the life they’d forsworn.
I told you.
The thought rang loud in a head left hollow by the sight of dead heavens.
He took her hand, and together, they disappeared into the decaying dystopia.