The Mockingjay
Active member
So, I was on the train, and got carried away typing. This is what happened: It's not great by any means. But enjoy xD
The fields were bare. The air was calm, and the sun made any details beyond that impossible to decipher. Yet, despite it nearly blinding me, I continue to stare blankly into it. For some reason, I can't bring myself to turn away. Something feels off, not just the sunny in winter part, or even the sunny in England part, it was something bigger. As the luscious green hills fell flat, I realised. The ground had been changed, and not just the land... The whole picture. There were no animals where they once had been, I remember them clearly from my numerous times making this journey prior to today. It couldn't have been more than a month since I last made the journey home... My trail of thought is interrupted suddenly as the train carriage begins to rock, it sways from side to side and emits a hallow creek, the lights flicker on and off as a passenger alarm begins to ring, filling everyone with far more panic than it helps. That's when the people change, the children a few seats behind me begin screaming and I hear their parents trying desperately to calm them, secretly trying to calm themselves in the process. Beside them, there are a couple of pensioners crying, they sit, huddled together, one wrapped firmly in the arms of the other their hands lock round the soft fabrics of the others knitted sweater, of which they both wear. The more level headed remain in their seats and try to think their way out of danger, I even see one woman diagonal to me pull out her iPad and begin to type frantically, what she is writing is beyond me, but it's enough to draw my attention for long enough that it distracts me from the piercing alarm and screechy crying children. When I eventually snap out of my gaze as the woman locks eyes with me... I do nothing, no thinking, no screaming and no crying... I can't. How could anyone when faced with what I now can see? What lies beyond the thick sheet of glass in front of my face can only be described as horrific. It's like something you see in a movie, there are flames and holes, and the suns rays are blocked almost completely by a cloud of ash which now lines the air. The shock on my face must show as moments later I feel a hand clamp down on my shoulder, with it a mans voice echoes through my ears, his words are hurried but remain clear.
"Miss, you gotta move... Now. Yo! Miss!"
His grip tightens, I feel him tugging desperately at my arm in an attempt to move me from the window, but I can't move, my body and mind are in a state of complete shock... A feeling which only magnifies moments later after he speaks again. This time, he only manages two words, neither of which I hear before the glass shatters and sends a loose shard between his instantly colourless eyes. I hadn't seen what colour they were before, but in this hour long second I see so much deeper... The blood shoots in a single spurt, spraying speckles of red across my pale white cheek, I get the harrowing scent of carbon as it rushes into my nostrils, bringing forth a mouthful of vomit which I quickly force myself to swallow back down. He hits the ground with no sound, and I stare down at him, my mouth dropped wider than it's ever been. For this brief moment, the picture beyond the window is not the worst thing, for at this moment, the man laying before me is the only thing. Through everything, I make no sound... Inside my head, I scream and I cry and I panic but nothing registers, it seems a cruel analogy to make, but for now... I'm just like him.
When I snap out of the trance I notice that the train carriage no longer rocks, in fact, we weren't moving at all. The driver had engaged the trains brakes a few feet back, somehow managing to stop the train from flipping as he did, for which I commend him, although I'm not sure whether I'd rather have risked it, I feel no safer sitting within the mess of a world that currently surrounds me. Unknowing of what to do, I close my eyes and listen for a moment, the carriage is manic as expected, but one voice comes to me clearer than the others. It is the man from before, and his tone has changed. No longer is he fighting with his children, trying to keep them silent, instead he fights with himself. All I hear him screaming is the word no. I cannot bring myself to turn around, I can only imagine what horrors would await me if I did. Instead, I clasp my hands over my ears and I drop my forehead onto the small table between me and the empty space opposite. I close my eyes and picture myself somewhere else, anywhere but on this train will do... Imagination was always supposed to be one of my strong points, something I could always count on for amusement and help through dark times, but now, I almost wish I had no capacity to 'imagine'. For all I can create in my head at this moment is what I would see if I opened my eyes and look to my left... Let's call it hell, for lack of a better word. As much as I struggle I cannot shake what has now become a scene. First, an almighty crack roars through the air, the sound alone enough to remove branches from some nearby trees. Then the ground coughs up a cloud of dirt, like the one that tore through New York when the trade centre fell, the dust shot up into the sky, turning the once bright sun into torch, in desperate need of new batteries as it struggled to light the path through the thick ash fog that had now settled in the atmosphere.
I wake myself from the deathly scene and peer down at the lifeless body on the ground to my right. My body stiffens once more and I quickly force my eyes away, through the tears I stare out the now imaginary window once more, this time, it only gets more horrible. What I see now is the back end of the train, apparently they weren't as luck as us. The carriage lay on its side, stretched like a bridge across the crack in the earth, people screamed as they hung for their lives, their hands gripped tightly to anything which they could grab before they were pulled from the carriage by the now very noticeable effects of gravity. There are people on the inside of the carriage trying desperately to rescue those in risk of falling to the unknown. People rush past me, strangers playing heroes as they trample carelessly through the train in an attempt to reach the broken before the endangered ones fall. I push up from my seat and look over my shoulder, there is a man struggling to release who I assume to be his wife from the bags that have her stuck precariously between them and the wall, she doesn't seem conscious but there is definitely life... I hurry to his side and begin moving boxes and bags, no matter how many I move, there seem to be more taking their place and before I can even make a dent in the pile... It takes me.
