Grey World

Once upon a time, there was a very unfortunate world. The sky was a darkened mass of fury, and the wind was always whistling low, as thought it was skulking just beyond one's vision. The streets were grey; the same colour the walls are when at your lowest.

And in this lonely world there were some people. There were not many people however, because most of them had gone away, or shrivelled up, or simply faded away. For in this world a soul could not survive for very long. Since birth the small people were watched. And when they were watched they began to wilt. Until one day they would be no more.

The few people left in this monotone world felt nothing; the evolutionary skills they had developed were their only protection. The people were all young, but they all seemed old, and cold, and made of stone.

One day however, there was a small stone girl who saw herself wilting; her weakness showed, and the other little people were sure to stay away from her. The small pebble that was her heart rolled around and around in her chest, and she stayed inside. Inside the walls and the roof could protect her from the world that watched.

Only the walls reflected that world, those empty sockets that could pierce the deepest soul. So she tried to be shallow, tried to keep the eyes on the surface.

But every day she felt less real; what day was it, where was she? Did she have a name? Slowly these things started to fade, until she could stand it no more. She left the house, and wandered the deserted streets. The people watching form windows didn't see her, couldn't see her. She tried waving, but there were no reactions. The pebble began to spin faster and faster, until an unfamiliar feeling tried to force its way out through her chest, up through her throat.

The feeling was pain, that sensation she'd guarded against her whole existence. Existence, not life. But now that tearing, ripped feeling that stretched the pebble till it felt it would crack her ribs open was making her feel ALIVE.

The girl dropped to her knees on the sidewalk, and people started to notice her, the pedestrians stepped away, and the window gazers appeared taken aback. The girl rolled onto her side, and let that excruciating feeling sink in, utterly and completely. Let that stabbing, biting, gnawing sense spread from her chest down to her stomach, till she felt more real than anything. Let it climb her neck and rumble through her head, the adrenal rush terrify her. The agony sank through her legs and arms; stinging her digits till the ball she was curled up in rolled out for the climax.

And there, on that grey day, on the grey street, in that grey world, she died.