The Mountain and The City: A Post-Apocalyptic Tale by Brian Martinez Page B
Authors: Brian Martinez
Ads: Link
looking through the Windows from high up now, the Sky full of sharp Light. The Day brings the most danger and I should be watching for it.
My Head is like a filled-up Garbage Bag, how sometimes it's easier to roll them to the Steep than pick them up. Child is crouched at the Door with her head tilted and her small body stiff and it reminds me of the Wood when all the Beasts are asleep and there's no Wind pushing at it. She's listening to the Building with ears much stronger than mine, and I'm lucky for that, because I can barely hear.
Maybe if I close my Eyes I can hear better.
**
Only a blink and the Sun is out of my Eyes, over the Building and to the other side. I feel better without the Light screaming at me but how can the Sun move so fast? Time has lost its mind without me to keep it. Keeper of the Time, that's what I was.
**
Another blink and Child's gone.
**
She comes back through the Door. I sit up and ask her where she went, my Fingers waving her over, holding onto her arm when she comes close. Her pink skin feels cool against my Hand and that's not good. I shouldn't be warmer than her, not ever. Not the way they are.
“Why did you ask me if I've been here before?”
She shrugs.
“It's alright, you can tell me. I want to know.”
She looks around the Room but her eyes stay on the Couch. I try to remember what happened before, when we climbed the Stairs and came in.
“It was the Couch. I knew what color it was before I saw it.”
She nods.
“I must have come to this Building when I was small. The memory brought me back here.”
I notice she's hiding something behind her back.
“What do you have in your hand?”
The Apple is bright red. It makes me think of the dream, about my mother, the way her fingertips looked around my Wrist.
I grab Child by the wrist. “Did you go outside for this?”
She shakes her head and pulls her body away.
“Where is it from? Where did you get it?”
“Here.”
“You got it here, in the building?” She nods and I let go of her wrist. “I didn't know Apples grew Inside Buildings.” She holds her hand out, offering it to me. “You're not lying, are you? If you went outside you might have brought danger back with you.”
Her eyes stay on it. She's not saying any more, so I take it from her and bite into it. The Water feels good on my Throat, good until it starts to burn, and my Teeth hurt with every bite, but I keep biting.
Child watches me from the Floor.
“Are you hungry?”
She shakes.
“You had one already?”
She nods.
I don't know what else to say, so I eat the Apple she brought me.
**
I've decided the hardest thing I've ever decided.
With my Hand on the Window, I make sure the Sun goes away. When it's under the Ground and sleeping I turn to where Child is laying on the floor, in a nest she made of old paper. The foot with the Silvery Tape on it is dirty and needs to be taken care of.
A picture of my Hand stays behind on the Window.
“We're leaving the City.”
Her eyes open.
“The Munies will find us. Tomorrow or the next, one of them will track us here. They know the Trailer and they know the Cavern, so the only place we can go is away. But the more minutes we wait the worse I'm...”
Don't scare her.
“...The harder it will be.”
She stretches out in her nest, her arms and legs making straight lines as her mouth opens. She's ready for sleep, like the Sun, but she can't have it yet. Our bodies want sleep at different times, hers at Night and mine at Day, and one of us would have to change to stop that.
One of us would have to Change.
As we go to the Door I look to the other side of the Room, where Child went exploring earlier. There are things in the Wall that I remember spending a lot of Time looking at when I was small. Vision Boxes, I think they were called. Even as I look at them, instead of myself I see a picture of myself when I was small, watching the same
My Head is like a filled-up Garbage Bag, how sometimes it's easier to roll them to the Steep than pick them up. Child is crouched at the Door with her head tilted and her small body stiff and it reminds me of the Wood when all the Beasts are asleep and there's no Wind pushing at it. She's listening to the Building with ears much stronger than mine, and I'm lucky for that, because I can barely hear.
Maybe if I close my Eyes I can hear better.
**
Only a blink and the Sun is out of my Eyes, over the Building and to the other side. I feel better without the Light screaming at me but how can the Sun move so fast? Time has lost its mind without me to keep it. Keeper of the Time, that's what I was.
**
Another blink and Child's gone.
**
She comes back through the Door. I sit up and ask her where she went, my Fingers waving her over, holding onto her arm when she comes close. Her pink skin feels cool against my Hand and that's not good. I shouldn't be warmer than her, not ever. Not the way they are.
“Why did you ask me if I've been here before?”
She shrugs.
“It's alright, you can tell me. I want to know.”
She looks around the Room but her eyes stay on the Couch. I try to remember what happened before, when we climbed the Stairs and came in.
“It was the Couch. I knew what color it was before I saw it.”
She nods.
“I must have come to this Building when I was small. The memory brought me back here.”
I notice she's hiding something behind her back.
“What do you have in your hand?”
The Apple is bright red. It makes me think of the dream, about my mother, the way her fingertips looked around my Wrist.
I grab Child by the wrist. “Did you go outside for this?”
She shakes her head and pulls her body away.
“Where is it from? Where did you get it?”
“Here.”
“You got it here, in the building?” She nods and I let go of her wrist. “I didn't know Apples grew Inside Buildings.” She holds her hand out, offering it to me. “You're not lying, are you? If you went outside you might have brought danger back with you.”
Her eyes stay on it. She's not saying any more, so I take it from her and bite into it. The Water feels good on my Throat, good until it starts to burn, and my Teeth hurt with every bite, but I keep biting.
Child watches me from the Floor.
“Are you hungry?”
She shakes.
“You had one already?”
She nods.
I don't know what else to say, so I eat the Apple she brought me.
**
I've decided the hardest thing I've ever decided.
With my Hand on the Window, I make sure the Sun goes away. When it's under the Ground and sleeping I turn to where Child is laying on the floor, in a nest she made of old paper. The foot with the Silvery Tape on it is dirty and needs to be taken care of.
A picture of my Hand stays behind on the Window.
“We're leaving the City.”
Her eyes open.
“The Munies will find us. Tomorrow or the next, one of them will track us here. They know the Trailer and they know the Cavern, so the only place we can go is away. But the more minutes we wait the worse I'm...”
Don't scare her.
“...The harder it will be.”
She stretches out in her nest, her arms and legs making straight lines as her mouth opens. She's ready for sleep, like the Sun, but she can't have it yet. Our bodies want sleep at different times, hers at Night and mine at Day, and one of us would have to change to stop that.
One of us would have to Change.
As we go to the Door I look to the other side of the Room, where Child went exploring earlier. There are things in the Wall that I remember spending a lot of Time looking at when I was small. Vision Boxes, I think they were called. Even as I look at them, instead of myself I see a picture of myself when I was small, watching the same
Similar Books
