Fallen Stanger
By: Madison Miller
Dear Somebody,
I don’t know who’s reading this. If anyone is even reading this at all. I am probably
writing this useless letter just for it to float around the world mindlessly. Though that’s not the point.
They told us it’s happening today, so I felt like I had to tell someone before it’s all gone.
It started happening exactly two weeks and five days ago. No one noticed it at first. No
one could notice it, but then the third day passed. Something felt wrong. So utterly,
disgustingly wrong. Although nothing looked wrong. The grass was still its bright, emerald
green. The skies and oceans were still their perfect shade of blue, and everyone was still silently
breathing their oxygen, as far as we could tell.
Another day passed. Nothing. Then another, and another, and another. Until seven
days had passed, and someone finally figured out what was wrong. Yet no one said a single word
to anyone. Two more days passed. Then the news.
I had been sitting outside on my parents' old, white swing swaying silently in the
moonlight. That's when they came out and told me. It looked relatively dark for only being four o'clock,
but I didn’t give it a second thought as my eyes had been tired from a long day of school. My
parents slowly crept behind me making me jump as they each placed a hand on either shoulder.
Their voices were no louder than a whisper, but it felt like they were screaming at me. My body
shuddered under the weight of their hands as I realized what they had just told me.
The sun was dying. It had been for years, but no one cared. No one in their selfish, little
minds cared. No one did anything. So now the world was growing dark. It had been for years.
Although it was slow and effortlessly, and no one seemed to notice. Until now, when the process
had sped up at such a rate that no scientist could explain it, no matter how hard they tried.
So now no one moves. We all just wait. We know what we're waiting for. It's just that no
one is brave enough to say it out loud, so we don’t.
A bitter cold has encased us, and no matter how warm you think that you’ve become, the
frost just keeps coming back. It’s been two weeks and five days. Three days of nothing, six days
of silence, and ten days of indescribable cold.
Now comes my goodbye. I don’t know who I’m saying goodbye to, but if someone is
actually reading this, I wish you the best in life. I hope you are surrounded by people who aren’t
as selfish as the people I was left with in this cruel world. I hope you are always warm. I hope
you smile. I hope you dream.
Goodbye Stranger. See you in another world.
Sincerely,
A Stranger