The fields were bare. The air was calm, and the sun made any details beyond that impossible to decipher. Yet, despite it nearly blinding me, I continue to stare blankly into it. For some reason, I can't bring myself to turn away. Something feels off, not just the sunny in winter part, or even the sunny in England part, it was something bigger. As the luscious green hills fell flat, I realised. The ground had been changed, and not just the land... The whole picture. There were no animals where they once had been, I remember them clearly from my numerous times making this journey prior to today. It couldn't have been more than a month since I last made the journey home... My trail of thought is interrupted suddenly as the train carriage begins to rock, it sways from side to side and emits a hallow creek, the lights flicker on and off as a passenger alarm begins to ring, filling everyone with far more panic than it helps. That's when the people change, the children a few seats behind me begin screaming and I hear their parents trying desperately to calm them, secretly trying to calm themselves in the process. Beside them, there are a couple of pensioners crying, they sit, huddled together, one wrapped firmly in the arms of the other their hands lock round the soft fabrics of the others knitted sweater, of which they both wear. The more level headed remain in their seats and try to think their way out of danger, I even see one woman diagonal to me pull out her iPad and begin to type frantically, what she is writing is beyond me, but it's enough to draw my attention for long enough that it distracts me from the piercing alarm and screechy crying children. When I eventually snap out of my gaze as the woman locks eyes with me... I do nothing, no thinking, no screaming and no crying... I can't. How could anyone when faced with what I now can see? What lies beyond the thick sheet of glass in front of my face can only be described as horrific. It's like something you see in a movie, there are flames and holes, and the suns rays are blocked almost completely by a cloud of ash which now lines the air. The shock on my face must show as moments later I feel a hand clamp down on my shoulder, with it a mans voice echoes through my ears, his words are hurried but remain clear.
"Miss, you gotta move... Now. Yo! Miss!"
His grip tightens, I feel him tugging desperately at my arm in an attempt to move me from the window, but I can't move, my body and mind are in a state of complete shock... A feeling which only magnifies moments later after he speaks again. This time, he only manages two words, neither of which I hear before the glass shatters and sends a loose shard between his instantly colourless eyes. I hadn't seen what colour they were before, but in this hour long second I see so much deeper... The blood shoots in a single spurt, spraying speckles of red across my pale white cheek, I get the harrowing scent of carbon as it rushes into my nostrils, bringing forth a mouthful of vomit which I quickly force myself to swallow back down. He hits the ground with no sound, and I stare down at him, my mouth dropped wider than it's ever been. For this brief moment, the picture beyond the window is not the worst thing, for at this moment, the man laying before me is the only thing. Through everything, I make no sound... Inside my head, I scream and I cry and I panic but nothing registers, it seems a cruel analogy to make, but for now... I'm just like him.
When I snap out of the trance I notice that the train carriage no longer rocks, in fact, we weren't moving at all. The driver had engaged the trains brakes a few feet back, somehow managing to stop the train from flipping as he did, for which I commend him, although I'm not sure whether I'd rather have risked it, I feel no safer sitting within the mess of a world that currently surrounds me. Unknowing of what to do, I close my eyes and listen for a moment, the carriage is manic as expected, but one voice comes to me clearer than the others. It is the man from before, and his tone has changed. No longer is he fighting with his children, trying to keep them silent, instead he fights with himself. All I hear him screaming is the word no. I cannot bring myself to turn around, I can only imagine what horrors would await me if I did. Instead, I clasp my hands over my ears and I drop my forehead onto the small table between me and the empty space opposite. I close my eyes and picture myself somewhere else, anywhere but on this train will do... Imagination was always supposed to be one of my strong points, something I could always count on for amusement and help through dark times, but now, I almost wish I had no capacity to 'imagine'. For all I can create in my head at this moment is what I would see if I opened my eyes and look to my left... Let's call it hell, for lack of a better word. As much as I struggle I cannot shake what has now become a scene. First, an almighty crack roars through the air, the sound alone enough to remove branches from some nearby trees. Then the ground coughs up a cloud of dirt, like the one that tore through New York when the trade centre fell, the dust shot up into the sky, turning the once bright sun into torch, in desperate need of new batteries as it struggled to light the path through the thick ash fog that had now settled in the atmosphere.
I wake myself from the deathly scene and peer down at the lifeless body on the ground to my right. My body stiffens once more and I quickly force my eyes away, through the tears I stare out the now imaginary window once more, this time, it only gets more horrible. What I see now is the back end of the train, apparently they weren't as luck as us. The carriage lay on its side, stretched like a bridge across the crack in the earth, people screamed as they hung for their lives, their hands gripped tightly to anything which they could grab before they were pulled from the carriage by the now very noticeable effects of gravity. There are people on the inside of the carriage trying desperately to rescue those in risk of falling to the unknown. People rush past me, strangers playing heroes as they trample carelessly through the train in an attempt to reach the broken before the endangered ones fall. I push up from my seat and look over my shoulder, there is a man struggling to release who I assume to be his wife from the bags that have her stuck precariously between them and the wall, she doesn't seem conscious but there is definitely life... I hurry to his side and begin moving boxes and bags, no matter how many I move, there seem to be more taking their place and before I can even make a dent in the pile... It takes me.