Self-Fulfilling Catastrophe

            The sky to the east was becoming increasingly dark; clouds rolled in heavy with rain and eager to spill their load upon the silent city. A torrential downpour was on the way. Tired citizens rushed home as quickly as they could to avoid the deluge that would soon flood their streets.

            The floods had grown with each coming of the rains. The rivers and lakes swelled and engorged themselves from the clouds. They fed themselves from the seemingly unending rains and broke free of their limits; banks and beaches were overcome as the waters spread out and claimed new territory. Streets and buildings and sewers became filled with water, as if nature was trying to reclaim its lost territory with liquid revenge.

            We were on our last days. The first attack had been made.

           

“The world will end at the soundless dawn,” they said.

 

            I remember autumn as a boy, when I had to clean up the leaves and acorns that fell out of the trees. Sometimes it seemed as if my family and I were some sort of occupying force, and the acorns and leaves were the tree’s soldiers, sent out to reclaim the land from us, dispatched to blanket the ground with their infinite numbers and reclaim what was rightfully theirs. It was a futile effort on their part. Although… I couldn’t fault them for trying; I would do the same if my home was being invaded. The entire planet was fighting back now. Instead of trees dropping acorns volcanoes spit magma, the ground convulsed and split, and oceans hurled waves at the shore.

 

“The world will end at the soundless dawn,” they said through the years.

 

            The ending of the world was a self fulfilling prophecy. Thousands of people throughout thousands of years have predicted it and millions have believed them, no one ever thought to fight the inevitable. The end seemed as certain as death and taxes, and the Earth was treated carelessly. Wasn’t it going to end eventually anyway? Why bother preserve it when it’s just going to go away? They encouraged our planet’s destruction with their apathy. To these people Mother Nature’s revolt was merely prophecy come to fruition.

 

“The world will end at the soundless dawn.” They had predicted it, and now it was happening.

 

            I drove to the beach by myself to watch the world end in seclusion.

 

            I watched the sun rise up above the horizon, illuminating all that its light touched with a brilliant and ethereal glow. The waters of the ocean blazed with the colors of fire. A sea of flame stretched out before me, ready to swallow me up and embrace me with blazing arms. Clouds were burned from the sky by the piercing beams of light emanating from the sun. Ocean and sky contorted and danced together. They beckoned me to join them in their mad dance. The world was ending. The world was ending…the future looked so bright …

 

Author's Note

Yes, I stole the ending bit from the final scenes of Donnie Darko. Also, the whole "soundless dawn" bit is taken from the title of the Red Sparowes' album "At the Soundless Dawn".

"Immature poets borrow; great poets steal." - T.S. Eliot

Reviews

[Shellie]

This writing is fantastic!!! Really well done and put together, you structured it perfectly. Absolutely flawless. I have never seen Donnie Darko, so your ending will still be yours, to me.