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| The Last Man on Earth; Well? | |
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| Topic Started: Jul 9 2005, 09:29 PM (327 Views) | |
| Eragol | Jul 9 2005, 09:29 PM Post #1 |
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Keeper of the Eternal Flame/Baron of Kinaldi/Fire God
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Inside the dark cloud lies Danisk Volud, the last man on Earth. He chose to stay here of his own free will. None are quite sure of his reasons. Danisk Volud was given the chance of a lifetime – the last trip from Earth before it was left to its own devices. Unfortunately, he chose to remain, despite the great amount of radioactivity in the air and the ground. He will be missed by those who knew him. *** I looked at the people in their ship as it sailed into the future. I couldn’t go with them. There were too many memories and too many friends to leave Earth. Not yet. Not ever. I turned my back on the fools as they left Earth. They thought it had been poisoned, that it had been the victim of irreparable damage. Nothing could be further from the truth. True, they had forced the air into death, and the outer ground was deadly – but I would never live on the surface of this God-blessed planet again. I walked to the caves that would be my home for several years, until the Others come back. I knew they would, ever since the day they told me to wait and watch. “Watch the ground, Danisk,” they said. “We shall return for thee, and thy dreams shall be thy reality.” So I head to this cave to reflect upon my memory. *** It is cold here. Winter is cold near the mouth of the cave, where the unclean air still rests. The Others are still coming. I have lived with my memories for several years now, and it appears they will be my only lifelong companions. Anilia, my childhood sweetheart, dances around my cave, her face as pale as the day she died. My parents, the great people that they were, stand over me, urging me to speak to her. My voice stuck when I first saw her again. “What’s the matter, Danisk?” she asked, her smile as dazzling as the day I first saw it. “N-nothing,” I said, a lump forming in my throat. “Come now, Danisk,” she said, placing her hand on my arm. As soon as she placed her hand on my arm, I was thirteen again, and a nervous boy. “You can’t hold anything from me. What’s going on?” My heart was beating a thousand miles an hour at that point. “I just… I just wanted to… uh… to walk with you a little ways.” And with those words, our favorite walkway in the East Park materialized in front of my eyes. “Okay,” she said, smiling. And with those words, she clasped her left hand with my right and walked down. I… Anilia, I want you to marry me! shouted my thoughts. Desperate to sort out my confused mind, I asked a few questions. She responded with questions of her own, questions I answered carefully and politely. I then noticed I was staring at her, walking alongside me in that beautiful blue dress. *** Every day, I keep remembering more of my youth. The ones I loved were there. There was Mr. Miggs, who ran the local deli. Mr. Ingrum, who ran the little coffee shop down the way. Pastor Mitchell, who liked to see the young ones in our town walking through the park. Crazy old Mrs. Wolkins, a toothless old woman who ran the Laundromat and had a habit of giving quarters to her customers. She had thirteen grandchildren, and some said she spoiled them so horribly that their periods away from Gramma’s house were considered “vacations to the ordinary,” a sort of surreal experience. These people and others populated our town. There was Jude Maxwell, a boyhood pal who was killed in the Nuke War. Nattie Hill, Jude’s girlfriend and eventual wife. They ended up having three kids – Billy, who left our town in search of fortune and eventually ended up on that ship that just left, Jude Jr., who got himself killed after an unexploded nuke’s “atomic payload” poisoned him as he studied the flora in an area near it, and Amanda, who would’ve married me if, as she put it, “you weren’t engaged to your memory of Anilia.” Another friend was Dmitri “Dim” Bulb. Dim Bulb was actually the brightest in our class; he just had a little trouble with… Well, you know. More and more, the present is slipping away. I’m having trouble recalling Amy’s face and Billy’s voice, and Dim Bulb is beginning to seem a lot more real to me than this “Nuke War”… *** Mr. Roqueporte – that’s Anilia’s pop – he says that she’s too young to date, but Anilia says that’s because he’s old-fashioned and thinks that anyone under sixteen isn’t a person. I guess she really likes