Illumination

It has always been dark ever since the sun began its collapse. Some say, one day might come that it will ultimately turn itself into a blackhole. Others say it will devour us all for all eternity, engulfing us and transporting the entire galaxy to some godforsaken parallel dimensions. 

It is as if everyday is a twilight.

Today is thirteen thousand years since the end of the last ice age. Today is the beginning of a new ice age.

People roam the streets like they are hundreds of light years apart. Everyone is a stranger. Even to themselves.

I look at the mirror and I see nothing. Only darkness. I am stanger. I don't know myself.

Everyday, no, it is not fitting to say everyday anymore. Humans live by the hour. Hour? Humans don't even have a concept of time anymore.

Every now and then, I would scourge the streets for food. Or anything that might come valuable.

And every now and then, our paths would cross. We would bump into each other. It's dark and I can't see your face. But I know it's always you.

You always carry those books around with you.

Useless! How can you read?

You carry on and I carry on.

~~~

Today, no, this time I'll go fishing for beached whales in the estuary. I might be lucky today. The last time I bumped into you I got lucky and I found a can of tuna from 2008.

I ate half of it and left the rest by your cardboard box house.

But this time I found nothing. Only this baby grand piano that got stuck in an islet in the estuary. I used to play the keys before and tried to remember Beethovens 5th from memory.

I played. It's a little off key.

Dammit.

Something's stuck in the keys.

Oh, just a flashlight.

It reads: This is a flashlight that will illuminate the world. Haha. What a mockery.

I turned it on. It's bright but I doubt it could even illuminate the insides of bathroom.

But I had something. I had a light. I could dive the deepest sea and the angler fish would be jealous of me.

Hungry and rustrated I went back to my shack and I passed you by. Reading books over a candle light in your cardboard box house.

Its the first time I saw your face. The first time I saw anyone's face in weeks. You are a stranger and to me you are beautiful.

I went over to you. And you smiled. I smiled back.

You were reading Gustav Klimt and Renoir. Picture books.

You liked art you said. I thought, what a dummy. Everyone's hungry and cold and you still had some time for art appreciation.

You said you really wanted to see the paintings for real and for the last time.

I held the flashlight over my hands and told you "what if we tour the Louvre before the battery dies. Or before the sun swallows us", I joked. You didn't laugh but you smiled again.

~~~to be continued