CaptainWacky
I want to smell dark matter
She'd learned about the darks times in school, of course. Every child had. Not every detail was known, which she always found frustrating. It was only a hundred years ago, and they had cell phones and cameras and everything back then too. Yet human civilisation had almost totally collapsed and nobody really knew why. The best theory was that it had been an ancient plague, dug up from deep underground. That it had spread fast and caused a madness to everyone alive. People had went to war. People had killed their families. The great human civilisation of the early twenty-first century had torn itself apart. But only for a few months. Suddenly, the plague was gone and everyone had a collective amnesia about what had happened. Technology had ceased to work for a time, all electrical records had been erased. They had to start afresh.
But there were the legends too, and they were so well known that they were mentioned in school as well. They had always scared her. Not so much the one about the mountain rising out of the Earth then sinking again with the end of the plague. That was just strange. It was the legend of the squidman that freaked her out. That a man of squid had walked the Earth and driven everyone insane. Sometimes she'd dreamed of him. He felt real. She knew inside her that this legend was true. The other children had just laughed at it. They had laughed at everything. They laughed at her a lot.
The teachers told her and the others that they were lucky to be alive. That over two billion people had died in the plague and that many more had died in the years after as further wars broke out between countries fighting over precious resources. Finally they had put their differences aside and built up a new society. They had rebuilt all their technology as well. Everything was as it had been before, as best they could tell.
So what was to stop it from all happening again?
She didn't have many friends. She had less as she went through her teenage years. She had become even more awkward, in all ways. Talking, for one. She often just sat in her room chewing her hair. It was no way for an 18 year old to live.
She had started dreaming of the squidman again. The dreams were more vivid now. And yet, not as scary. She felt like she was friends with the squidman in her dreams. This made her laugh. She could be friends with a squidman who killed two billion people but not real humans her own age.
One night she woke in a trance and walked out of her home in the night. She felt someone leading her somewhere. But she was still in control. She wanted to know. She had to know.
She stood on the spot she was supposed to and began chanting. The ground opened beneath her.
She knelt down and looked into the pit below. She could see him. The squidman. He was real. He looked ill and sad. He looked up at her. She nervously chewed her hair before finding the power to speak.
"Hi, I'm Chloe," she said. "Are you going to kill everyone now?"
"No," he said, after a long pause, like he couldn't remember how to speak. "No. This time I'm going to do things right."
She helped the squidman out of his prison.
But there were the legends too, and they were so well known that they were mentioned in school as well. They had always scared her. Not so much the one about the mountain rising out of the Earth then sinking again with the end of the plague. That was just strange. It was the legend of the squidman that freaked her out. That a man of squid had walked the Earth and driven everyone insane. Sometimes she'd dreamed of him. He felt real. She knew inside her that this legend was true. The other children had just laughed at it. They had laughed at everything. They laughed at her a lot.
The teachers told her and the others that they were lucky to be alive. That over two billion people had died in the plague and that many more had died in the years after as further wars broke out between countries fighting over precious resources. Finally they had put their differences aside and built up a new society. They had rebuilt all their technology as well. Everything was as it had been before, as best they could tell.
So what was to stop it from all happening again?
She didn't have many friends. She had less as she went through her teenage years. She had become even more awkward, in all ways. Talking, for one. She often just sat in her room chewing her hair. It was no way for an 18 year old to live.
She had started dreaming of the squidman again. The dreams were more vivid now. And yet, not as scary. She felt like she was friends with the squidman in her dreams. This made her laugh. She could be friends with a squidman who killed two billion people but not real humans her own age.
One night she woke in a trance and walked out of her home in the night. She felt someone leading her somewhere. But she was still in control. She wanted to know. She had to know.
She stood on the spot she was supposed to and began chanting. The ground opened beneath her.
She knelt down and looked into the pit below. She could see him. The squidman. He was real. He looked ill and sad. He looked up at her. She nervously chewed her hair before finding the power to speak.
"Hi, I'm Chloe," she said. "Are you going to kill everyone now?"
"No," he said, after a long pause, like he couldn't remember how to speak. "No. This time I'm going to do things right."
She helped the squidman out of his prison.