Mankinds last Silhouette

Chapter One: Cadō

"Ahem, ahem."

"HELLO!!"

" WELCOME, EVERYONE!"

"It's your favorite clown, Dusty, and I am happy to perform my number one special, an irresistible special. Are you ready? If you aren't, well, there aren't any refunds, so buckle up and be amazed."

Loud, eerie music plays in the background as a red velvet curtain parts ways on a rough stage.

This was when I first met Dusty, a rugged clown whose signature style was a purple suit, a matching stained hat, and a deformed white flower laced with violet in his left pocket. He was short, only about 5'4, his eyes rough, but he was a survivor like the rest of us.

He brings out his two puppets, which, to this day, gives me the chills. One was green and wrinkled. The other more crooked than the aged stainless steel frames holding the bar together and had an almost yellow texture.

He looks at the green puppet with endearing eyes.

"Hey, puppet Lucy, how are you doing?"

"Oh dusty, I had such a swell day. I went to the park. I gave my dog a walk. I painted, and had a picnic. It was such a nice day I wish you were there."

She sighs, staring at Dusty.

" It was so great."

We all obviously knew he was the one making the sounds, but we were so dull and saturated that any entertainment was good enough.

" That sounds delightful."

He then looks at the yellow puppet, but his eyes uninterested.

" Hey, puppet Dusty, how was your day?" He gave a forced smile.

" What are you looking at, punk? Don't give me that look."

" Woah, calm down, puppet dusty, we are all friends here."

" yeah yeah, only you think that, what do you want?"

He faces the two puppets in the almost empty crowd. Then, looks at the puppets individually.

" Well, puppet Lucy and Dusty, the crowd here would love to know what happened during the fall 30 years ago."

" Oh no, not the fall, I don't want to think about it am scared, Dusty; so many horrible things happened and so many people died."

" My Lucy, I'm sorry we don't have to talk about it then."

" Get a grip Lucy, stop being such a crybaby."

Dusty looks at the dusty doll intensely.

" Well, puppet dusty, would you care to explain to the crowd what the fall was."

He gave a nervous laugh while removing sweat from his soft cotton forehead.

" Woah, woah, calm down, calm down, even I wouldn't approach the topic."

" Oh well that's unfortunate."

" Well, thanks for your time, Puppet Lucy and Puppet Dusty."

He gently removes the puppets from his hands and places them in his right coat. Somehow, he managed to fit them seamlessly in his suit.

"You heard them guys, I guess the show is canceled; they aren't in the mood today. So how was the show? Were you blown away, amazed?"

He sniffles, wiping his nose, with one eye open to the crowd.

" No, no, don't tell me; you were so enthralled in awe that you were speechless. You know, I understand. I am so proud of my craft."

A stray red vegetable narrowly misses his head. "Booooo. I can't believe I spent my week's earnings on this; I was promised a good show."