me if she’s willing to say things like that. I was rather hoping she liked me. We’re going to a film tomorrow night, can’t quite remember the title. Anyway, what’s important is I’m going with her! …The memories are getting stronger. I remember the first time I saw Revenge of the Titans alone… Cried my eyes out. That was the first movie Anilia and I saw. It was also the only one, because of that devastating car crash. Stupid drunks… …After the movie, we’re going to go for some pizza. I promised her dad we’d be home by 9:30. I didn’t say I wouldn’t be staying afterwards… …Life after she died just seemed gray. I stumbled across a collection of Poe when I was thirty-eight. It was the last book I would see before the Nuke War – if it really happened; my memories of it are fuzzy – before that began. One line really sticks out: “I was a child, and she was a child/In the kingdom by the sea/But we loved with a love that was more than love/I and my Annabel Lee/A love that the wingéd Seraphs of Heaven/Coveted her and me.” It was like this man, several decades before myself, had known how I now felt. Perhaps he did. I wonder who Annabel Lee was… …The movie was amazing, although I must admit I don’t remember much of it. I was a bit preoccupied smiling nervously at Anilia. When she touched my hand… …I never forgot her. Never. *** Today, today, this horrible day. Wake me no more, today. Let me live a thousand yesterdays, and never see today in all its horror. For today was Death’s Day. Today was the Old Day. No memories came today. No memories at all. No Others, no memories, just me… me… me… …We are gathered here today to lay to rest one Anilia Theresa Roqueporte, twelve years of age, only child of her parents. Her youth was cut tragically short by a drunk driver. As she was walking home from her school, as she always did, this man sped out from nowhere, running her down and ending her life. A classmate, young Danisk Volud, found her and took her to his house, where young Miss Roqueporte was kept alive until the ambulance was able to come. The driver of the car has been arrested and charged with vehicular manslaughter; he was driving three times the speed limit. Anilia will live on in our memories… Will I never see her face again? Where is the pistol? Where is the end of my life? *** A small, gray man walked upon the face of the earth. “So barren,” he told his companion, a gray woman. “I see now what happened. But why did Danisk Volud remain?” “Because he had nobody aboard the transport. Nobody was able to comfort him. He had lost everything.” Her voice was sweet and kind. “If this is so, where is he? Would he not wander the surface?” “Yes, he would. He must have died. A shame we arrived too late.” The ship that they came in left, unaware that the Others had missed their charge. They would never return again. *** Our last day together is playing itself over before my eyes. I can almost see it now, and I can definitely smell the pizza. Chicken, sausage, onions, peppers… But no mushrooms; neither of us could… Neither of us can stand mushrooms. As I took another piece, I glanced at the clock. “God Almighty!” I shouted, looking at the clock. “It’s almost midnight!” Anilia placed her hand on my arm. “You can stay here for the night, Danisk. I’m sure my father wouldn’t mind,” she said, her voice filled with absolute certainty. And she was right! Her dad let me stay for the night in their guest bedroom. …That’s odd. I remember leaving at eleven-thirty. But maybe I did stay the… The next morning, I woke up wondering where I was and why I was in my clothes. It sure didn’t look like my bedroom. That’s when I remembered that I had spent the night at Anilia’s. I looked at the clock on the wall – seven thirty! Oh my god! If I don’t hurry, I’ll be… I’ll be… Oh, wait. Today’s Friday. We start at eight thirty on Fridays. I smiled as I looked at my half-on right shoe. Scratching my head and yawning a little, I walked out into the hallway… …And right past Anilia’s screaming siblings. God, are they a handful! Ah well. Into the kitchen I went, looking at all the amazing-ness of her house. It was a beautiful place, and I imagined her living in splendor here. Slowly, I looked at the table. There she sat, wearing that amazing blue dress. …That’s also odd. She didn’t wear that blue dress. She wore a tank top and short… “Come on, sit down,” she said. I took her invitation. “We’re having breakfast shortly,” she informed me. I was guessing it’d be something simple, like cereal or toast. I was a little stupid. We ended up having eggs and sausages, with toast and jam on the side if we wanted any. It was an excellent meal, complete with all