• The Vision



    Elizabeth looked out her window as rain pelted against the window. This was never an unusual site; for most of her life her town experienced endless rain. This constantly dreary weather had her always wearing a raincoat and boots. She got into these daily necessities as she trotted out of her undecorated bedroom and quietly walked down the seemingly ancient wooden stairs of her house.

    Her extensive, dark auburn hair was pinned up completely except for her side-sweeping bangs which were left to whispily go with the breeze as she opened the door to the sound of the pattering rain outside. her turquoise eyes taking an unimpressed look at the rain, she stepped and looked up just to reasure herself that there was no sunlight and that it was just rain as usual. Her eyes suddenly made themselves to an unusual and surprising presence, light. Her mouth was open for a split second, amazed that there was actually a ray of light forcing its way through.

    Suddenly, an intense sensation overtook her, keeping her from advancing any further. Her beautiful eyes closed, feeling the sensation of warmth in her chest. She pictured it, a magnificent, radious object that could only be one thing. Below it, a prismatic blue sky, reflecting the seven colors. These things were unknown to her, but they were, for some reason, beckoning, welcoming, practically singing.

    The soaked pavement of the sidewalk was gone, replaced by shimmering, unstable platforms of orange rocks, that formed a splendid canyon. Elizabeth still continued to look above, her hair now sparkling with a red shimmer. She felt like there was an innate happiness in the air. It could've been the light, the warmth, the secure feeling. Her fair skin felt it everywhere, surrounding her, radiating off of the mystical rocks. Everything felt at peace, sublime.

    Such a beautiful vision of a blue sky with the radious song of the sun could only last for so long. The illusion began to fade away quickly as the girl opened her eyes, seeing a beauty that she had probably only seen in memories long erased from her mind. A small, brown haired girl with dull, grey eyes finished the process of Elizabeth's dissilusionment as she began to speak.

    "Lizzy! Come on, if we don't hurry, the rain might get worse and then we'll be late!" the fair-skinned girl worried as she tugged at Elizabeth's hand and they began to splash around, running through the nearly empty streets and walkways towards their school.

    "Shea, do you think you're going too fast here?" Elizabeth asked rhetorically before laughing for a second and then letting go of her friend, Shea's hand as they both ran side by side towards an ever-nearing building. "Ah, yes, Sunshine Elementary," Elizabeth called out the school's name, with an unimpressed tone as to show the irony of it all.

    "Yeah, the last time there was sunshine here was 2015, I believe," Shea said with a detached tone of voice as if she were trying to remember it more than actually add any emotional responce to the sentence.

    "Yeah . . . and today is the second of June, 2035," Elizabeth responded, trying not to become too depressed about the subject, especially after that beautiful illusion that had captivated her mind.

    Soon, they entered the school. After wiping their boots on the large carpet in front of the three sets of doors, the two proceeded with their backpacks in tow, to a hallway on the left. As they approached their class, the all too familiar sound of the pelting rain splashed onto the fiber glass roof. Elizabeth and her friend then proceeded to open the door. The feel of artificial warmth comforted them slightly as they hung their coats and backpacks on hooks from a large class set, and sat down on desks in the second to front row.

    The classroom was unusual, having a see-through ceiling. Plants adorned vacant spots in small little pots, the smell of mint wafting slightly in the air. Her young eyes were used to this, having been in the crammed halls of the educational facility for about 9 months. She stared down at the pink pencil she had placed and the finished homework on the other end of the desk. Her friend, seeking to be seemingly less enthusiastic about personalizing her work, had typed up her homework, and had a generic number 2 pencil, nothing special.

    "Okay, children, walk up to the front of the class and place your homework at the front of my desk when I call your row," the middle-aged teacher said, her voice barely short of raspy.

    Soon, she called out the rows. Elizabeth had done her homework, but she began questioning silently why Ms. Hawthorne would need to keep them busy with homework until the second to last day of school. Was the educational system corrupt or just the teacher wondered the young girl in her mind as she placed her neatly printed homework on the obviously aging lady's desk. A routine "this was a bit too expected" look appeared on Ms. Hawthorne's face as the dark haired girl strolled back to her seat.

    --Secret Laboratory Head Quarters, U.S.A.--

    The rain was pelting down on a large warehouse as a truck was beginning to unload inside of it. The truck was adorned with bullet proof armor, showing the importance of the items contained inside. The truck driver and a few armed men slowly began to open the back of the truck, a glimming light slowly releasing itself as the light soon flooded into the room, the back completely opened.

    "You got the sunglasses?" The truck driver asked one of the armed men as he took out a weapon that seemed foreign to most people.

    "Yes, sir; Our senior commander would like to thank you for your cooperation," The two armed men responded, their voice leaving no signs of inflection or emotion.

    "Why thank . . ." The man was suddenly shot with an injection of what appeared to be lethal.

    The man's grattitude and service was apparently not enough for them, for they had injected the man with a lethal dose of cyanide. Within minutes, the poor overweight truck driver fell on his back; and like a turtle, he would never get up after doing so. The guards then turned to the source of gleaming light. Unfortunately, in killing the possible witness to the secret operations of their commander, they unleashed a key part in the operation itself. The two men tried to hold back a long grimace as they pictured their steady and high income being taken in a matter of minutes.

    ----"Belief in the absence of illusions is itself an illusion." ~Barbara Grizzuti Harrison---