181 Keeping Watch
For Saturday, June 29, Day 181 of the Story-a-Day Challenge
Each day she watched through her window.
Watched?
Perhaps an exaggeration: a monochromatic nuclear aftermath remaining of the world, blurring into a blindness--loss of contrast and depth of field. Achromatic aberrations displayed a waste-scape stratified in grays.
She imagined a catastrophic graph plotted along different axes: fear, the X-axis; ambition, the Y-axis; a slippery slope of Z-axis--asymptotic jingoism--the wicked stepmother of patriotism.
Another axis, miscalculation, in a hidden dimension, made missiles fly.
She glimpsed a world laid waste. Glimpse? Perhaps wishful thinking for an intact world without missing pieces.
Day after day, she closed her eyes to the ruined, gray-scaled, ashen world--indistinct, hazy, and blurred--watching in other ways.
She listened, hearing only machinations of survival--no grunts, conversations, or weeping sounds of humanity.
Sight navigates the physical world.
Hearing navigates the human world.
The only unmuted frequencies sounded sterile.
She smelled begrudged smithereens floating in on Curies of ionizing radiation. Burning her lungs, they shined in her cells with poison.
Decay happens, anatomically, societally, and morally--regardless of isotopes.
She tasted carbonized, haunting gossamer remnants of the world. Death tasted gritty. There were data in that grit, dispersed binary specks of lives lived, begging defragmentation. Perhaps technology could decipher Mankind's story, one ashen person at a time.
Fine hairs prickled to the thermal fluctuations drawing her curtains in and out--agonal flaps of a dying world's labored breathing. Nuclear winter chilled her joints.
Day after day...
Today was different. She heard chirps, squeals, and laughter. She sniffed inviting breezes.
The world again breathed!
It huffed and puffed, anticipating. She smelled a different burn, a rekindled love affair with fire--for nutrition and calories. She tasted life, not death. Her hairs relaxed. Her joints survived end-of-times climatology.
Outside was different.
They hadn't spoken in months, he in his basement, she facing her window. But her senses announced a new day--time to re-join the world; remake the world--reignite the world.
She heard him coming up, not turning when he entered; never had.
"It's time," he said. She smiled, arising stiffly, balancing with only an inner ear.
"I think so, love," she answered. "Clearly, I see that," reaching for her red-tipped white cane before they walked out through the door, into the open.
__________
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
For Saturday, June 29, Day 181 of the Story-a-Day Challenge
366 WORDS (without A/N)
Title-accompaniment photo was AI-generated but the reality is not!
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There are currently three surviving Vocal writers still participating in the insane 2024 Story-a-Day Challenge and approaching only its halfway mark:
• L.C. Schäfer, challenge originator
• Rachel Deeming
• Gerard DiLeo (some other guy)
Read them. Support them. Pray for them. Don't just see their words--hear them, taste them, touch them, feel them!"
About the Creator
Gerard DiLeo
Retired, not tired. In Life Phase II: Living and writing from a decommissioned church in Hull, MA. (Phase I was New Orleans and everything that entails. Hippocampus, behave!
https://www.amazon.com/Gerard-DiLeo/e/B00JE6LL2W/
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Comments (19)
Congrats on TS!!!
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Brilliantly written scifi!!! Loved it!!!💕❤️❤️
What an amazing story you have woven Truly commendable
what a powerful story. excellent.
Bagus
The first sentenced pulled me right in. Thank you for sharing.
Amazing story
This is beautiful precisely because it is terrifying, and eerily plausible given the current geopolitical situation. Very deftly done!
Gabriel's article "Keeping Watch" had me on the edge of my seat, but let's be real - I was peeking through my fingers the whole time! Who knew a story about surveillance could be so thrilling? Kudos to Gabriel for keeping us captivated. I'm definitely looking over my shoulder a bit more now!
Creative and clever! Congratulations on your TS!
Back to say congratulations on your Top Story! 🎉💖🎊🎉💖🎊
Intriguing! So many rich phrases -- my favorite: "Z-axis--asymptotic jingoism--the wicked stepmother of patriotism." The protagonist makes me think of blind lady Justice, all too aware of the presence and consequences of evil, yet never without hope.
I'm captivated by the depth of your writing, Gerard! The journey from despair to hope is beautifully portrayed. Keep it up!
Oh wow, she's blind! I didn't see that coming! Loved your story!
Your metaphors do more work before 6 am than most nouns, verbs and adjectives accomplish all day. Absolutely a wonderful story!
A stark reminder of how the world will turn out if we don't care for it. Well written!
Well-wrought and touching. The old crone mother and father time in the most congenial relation were the archetypes called to mind for me. Thanks for that.