Exopyrendo [WATTYS 2016]

Part I - Echo

Within the darkness that surrounds me, I can feel more than I've ever felt before. As I breathe in I can feel a pressure push against my ribcage and a pain spread throughout my body when I try to move. My body hurts more than it ever has before and I can't find the reason to the excruciating pain that won't seem to leave me.

I try to open my eyes, but I then realize that may already be open. My vision isn't gone, because all around me the world is black, other than the random sprinkles of light that cross my vision when I inhale and exhale. If I were blind, I wouldn't even see this blackness.

"Seek shelter," my father said, just minutes before the asteroids struck the Earth's surface. I never reached that shelter, and I wasn't able to protect Iasius. His words keep replaying through my head like a broken record, and just hearing his voice makes me feel the pain of my failure. But his voice also reminds me of everything that happened.

The strikes happened quickly. I don't really even remember them; I was light headed and drifting out of consciousness when they came down. Never have I been so weak and easy to give up, yet in the most important moment of my life, my body had to give up on me. And when the planet shook violently underneath me, I dropped into unconsciousness.

Something happened to me too when the asteroids were falling through the atmosphere, and I don't know what it could be. I might be crushed by a tree right now, and I won't be able to get it off. My belly might even be slashed open, and I won't be able to save myself before I lose all of my blood.

Every part of this situation is terrifying. No one knew that those beautiful streaks in the sky were going to come down on Eutas and destroy this country. I don't even know how many asteroids there were, how big they were, or where they were going to crash. We had no warning, and that's terrifying. We could have had hundreds of asteroids coming in close quarters of every part of this planet, and nobody would have a clue about that. That's even more terrifying.

My thoughts slowly fade out as the sound of feet slapping against the ground fills my ears.

"Hello," I hear someone whisper in a small, scared voice. "Please say something." My body is moved and a tearing pain rips through my entire body. I feel my face scrunch up and a groan escapes my mouth. "I'll try to get it off of you."

More stars travel across my eyes and a torturous pain fills my entire body, making a scream escape my throat. I've never felt anything as painful. It feels as though someone is cutting off my limbs with a saw without knocking me out beforehand. But the pain quickly goes away, making the screaming and the light crossing my vision come to a stop. "I'm sorry," the voice says again. "You should feel better now."

The darkness around me begins to fade, and is replaced with a fog. I can see that in front of me is dirt, a little bit of grass and some collapsed trees. My hand is front of my face, as if I fell asleep looking at the creases, and down by my feet sits someone. A little girl. Her white blonde hair is dirty with leaves and mud and her arms and face are covered with cuts and bruises. She wears overalls that span the whole length of her legs, and her undershirt is black with white pinstripes that are a little stained with mud.

"Oh, you're awake now!" she yips, getting up onto her feet. She's around 6 or 7. "I can get up, but you should stay sitting. You might not be okay. That stick on you was really heavy, but don't worry, I got it off. I get the strength from my dad." Lying beside her is a large tree branch. It's not very long, but very wide, showing that it truly was very heavy. How was she able to get that off of me? She flexes her muscles, and then makes a face – a semi forgetful face. "Oh my, I'm sorry! I'm Sophi. Would you like me to help you sit up?"