The Catalyst

Dark clouds spanned the horizon the day she walked into town. Some called her a witch, and other's didn't know what to make of her. Long wispy blonde hair followed the mysterious woman as she shot a smile my way. With a wink, she placed a silver object in a bush and continued on her way.

At school, we talked about this woman who moved in next door to my friend Abigail. Where did she get the money for it? What kind of job did she have? No one saw her out during the day, and rumour had it she was a vampire.

More rumours spread until the day she announced her campaign for mayor. Standing under the white pear tree, she answered every question from the local newspaper and radio station. Three men stood around her in black suits and sunglasses, looking around for mischief-makers.

Posters and pictures on benches of the woman appeared all over town. She helped with the elementary school bake sale and the high school car wash. The townsfolk adored her when she gave the football team new uniforms. By the end of the month, the vote was in, and she became the new mayor.

One year went by the quality of life went up until the day the pear tree burned to the ground. The previous night I had been walking home from my friend's house when I saw a spark. I heard someone running away, so I hurried and slammed the door behind me. My dad briefly looked up from his crossword then told me dinner was on the stove. As I sat and ate across from him, he recounted a rumour he heard about the mayor. Something about her old town collapsing, but he couldn't remember the rest. That rumour spread like wildfire, and the mayor did nothing to stop it. In fact, no one had seen the mayor since she won the election. The three men were always answering the press questions and taking care of her business.

I travelled with Abigail to the next town over to shop for stuff we needed for art class. On our way back to the bus station, we saw a familiar head with blonde hair. We followed her down an alley and up to the town square, where she met with the same three men. They handed her a stack of paper then walked off somewhere we didn't see.

We rushed to catch our bus and barely made it before the doors closed. Tumbleweeds crossed the road as we drove home, and we heard a crack in the distance. Unbeknownst to us, an old building fell in the downtown area of our town.

Chaos had started.

Single reverberations occurred every day for a week taking a building or cracking a road. But no one noticed. Abigail and I took our camera's around and took pictures of everything we found broken.

One morning I woke up, and the news was talking about our town being bankrupt. The mayor had fled, leaving only dust bunnies and rats to run the place. People started gathering supplies, and Abigail's family took her out of school. Grocery stores slowly became emptier, and food became scarce.

Then the claps began. They echoed over the entire town. My Father called me inside as the wind picked up and squawking birds flew overhead. We ran down to the basement and bolted the door.

When we came up, our house was a pile of rubbish along with the entire town.