The Others

His sleep was interrupted by something crawling on his leg. With a swift and controlled motion Adrik smacked his thigh, picked up the half-dead beetle and threw it into his mouth. Crunch crunch, gulp. He felt its textured skin scratching the tough lining of his throat. Nice morning snack, he thought. His sense of touch has gotten so good that he didn't have to see to know exactly where on his body the insects crawled before they landed in his stomach. He let out a loud hraaaaaaarrhh type yawn while stretching his long scrawny arms enough so they don't slam against the walls. Today was the big day, he shivered with a mix of fear and excitement. The air was dusty, but it didn't seem to bother his nostrils, and it was so dark that he couldn't see the backs of his worn out feet. Oftentimes he wondered if his eyelids were open or closed because either way it was the same thing.

He reached into the pocket of his cargo pants and pulled out a box of matches. He slid the lid and felt the box with his fingers counting how many were left. He lit a match everyday in fear that light deprivation might make him lose his eyesight. He raised a picture to the dim light of the match. It was an old picture of his wife. She had natural auburn hair and olive complexion. You could tell that life was harsh on her from the creases on her forehead. Her smile carried an unspoken pain which even Adrik didn't know its full extent. On her neck, cradled by her collar bones laid a heart-shaped locket, one of those that split in two. ‘When you find someone who makes life a little less painful, give them the other half.’ Those were the words of Amaris' grandma before she gifted her the locket and gave up her last breath to pneumonia.

As the light of the match faded into smoke that replaced the musty smell filling the air, Adrik put the photograph in his pocket and shuffled around looking for the half heart locket. He squeezed it with his ashy palm, the only way he knew how to keep it safe. It's been weeks now since the accident, what Adrik believed to be an invasion. If it wasn't for his digital watch, he would've completely lost track of time. Not that it mattered anyways because the watch stopped working most of the time and he had to guesstimate how long time had passed after banging it a few times on the rock wall to get it working again.

Adrik pondered on the events of that night. He was late working the same coal mine where he lived now. After the Others have come, he left his village with Amaris and fled to the empty fields near his work where they built a small house behind a hill. On his usual walk home, he saw a cloud of smoke coming from the direction of his house. The smoke grew thicker as he paced carrying the weight of his exhausted legs. When he arrived, the house was reduced to ashes. The only thing that remained standing was the metal backboard of the bed where him and Amaris made love and talked about their dreams of leaving this place behind. His knees crumbled like the concrete walls before his eyes.

He spent the night throwing water from the mine's storage unit onto his burning home until his body could no longer bear the weight of his sorrow. He wept under a willow tree and then chuckled at the irony. This cannot be an accident, it has to be the Others, he confided in the tree, this is an invasion.

The fire had died by the morning. He picked himself up and eyed his demolished house. He was determined to confirm his hypothesis. He walked through the half propped up door frame. The darkened smoke scent mixed in his lungs with the caustic smell from the mine. He looked for any remains of Amaris, but to his conspiring pleasure, found none. Not even the copper ring he made her or her half-heart locket.

Rage grew inside, fuelling not only his furious heart, but the generational anger that brewed over time towards the Others. Now more than ever, he believed the tales he was told at bedtime, he was sure they're out to get his kind, the underdogs in society. The only reason he survived was because there was a cyanide spill that day in the mine, and he had to stay late to take care of it.

Amidst his fury, his narrow focus had blinded him from seeing the smog forming like a line infantry in the distance. They're taking us all, the thought pierced through like the bullet that killed his father. A wave of fright prickled through his body. They have taken everything away from him, and now they will come after the one thing he values more than anything: his freedom. He's heard of many stories where they took people away, made them into lab rats and subjected them to cruel experimentations. His father met his fate when he refused to participate. It pained him to know that Amaris, the love of his existence, was being the subject of such experiments. But he felt helpless. What could a middle-aged spirit-weakened man like himself do in the face of those who claim power as God?

Adrik buried his feelings and succumbed to a survival mode. He gathered some fruits from the nearby trees and enclosed himself in the darkness of the mine. The one place he couldn't wait to get away from has turned into his home. He kept telling himself that this was a temporary thing until they have moved on from here and he felt safe to go out again and search for his Amaris.

