Aleks

As I walked along the vast fields of empty earth, I could feel the thick air collecting in my lungs. My clothing clung to my slight frame and my palms were moist with nervous persipiration. A distinct smell of putrid flesh assualted my nostrils and threatened the already sickening sensation in my stomach. All around me small rodents scurried about, searching for scraps of food in the already desolate landscape. Tall, gnarly trees stood before me; their branches stretched towards the pale sun in what appeared to be painful contortions of thin fingers. A few dead leaves remained, swaying sadly in the light breeze. When pausing to dig my toes in the mud, as I did when a child, I felt worms squirming their way through the earth. Dark birds circled the sky in fluid motions in what seemed like a desperate attempt to find rest, but there was no rest here. This place was just a wasteland, a ghost of the wonders it once held.

Looking up at the sky was like looking into the murky water of the river, looking into the river was like looking at the night sky, only not as comforting. To think this was the place that once held my childhood in it's warm, sunny palm. I couldn't believe how different my surroundings were to the place in my memories. Despite the grotesque state of it all, something drew me to walk further on. I simply couldn't pull away. I walked towards the very centre of the field where I used to hide amoungst the long stalks of vegetation. Here the ground was just as fruitless as the rest, except for one modest strawberry bush sitting half-buried in dirt. I crouched down to take a closer look and found a tiny strawberry amoungst the green-brown leaves. I remembered enjoying fruits just like this one with my mother after a long day of collecting them in our wicker baskets. I found this small token oddly encouraging, as if there was a shard of hope somewhere in this pool of despair.