through the woods around his cabin, eyes forever open, always on the lookout for any unwarranted movement in the trees or in the snow. Toward the end of the season, he moved the last of his food into his cabin. It took a single trip.
chapter 5
Empty.
The world is composed of matter; everything having mass that occupies a certain volume. Few, if any, places on Earth exist where there is truly nothing. A human body is packed densely, a river runs deep with water, hydrogen and oxygen. Even the “empty” air we breathe is filled with nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide. It is a rare thing for any place on Earth to be void of everything, void of life, of death.
David remembered the old man’s feeble attempts to teach him these things. They never did make sense. As he walked numbly alongside the river, he realized just how mad those notions truly were. All around him was emptiness. He was barren, this valley was abandoned, the world was empty. Nothing remained. He was the last one to continue to take up space in this place, and soon enough he would be gone too, forgotten by the land and the last of the plants until something came along that finished them off too. Even then the world would be, could be, no more empty than it was now. Neither did David imagine he could be any more destitute if he were dead as he stumbled along the riverbank, no conscious thoughts, no feelings, just hollow wandering.
He rubbed his puffy, red eyes and looked down at his feet as he walked, not even wanting to acknowledge the world as it held up all the emptiness on a mocking platter before him. He hadn’t even seen an animal since winter, since he had thrown away his last chance of a fresh meal. His feet slogged across the wet ground, soaked with the rain that had been constant for who knows how long. David looked down at his ankles and knew they were wet but felt nothing. It had been so long since he had felt anything, even something as simple as wet feet through soaked boots. He watched his clumsy feet drag through the underbrush that clung to his boots. His feet refused to even bother lifting themselves clear of the stringy grass and vines. He noticed through his haze that his feet were lazy and raised his eyes to the river, watching it run along, never ceasing, never slowing. It looked faster than it was once. Must be the rain. David imagined walking into the water, being carried away in the brawny arms of the river, taken away from this awful place, his body deposited on some other empty patch of Earth. Then it would really be over. It had been a long time since he had held any beliefs of a greater power. Who wanted one that let the world consume itself and leave its excrement on any chance of starting over anyway? This was the dark age from which the world would not recover. There would be no new nations, no revolutions or enlightenments, no industrial breakthroughs; this was the darkness that would never end, never be chased away by a new dawn.
If only the darkness would swallow him already.
David welcomed it, wanted to leap headfirst into the raging torrent of water and embrace the knowledge that death was upon him, welcome the darkness that would envelope him when he ran out of air. He wanted so badly to know that he would join those who had already left this world, even if it was only in death, bound together in the eternal bonds of inexistence. He wanted to see his mother again, feel her hand on his forehead when he thought he was sick. He was bigger now, big enough to give his brothers a beating for a change. He’d never had the chance to do that. The old man… His best friend. David could see him smiling in that way he did when David grasped hopelessly at things he wanted to understand, things the old man would blather on about but could never explain in a way
chapter 5
Empty.
The world is composed of matter; everything having mass that occupies a certain volume. Few, if any, places on Earth exist where there is truly nothing. A human body is packed densely, a river runs deep with water, hydrogen and oxygen. Even the “empty” air we breathe is filled with nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide. It is a rare thing for any place on Earth to be void of everything, void of life, of death.
David remembered the old man’s feeble attempts to teach him these things. They never did make sense. As he walked numbly alongside the river, he realized just how mad those notions truly were. All around him was emptiness. He was barren, this valley was abandoned, the world was empty. Nothing remained. He was the last one to continue to take up space in this place, and soon enough he would be gone too, forgotten by the land and the last of the plants until something came along that finished them off too. Even then the world would be, could be, no more empty than it was now. Neither did David imagine he could be any more destitute if he were dead as he stumbled along the riverbank, no conscious thoughts, no feelings, just hollow wandering.
He rubbed his puffy, red eyes and looked down at his feet as he walked, not even wanting to acknowledge the world as it held up all the emptiness on a mocking platter before him. He hadn’t even seen an animal since winter, since he had thrown away his last chance of a fresh meal. His feet slogged across the wet ground, soaked with the rain that had been constant for who knows how long. David looked down at his ankles and knew they were wet but felt nothing. It had been so long since he had felt anything, even something as simple as wet feet through soaked boots. He watched his clumsy feet drag through the underbrush that clung to his boots. His feet refused to even bother lifting themselves clear of the stringy grass and vines. He noticed through his haze that his feet were lazy and raised his eyes to the river, watching it run along, never ceasing, never slowing. It looked faster than it was once. Must be the rain. David imagined walking into the water, being carried away in the brawny arms of the river, taken away from this awful place, his body deposited on some other empty patch of Earth. Then it would really be over. It had been a long time since he had held any beliefs of a greater power. Who wanted one that let the world consume itself and leave its excrement on any chance of starting over anyway? This was the dark age from which the world would not recover. There would be no new nations, no revolutions or enlightenments, no industrial breakthroughs; this was the darkness that would never end, never be chased away by a new dawn.
If only the darkness would swallow him already.
David welcomed it, wanted to leap headfirst into the raging torrent of water and embrace the knowledge that death was upon him, welcome the darkness that would envelope him when he ran out of air. He wanted so badly to know that he would join those who had already left this world, even if it was only in death, bound together in the eternal bonds of inexistence. He wanted to see his mother again, feel her hand on his forehead when he thought he was sick. He was bigger now, big enough to give his brothers a beating for a change. He’d never had the chance to do that. The old man… His best friend. David could see him smiling in that way he did when David grasped hopelessly at things he wanted to understand, things the old man would blather on about but could never explain in a way
Similar Books
