Fade to Black

by Susan Evelyn

The stars are winking out one by one. There is something terribly wrong and no-one can say why or how to fix it. Whether from politics, military, science or religion, the experts cannot agree on either cause or solution.

It all started... well, I guess it depends on who you believe as to where or when things began to go bad but nobody could continue to cover up the signs when the sun went dim.

Me? A poor outback farmer with only basic education and calloused hands, what do I think? Looks to me like someone didn’t pay the bill.

Over past years my wife and I liked to come to this spot. We waited until the lights of the town blinked out and allowed the moon and stars to show their glory. It was a nice and quiet life.

Now there are no lights in the valley and it is the stars which are turning off never to twinkle again. The townsfolk are all gone. Those people who joked about our simple way of life are either dead or have belatedly moved to higher ground.

The wife and I moved up here shortly after we married. Back then it was a choice. We wanted to breath clean air, eat fresh food and live in harmony with the land. We thought we were the masters of our destiny.

Occasional trips to town furnished us with the news both local and international. Reports of exotic animals becoming extinct went without notice, people in large cities dying in their sleep was treated as a strange epidemic, and leaked information of energy sources running dry was not believed. The signs were never added together, not until the day the sun rose but shed no light.

That night there was no moon either. Scientists say it is still there but without sufficient sunlight to reflect, it does not shine.

Everything has wound down quickly since then. Stockpiled raw materials were soon exhausted. No petroleum products to run vehicles or create manufactured items; no coal to burn or fuel the power stations; no fissionable ore to run the reactors. Electricity grids failed. The last to go were the hydro stations with the breakdown of their components.

Without sunlight and warmth, the trees have lost their leaves and the grass has turned to straw.

Breathable air is thinning and smog suffocates the cities and towns. Water we have in plenty but the oceans and lakes are a thick soup of pollutants and refuse.

The love of my life reaches her hand towards mine. My fingers close over hers. We smile at each other barely able to see through the waning twilight. Night is drawing closer, a slightly darker blackness than the day.

I am glad to have her with me as we face the last hours. We have been through a lot together, each strengthened by the other. What more fitting way to wait out the end?

Not with a bang and with nary a whimper, all we were and could have been fades away.

The doomsday clock has all but run its course. The final chimes echo through my body. With the last, time itself expires.

Impressum

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 21.04.2011

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