sorts of talking. Anilia really wanted me to feel at home, I guess. That or her mom did. Probably both, since Anilia wore that beautiful blue dress. …Wait. I met Anilia’s mom at the fun… At eight fifteen, we left together, me still wearing the stuff I’d worn the day before – a T-shirt with the “And Co.” logo emblazoned in orange and a beat-up pair of shorts. Sure, the guys of And Co. were old, but they were so old that they were retro – and retro is most definitely cool. School went normally, except for Spanish. Anilia’s in my Spanish class, and today she passed me a note that said, “Come on over to my place today!” I tossed a quick “Okay” back to her before going on with the conjugations of the most obscure verbs. It was dull and boring work. …At least that’s almost correct. But Anilia never passed me a note. Maybe this… Something was flickering in the back of my head all day. It was a little bit like some old memory or something. It came back strongest in the middle of World History. A final realization or something similar passed through my mind. …I see. I have to give up my present if I want my past. Very well… Take me, Past! And within yourself lie happier days! *** Today, I marry the woman of my dreams. Finally, after all this time, we’ve decided to get together. Anilia looks absolutely gorgeous in the blue dress of hers. Blue has always looked good on her. I had hoped that she would wear it to our wedding. The newspapers say war is inevitable, but I think that if people actually talked instead of resorting to the Nukes, we could save a lot of lives, and we could actually make this world a better place. I told Anilia all this, and she urged me to go to the U.N. and present my views. And that’s just what I’m going to do. After all, I have graduated from Law School. How hard could it be to stop this? *** Eighteen years later, we arrived at the new planet. We sent another ship back; it traveled at relativistic speed thanks to some of the more powerful drives created. We’ll never hear about it, since it’ll probably reach Earth in E-year +2000 or something like that. But this’ll be interesting to watch. I wonder whatever happened to Danisk. *** “Earth to Haven, come in Haven! Earth to Haven, come in Haven!” “What is it, Earth?” “It’s… You won’t believe it! Was Dansk left alone?” “According to historical records, yes. Why?” “Because there’s a civilization here that looks like a pre-Nuke War era. Something amazing – I think the pop’s reached over eight bil.” “That can’t be. If Dansk was left alone, Earth Civilization should’ve died with him.” “Well, it ain’t dead.” Spread out in front of the probe was a sprawling metropolis. Slightly south was a small town, remembered throughout the world for a young, spirited man, negotiator by trade, husband by choice, and lover of life: Danisk Volud. |
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| Kara Arianrhod | Jul 12 2005, 08:30 PM Post #2 |
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Very nice job eragol. I like it very much. |
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| Eragol | Jul 12 2005, 08:41 PM Post #3 |
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Keeper of the Eternal Flame/Baron of Kinaldi/Fire God
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Thank you. It was - believe it or not - originally conceived as a sort of Twilight Zone piece. It still is, kinda. Also, And Co. is a proposed name for a jam/jazz/rock/general music band that I play in. We have a drummer, a keyboardist, and a violin/guitarist. |
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| Kestrel Sumner | Jul 17 2005, 09:37 PM Post #4 |
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And then she was gone, her hips swinging as the knives jostled her thighs, passing by guards with her head held high, a haughty smile upon her lips.
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Very interesting and very well written, Eragol. I really liked how the view point shifted, and how you were able to swap the tenses in a way that made it more engaging; interesting. I also really enjoyed the way it was presented, what with the trailing off and the first person view. There are very few pieces of writing that I actually enjoy in the first person view. Excellent job! |
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| Eragol | Jul 17 2005, 10:05 PM Post #5 |
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Keeper of the Eternal Flame/Baron of Kinaldi/Fire God
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*shrug* I was just trying to make it seem natural. I guess it worked. |
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