The Broken Age

The old age

It sounded like screaming! The wind, it was so loud, so strong that it was pushing the pouring rain to the side, it was like watching a sideways waterfall. Even Lilith brought the machine she had outside, in with the rest of us. And told us we had to keep the lights off. The room was pretty dark, the only light was from the window outside, and Lilith's glowing purple eyes. Sometimes the loud sound of thunder, can be heard, lighting up the whole room for just a moment. 'Where's all the snow?' Sam, and Alice looked so nervous, jumping every time the lightning striked. Silah was just frustrated. Clenching his ears tight, the entire time. Our alien friend was still here, surprisingly she wasn't hiding. She was just sitting, back against the wall, Watching us.

There was not much to do. Sam grabs a can of sardines, and individually feeds the fish to Maggie. It was the only thing we saw that she would eat. I pull out the jar of peanut butter from my jacket pocket, and finger out a bit of it, then pull out cactus from the other pocket to lick it. He treats the attention the same way he always does with a grumpy hiss, until he realizes he is being offered food. I then offer the remaining jar to the alien next to me. She briefly glances at my hand, then returns her normal stare, so i just leave the jar and its lid next to her. The room lights up again as a loud crackle of thunder, echoes in the room "I hate that sound." Alice groans. "Really! I quite enjoy the thunder. Reminds me of before the world went to der'mo." Lilith says in a soft tone. She was laying in her box, holding some towels together, and a needle with a thread, making a sort of circular motion, with them. Was she tying the towels together? Wait, before what happened? "Before what?" I repeat, but out loud. "Before the apocalypse happened. The power would go out and my mama would tell scary story's." She replies with a distracted smile. Wait before the- That's twenty years ago! "How old are you?" 'She's an adult.' She looked at me like she's been insulted "It's not polite to ask a woman her age." She says in a sarcastic tone. But her confident smile returns as she says it. 'So, is she sarcastic? Or sarcastic, of being sarcastic.' "I was just curious, the apocalypse was twenty years ago... And i thought you we younger than that." I mumble, as her expression changes to a mix of curiosity, and worry. "I'm only seventeen. Who told you it's been twenty years?" She says, "The newspaper." I mumble "Maggie." Sam says at the same time as me, pointing to her sister. Lilith smiles at the response. "Never trust the news. They were the ones that wrote it." She points at our alien friend, who had a look of amusement in her face and a ominous smile. "It was a mere eight years ago when it all started. Weren't any of you around back then?" She looks at us. "I'm nine." I say raising my hand. Alice just shrugs, and Sam nudges Maggie, asking her age, to which Maggie looked at her long, wiggly three fingered hands, and raises both of them up. I remember when i was younger that there were a lot more people, but i never put any thought as to why. "How did it happen?" i ask. Lilith scratches the back of her head as the lightning outside lights the room again "It wasn't" She pauses again "It wasn't a sudden event." She pauses again "It was a slow burn. Too many things piled up." She says, "I thought it was zombies!" Sam says, "I thought it was the snake people." I add. "... Maybe this should be today's story." She says in a softer than usual tone 'Its day!'

"Things were already bad. The weather, the economy, wars, some plants started dying, and others began growing really fast, people getting sick and attacking others. Or just going crazy. It lasted months. No one actually did anything to stop it though, everyone was busy blaming everyone else. Or trying to survive what the normal life was like." Her voice shook a bit, on the last sentence. "Eventually people who weren't busy rioting, couldn't take it anymore, they wanted something to be done. So they rioted too. And they complained so much that the state did a live broadcast, showing who they were." She says looking at the snake who had retained her disturbing smile throughout the topic. "After the broadcast things got more chaotic, but some people stayed, until company's ran out of supply or kept what they had left." She finishes 'Even in the chaos, people turn to greed, and power.' "People are monsters." I mumble, Lilith picks up what i said as she looks at me with a disturbed but understanding stare "People are... Complicated." She says in an awkward tone. "There's nothing complicated about it, we broke their planet, our own lives, and the lives of the people after us. Because they never matter as much as the people before them." I let out in a harsher tone. I keep my head down, just looking at Cactus, curled up between my folded legs. I knew what they were thinking, they were judging me, staring. Thinking I'm being stupid, or dramatic. 'Which you are.' But i needed to say it, because it's true. 'You find what bothers people, and you keep doing it. Just like back then.' "We didn't do it." Sam whines, in a way that sounded more like a question. "Were people too, like you... Even if we don't look like it." Lilith adds. I kept quiet 'This is why you don't talk, cause then people start to hate you, when you just want to be alone anyway.'

"Ki... Zack. Look at me." Lilith says, i slowly turn my head to her. She had dropped what she was doing "There are terrible people, complete mudak but there's also people who really care, who want to help. But no one is always good, sometimes they are forced to do bad things, or do things they regret." Her face gives a slight bit of regret from the last sentence as well "Those mudak, are just the ones that will catch people's attention, the most." She finishes "Not adults, they're always bad, always look down on you." I mumble back "They are also the same people who raise you, and try to take care of you... Do you know why they do this?" I look back down, not wanting to think of it "Its because they've seen us do so many dumb things and they expect it to keep happening." She argues, i didn't even want to talk about it anymore. It just brings back bad memories. "What about your zmeya friend. They look down at everyone." She raises her voice. Does she mean the alien? I look at her, the smile she possessed had faded. Her face was blank, she looked like a statue. Especially in the dark. Why was Lilith getting so upset over this? It's not like the alien is going to answer her anyway. She barely ever talks 'Only watches.' "She's helped us and done more than any adult has." I defend "There also the ones that caught you. The ones that destroyed our world, and everyone's lives." She retorts "The denial of what you saw, will only reinforce the memory." To everyone's surprise the alien speaks, her voice cold and calculated. Lilith's face turns white from the response, like all the color she had left in her already pale skin, drained away from shock. But what does it mean? "Surely you remember the details of the event." The alien mocks. Lilith's hands were now clenched tight to the back of the container she was sitting in. It was like looking at a completely different person. Someone no longer filled with confidence and ego. Only fear! Genuine fear, genuine emotion 'Just like a kid.' like your lost in your own head. Afraid of what you say, afraid of what others say. Upset at the world, and yourself. 'Like you.' It was a weird thing to see, from someone so much older than me. I didn't think i would ever see it actually! But I'm kinda happy i did, it made me feel a little less... Alone? I guess.

The room lights up as the loud sound of thunder crackles through the air, making Lilith of all people jump. "Did i frighten you." What the alien spat wasn't a question, she was taunting her. I think this was the most passive aggressive thing I've seen her do. Maybe this is a bad sign? Lilith's eye twitches as she tries to control herself, but it was still very clear, she was panicking inside. "Care to share what you witnessed with your allies?" She smirks, a lisp in her pronunciation, almost as if she was imitating Lilith's accent. I don't know how much more Lilith could have taken of this, her fear was quickly fading into anger. The room felt like it was heated, from the rising tension. "Um, maybe leave her alone, please." I mumble to the alien. She gives me a cold stare, as i stare back with worry for her. Her expression softens in seeing mine, and she actually stops! Lilith in her frustration closes her chest door, with her in it. Leaving all of us alone to the sounds of the rain pouring from outside. "What was all that?" Alice asks, immediately breaking what was left of the tension, in just four words.