The End of Man

She stared down at the grass beneath her bare, dirt smudged feet. From beneath the ground she felt a low rumble, deep from within the earth. The ground seemed itself to be vibrating as the ants and crickets danced frantically around, unsure of their surroundings. Pebbles began to shift and hop along the cobblestone just to the left of her house and the small swath of grass that surrounded it. In all her years before, this had been her place of solace. Her home. Remembering comfort of the grass between her toes, she dug her feet deeper into the earth, trying to hold on to that memory. When she was still safe.

Her eyes had yet to leave her feet. She watched as all the tiny forms of life skittered and scampered and felt the fear of what was coming. She knew she would not be able to stand here forever, yet her mind seemed disconnected from the rest of the world. Only the grass between her toes remained to matter. She did not dare turn around to look at what had been the little house she lived in. Built of stone and mortar, she had heard the crumbling walls bear down just as she reached the first steps outside. The rumbling had been nothing more than a hum just yet, and still it knocked her home to the ground in a matter of seconds. The world was shifting.

Pieces of old rock tumbled at her feet, and she knew there was nothing but a pile of rubble and dust behind her. She had heard the screams and done nothing. They were of no consequence to her anyway. The moment the humming began, she walked briskly outside as if nothing were more casual. She felt herself being called to the earth, “but not this way,” she had said to herself as she reached the front door. Not this way. Her time to rejoin to dirt and the muck had not yet come. She knew this with everything in her, though she couldn’t say why. It was though the earth itself had whispered to her, “Come to me and you will be safe. Come away from the walls that have been put up to keep us apart. Come away from these false protectors, and take up for me in the end.”

It was time to face the Sky. A brooding master that would tell her what was to come. He would bring whistling winds and crashing waters for which she was meant to follow along her path. With this thought, she kept her eyes on the ground while she laid herself gently into the grass. Closing her eyes to block out the crumbling things of man, she rolled over to face Sun and Sky. Not before she was face to face with them did she think of opening her eyes. And the Sun and Sky smiled down on her. Billowing thunder clouds filled the air as far as the eye could see, but for the single ray of sunshine pouring down on her. She smiled. “Father will take care of me.”

She felt the warmth on her skin and the wind on her cheeks, filling her with incredible peace. The crashing of buildings around her sounded distant and muffled; quiet in the presence of her Fathers and Mothers protection. She would be reborn to nature, free from the likes of Man and all it’s downfalls.