Best Middle School Submission written by Matthew Stephen (Year 7)
I
Ignorance and Hope
barrelled towards the light, not knowing how and where it would take me. It had been days, months, years since the calamity, time had stopped ticking, rivers had stopped flowing, babies had stopped crying. I was alone, my thick black hair and peculiar grey eyes were something I had pride in before it all went crumbling down, but now emotions are just a mere distraction from the truth. Some people ran and some murdered when it happened, when the cities fell and for once we all knew what was coming, but some, like me, stayed to watch. I watched as people ran from fire and gasped for their last breath, I stood there as my own people turned into dust.
Decilit streets passed me as I pondered around the remains of what was once a sprawling city. The cars of people who once were, littered the streets, left alone, frozen in time, I could almost feel the panic that shot through the air when it happened, when people turned against each other, when suddenly all the hatred in the world was seen. Only those who didn’t feel were left alive, those who didn’t care. As humanity fell, nature had taken back control, trees crept through crevices in the concrete ground, vines hanging from the highest buildings, like they knew that we were no more. As I drifted through the maze of streets I came across one of the supermarkets, just what I needed, I thought, it’s blinding green paint had been stripped away into a murky dull grey. Plants and weeds sheltered the building as I sliced through them trying to gain access to the goods within. Shoving through the dense forest of protection of which this door had acquired, rays of light hit the lines of shelves for the first time in so long, revealing the nutrients I so desperately needed. You have a customer and they’re certainly hungry, I thought to myself. While my stomach rumbled like a volcano about to explode I sauntered through the cold still air, to my relief, I caught sight of the canned goods aisle. Cracking open a can of sloppy red tomatoes that were definitely slightly off, I breathed in a gasp of air, placed it on my dry tongue and forced it down my throat. Staring off into the darkness, I thought, how could this get any worse, I had been alone for six years, but not once I had wished for company. I don’t think I ever will. My mind drifted off in the dead silence. “Hey Mr, can you help me find my mum? I saw you come in here and followed you,” said a boy in an annoyingly happy voice.
41
