This one was inspired by the horrible heatwave we've been experiencing here in Australia.
enjoy.
The skies are shotgun blue, without a cloud
in sight, and the heat is pressing and exhausting. No birds have sung in the
past few weeks and I haven’t heard any children run around the place lately
either.
This is strange. But seeing how hot it’s
been, I’m not surprised.
People would have been worshipping at the
temple of the shopping complex, to get away from the heat and into the cool
air-conditioning. And with school starting soon, it’ll be something to look
forward to. However with the heat still pressing down on this country, it’s got
me thinking: is it really Summer? Or is it something else?
I mean, America is in the grips of one of
the worst Winters they’ve experienced in years. Coyotes are roaming into the
cities searching, hunting for food; and that’s because there’s none walking
around.
And yet, there’s snakes and Dingoes doing
the same thing here in Australia because there’s nothing to eat for them here.
This morning, I walked out to the papershop
and found that at around 7am, the normally busy main road outside my place was
empty and quiet. Now, I’m not a God-fearing person, nor will I ever be one.
But, I didn’t hear any birds singing either – just the cicadas ever-lasting
long note of ‘damn it’s hot! Damn it’s hot!’ And adding that to my tinnitus is
enough to send normal people off the edge – but then, I’m not normal. I’m used
to that mind-boggling ringing in my ears. It’s difficult to ignore it, but it’s
been there for years, constantly getting louder over time.
As I walked down the road in the blinding
sunlight, my footsteps echoing around the street, I felt as though I was in ‘The
Omega Man’... yep, I felt as though I was the last person on the planet
wandering around. Then, I spotted a few people, braving the heat to get the
paper and some milk from across the road. Okay, I now felt as though I was in ‘The
Day of the Triffids’, where the world was invaded by plants which ate humans.
Creepy... but a great book and movie.
It’s been hours since I ate breakfast and
decided to take off to photograph some landscape stuff to paint. But driving
around, I couldn’t find a place populated enough by people to paint. I tried
the local shopping centres, then drove further afield, taking the toll way and
found there was nobody on the roads – not even trucks.
I pulled off the road, finding my way to a church,
where I thought I’d find people of faith hiding away there, to pray, in search
of guidance to their God. But that car park was empty.
Exactly what was going on? I tried the doors
and found them locked... on a Sunday? This wasn’t right. I had a feeling there
was somebody behind me, and spun! There wasn’t anyone. I could see my camper
van in the lot and that was it.
“What the hell is going on?” I muttered
taking a few deep breaths, leaning against the cool glass doors of the church. Then,
I realised, to find my answer, I had to get inside. I picked dislodged a rock
from the garden and threw it through the large glass panel next to the main
doors. It shattered – but no alarm went off as I expected. As the glass fell to
the floor, I carefully stepped through and looked around.
The air-con was on.
Music was coming from the speakers in the
ceiling – but it was just the radio.
I went up to the doors of the church itself
and tried them. Locked! I went back outside and walked around the side of the
building to look in and found the main building was empty.
“Who are you looking for?” a voice asked to
my left.
I turned to find the Pastor standing there, “Where
are the people?”
He frowned, pulling at his collar, his eyes
wandering to glaring hot day, “It’s hot isn’t it?”
Nodding, I agreed with him, “But where are
the people?”
Sighing, he sat in the pew put outside for
people to rest in, “I don’t know. I heard you break in before, and I couldn’t
get into the church either; not even with my key.” Tears brimmed his eyes as he
looked to the ground, “I do believe it’s the End of Times.”
“Hey, Pastor, we would have had warnings.”
“We did!” he snapped a look at me, “Wars,
disease, famine, extinction... that joke of a President was another... they
were all warnings. And what did we do? We all sat on our phones, hypnotised by
them.”
I didn’t know what do to, “Have you been out
there today?” I looked out to the steaming heat of the day.
“No. I came here in the hopes people would
come here.”
I shook my head, “Don’t. There’s nobody
around. The streets are empty, the highways... the internet isn’t .... um...
the radio is static. I thought it was a screw up until it was like that for an
hour.”
He scrubbed his tears away with the flat of
his hands, “So, now what?”
Looking at him, stunned, I shrugged, “Well,
I came here to ask you that. You’re one of ... or are you? Seeing it’s the End
of Days, what do we do now?”
“Pray?”
“For what redemption – a bit late.”
He spotted my camper van out in the lot, “Do
you think there’s others?”
“If there are, they’re hiding.” Or dead I thought but I didn’t want to
scare him more than he already was, “I don’t know.”
He stood, “Well, I’m going to get into the church
the same way you did... and I’ll stand by my post. It’s what I was taught to
do.”
“Need help?”
“No. God will show me the way. Where are you
going?”
“On my road trip, I guess; better late than
never.” I walked out to the lot, unlocked my camper van and got into the driver’s
side. I knew what the pastor was going to do, but I didn’t want to be there
when he...
As I pulled out of the driveway and onto the
street, I heard a gunshot echo from the church; causing me to slam on the
brakes and my stomach to lurch. I’ll be not only going on the road trip to
paint, but to also search out others.
I did have a question though: was a left
here as a bad guy or a good guy? I guess I’ll never know.
