Anybody who wanted to escape death could, by paying a very simple price--denial of life!
y explosion of dust and a zing like that of the watch, only louder. A moment later it swung open wide and a puff of incredibly fresh air caressed her face and the inside of her nostrils, stinging her eyes with unanticipated tears.
The man outside balanced on the sill, crouching like a faun, head high, one elbow on knee. He was dressed in scarred, snug trousers and an old sweater.
"Is it tears I get for a welcome?" he mocked her gently in a musical voice. "Or are those only to greet God's own breath, the air?"
* * * * *
He swung down inside and now she could see he was tall. Turning, he snapped his fingers and called, "Come, puss."
A black cat with a twisted stump of a tail and feet like small boxing gloves and ears almost as big as rabbits' hopped clumsily in view. He lifted it down, gave it a pat. Then, nodding familiarly to Effie, he unstrapped a little pack from his back and laid it on the table.
She couldn't move. She even found it hard to breathe.
What is life without beauty? Surviving locked away, a woman dreams of what is outside in a ravaged world. A beautiful and dark story
Nice and moody. Well-written.
A sad little post-apocalyptic story about a woman's desperate longing for something beautiful.
