Falling sadly to the ground like brittle aged leaves, multi-colored drops patter softly against the blackened watersoaked pavement. The clouds growing increasingly darker and more viscous by the minute, resemble in some ways the on coming of the black plague. Everyone is affected, all are reduced to helpless pitiful creatures beneath the blanket of this sinister monster.
"A scruffy old bag man's life came to an abrupt halt in the Toys "R" Us parking lot earlier this evening, the newscaster sadly reported. Rumor has it he was dreaming of how his life used to "shine", as he resided beneath his wet soggy cardboard box. He lie asleep on the loading dock parking lot. Ironically, this was a place used to ship toys to the children of the community, bringing them laughter and hope for hapiness in the future. He was crushed like an insect benath a giant, monster-sized boot. An eighteen wheeled steel box weighing thousands of pounds, preyed upon this lost lonely soul. With the engine roaring loud and angry, the operator of this death machine couldn't possibly know, that beneath those piles of rain soaked cardboard lie much more than the rain soaked pavement. This simpleton, this supposed fool of society never had a chance, but in his mind he probably knew more than most of us, and perhaps he was luckier than most of us will be. In other news........"
Suddenly, my daydream was halted by a loud explosion, two massive fronts of air relentlessly smashing head on into each other. This viscous sound reminded me of a horrible automobile accident once witnessed by these very eyes. Five thousand pounds of steel, loaded with enormous amounts of horsepower, explosive gases and human stupidity raced ferociously down the abandoned highway that bordered my quiet suburban home. With neither driver able to relinquish his manhood, they compromised their stupidities with a nightmarish crash that instantly awoke me in my dark murky bedroom. I scrambled to the clear glass that separated me from the outside world to envision a blazing orange flame reaching nearly fifty feet into the sky. The end of the world I envisioned. My entire life flashed by, as a flame engulfed body staggered across the abandoned highway finally succumbing to the intense heat, and calmly dropping to the slippery looking blacktop. It was raining that day...........
Another burst of thunder and a sharp streak of white electric light shot to the ground across the tall empty grass field in front of my mind. The song on the radio blasted, "This is the end, my only friend the end." Maybe, Mr. Mojo was rising.....;
A few hours passed as I managed to occupy my mind on work as several customers hurriedly filled the wholesale bakery. They all looked pale and tired as though sleep had avoided them for sometime. They were nervous, anticipating something was about to happen. Rinnnnnng, the phone bellowed out a hollow echoing sound. The hoarse voice on the other end groaned, "Is this really the end, " as the receiver quietly clicked, cutting me off from this maniac. Quickly, I turned as a large shadow appeared over my shoulder. A dark sadistic cloud was creeping over the horizon. A cloud unlike any seen before. It was filled with a multitude of deep angry colors and appeared to have some animalistic form to it. I sensed I was hallucinating, as it had the look of a human face with a pair of long snakelike arms spanning from horizon to horizon.
The drizzling has been falling for such a time that people can no longer remember the last vision of sunshine. Depression has set in so deeply that people, already filled with hatred in this New York suburb have lost any control they may have once had.
Seven violent murders have taken place in the last few days and many more are expected as tensions mount. Fear and panic is running deep as can be seen in their deep sunken dark eyes. Although no one ever speaks of it, it is blatantly clear. You can feel it in the tone of their voice, almost see into their minds as if you were watching a movie on the big screen, yet no one speaks of the terror they feel inside. Like a wise old man who seems to know he has played out his time. They say you can't explain it, you just get a feeling inside. Disater is lurking on the edge of town. Fear has been triggered in all forms of life, from man, down to the neighborhood dog. The anticipation and all that waiting seems to be over. Now, I'm praying with all my might as we face our greatest battle.
Less and less people are filling the malls and streets. Hot sweltering traffic jams that used to be a standard part of life in northern New Jersey are non-existent. People seem to be running, but where can they hide? If the end is inevitiblethere there is nowhere to go. In War of the Worlds everyone felt like they were awoken from a nightmare as it was merely a hoax. I only hope we can feel the same relief. Few signs of real life exist anymore, one being the tall grass and weeds that have grown out of control. The one strange thing about this whole nightmare is the lack of flooding. It's almost as if the water is being absorbed back into the atmosphere as fast as it falls. The cycle seems to have speeded up. It's hard to believe that just a short while ago a drought crippled two-thirds of the earth. Famine, disease world hunger and years of prayer. Prayers for a seemingly endless commodity, water. So long without it, so taken for granted, a precious cycle. An average is an average and will always balance out, but extremes are so dangerous.......So dangerous............
The radio announcer sighed, "The Willowbrook Mall will be closing this Friday for the entire weekend, and will continue to do this every weekend until further notice."
Turning slowly I cautiously gaze into the open field behind me. The cloud formation seems to be edging closer now, as it has so many times before. This time it's different, as it's details are much greater. The face on the clouds appears to be one of distress and anger. Now spanning across the entire horizon. It's much more graphical and intense. It's boasting a deep shade of purple with black overtones. It's "arms" are streched across the sky appearing to be holding the Earth within its' grasp.
Thinking back, I remember years past, basking in the beautiful warm bright sunshine. It was so hot, so everlasting it seemed. I always remember the sun reflecting brilliantly off the Atlantic on the South Jersey shore. Young girls baking their beautiful tanned bodies in the majestic heat, occassionally cooling off in the crystal sea of blue water. The glow from their hair, the gleam in their eyes as they almost lit up electrically, enjoying the greatest days of their lives. Brilliant smiles under the colorful rays of the sun.
Now everyone's eyes are dark and cold, almost seeming to sink deeper inside their heads, distant and angry. Who knew then that we should have been taking advantage of the last few years of true sunlight?
Time passed on slow and progressively worse as the pastel colored bright blue sky melted to a deep shade of gray. Even on the clearest days, you could start to see the true blue had started to disappear from the sky's color pattern. Year after year as the once fluffy white clouds were slowly brushed out to see by the darkened angy clouds. We were told it was simply a climate change, a cycle. The cycle stopped. After four years of enourmous amounts of rain, the water stopped coming, yet the sky remained a deep shade of gray. Almost as though we were given a warning to change our ways. four more years, no rain, and now this!
