Under The Purple Cloud

Every night at midnight, the purple clouds came out to dance with the blushing sky. The first occurrence took the world by complete surprise. Hundreds of thousands of people died as the cloud descended from the heavens. The anomaly as it was called, was thought to be a rare occurrence, until it appeared the very next night again at midnight. After the second week of the anomaly appearing, the world began to realize that the Braken, as it had come to be called, was something the world would have to adapt to and learn to deal with. An automated alarm system was established to protect the people of the world from the Braken by sealing all windows while the Braken was active.

Much like the other nearly one million children worldwide who were born that night, at the stroke of midnight, when the clouds first appeared, she had just begun to feel the call from the pink sky. It was an unexplainable attraction that compelled her to defy the mandatory curfew that had been imposed. She checked the clock on the wall, it read eleven fifty p.m.; the alarms would sound soon notifying every one of the closings of the shutters to keep the cloud out. Her parents would come check on her soon after the alarms sounded, she wouldn’t have much time before the automatic sealed them all in for the night.

“Remi,” her mother called as she walked up the stairs, “the warning is about to happen. Are you ready for bed?”

“Yes Mom,” Remi replied as she slid a metal rod into the frame of her window, “I’m already in bed.”

I hope this works Remi thought to herself. She had never tried to leave after curfew , but she knew tonight would be different, tonight had to be different. She felt different.

“Good night then honey and happy birthday,” her mother said, “We love you!”

Remi heard her mother’s footsteps retreating down the hallway and then heard the door to her parent’s bedroom open and close. Now is my chance she thought. She hurriedly removed the metal rod from her window, pushed out her window screen, and scurried onto the roof.

The alarm began to blare and wale throughout the city and Remi felt her body began to tingle. She turned and watched the shutter to her window slowly slide down into place. She looked up to the sky and her jaw dropped as the blackness began to brighten. The wind stopped as the cloud grew bigger and she begin to feel lighter. She looked in amazement as she saw her feet floating off of the roof top. The cloud had nearly covered the entire sky. She raised her arms out to her side and was quickly lifted high into the air. The cloud erupted with a gentle whoosh and she felt it reach for her and envelop her.

“This is amazing,” she whispered to herself.

She felt the cloud around her. It was an oddly comforting sensation as the cloud touched her skin; there was a warmth, the kind of warmth a child feels when being held by its mother. She inhaled deeply and the vapors flowed into her nose and mouth. She looked around the city skyline and noticed many others drifting in the air with the pink cloud around them. Her head tilted back, and the vapors poured from her back into the sky. She felt her mind calm, and her body relax. A voice in called her thanking her for the memories and promising her strength in return. The cloud slowly withdrew back into the sky as she settled back onto the roof. She turned to her window and easily slid open the shutter.