The walls of the mine closed in on him extra today as if they knew he was planning to leave but too afraid to act on it. He would've never imagined that those same walls would ever feel more comforting than what laid on the outside. He lit another match and felt for the locket in his pocket. He walked through the narrow tunnels tracing the walls with his fingertips. He didn't know where he was going, but he knew he had to get out of there before he rots like the mice that tried to steal his fruits. Despite everything, he refused to eat them because to him that meant that he got to the lowest of the lows and his existence was for pure self-preservation, exactly what the Others had wanted for him and his kind.

His digital clock read May 8th, 2178 9:32AM. The minute hasn't changed since he woke up. He gave it a few bangs on the wall and clicked all the buttons at once. But this time it didn't move. Ahh battery finally died, he thought. He reached the end of the tunnel where he had once placed a large rock to block the entry. He pushed it out of the way. The light fell harsh on his irises making his pupils virtually disappear. He recalled Plato's allegory of the cave. Does it mean that I’m the enlightened one? He laughed to himself at the thought of it. As his eyes adjusted, he scanned his surroundings only to find green fields and fruitless trees. Nobody was around, and the sky was pale blue with no sign of smokey clouds. The air felt chillier than he remembered it to be a few weeks ago, by his calculations, the summer months should've been underway.

He walked the usual route to his house. He has walked the same route for more than 7 years and could do it with his eyes closed. He walked for much longer than he remembered before he realized that there was nothing there. He paced back and forth looking for the remaining rubble of his house, only to find the same willow tree where he sat that night. It drove him crazy, how could there be nothing? Not even a mark of ash on the ground. He hasn't been that long underground, and this place barely saw any passerby. This is not possible. His digital clock interrupted his thoughts. March 17th, 2145 3:14PM.

"To hell with this thing, it has a mind of its own," he banged it with his palm, but it didn't move.

He walked for many days until he reached his old village. It looked the exact same as the time he left it 23 years ago, only much more lively. The people there had familiar faces, almost like he knew them from before. What's going on? Do they not know the threat that is bestowed upon us all? He felt the obligation to alarm them. From a distance, he saw the old bald baker where his family bought their bread, only he wasn't old or bald. His youthful arms kneaded the dough with such ease he had only seen with his own mother. He ran towards him and pulled him to the side.

"You need to listen to me! The Others, they're coming for us all. We need to warn the village people" he panic whispered in his ears.

"Hey don't touch me man, you're crazy! Get the hell out of my shop!"

"No you don't understand, I used to live here in this village and buy bread from this shop, but then I fled and they burned my house down and took my wife."

"You've gone mad, this can't be, this village is younger than you. Now get out of my way and let me work."

Adrik's warnings were met with similar reactions again and again, some less friendlier than others. They're brainwashing people too, oh my God we're really doomed, he began to panic, which made his upper lip quiver.

He wanted answers, but nobody in the village seemed to acknowledge him as sane. He started strolling through the familiar yet estranged streets, looking around for any clues to feed his mad mind. He noticed that the trees had shrunk, the asphalt streets hadn't cracked, and the bricks on the sidewalk were brighter like they were recently placed and the harsh weather hasn't gotten to them yet. Something strange is going on. He turned a corner to where his neighbourhood once was. Desolation fell over him as he passed the green gate of Amaris' family home. The children playing in the streets brought back all the memories of them running around and sneaking kisses behind the dumpster.

Then he saw her. She sat on the edge of the sidewalk reading a book. He came a little closer to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, but there it was, the half-heart locket hanging from her neck. It stared him down. He couldn't control his body as it jerked towards her with a magnetic-like force. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her to his chest.

"Oh my sweet Amaris, how much I missed..." he wept.

"Leave me alone you creep! Help!" her screams were muffled by the pressure of his chest.

He took a few steps back to fully grasp what's going on.

"HELP, somebody help! This man is trying to hurt me!" Amaris cried out while pointing her finger straight at him.

Stunned, he stared deep into her hazel eyes. This was Amaris, but it was young Amaris and she didn't know who he was. She's living a different timeline. He felt a big blow to the head and fell to the ground.

The palm of his hand fell open, spilling the other half of the locket. Amaris stopped crying as she was dragged out of sight. She locked her gaze on his weary face.

I was only trying to make life a little less painful for you, he thought.