Michael Szilagyi

Gone, and Nearly Forgotten

I still remember the first day I saw her, the Old Woman digging through the wrecked house across the broken street from me. I was surprised to see someone of her age out on their own; most elderly people either lived in the compounds scattered across the ravaged country or did not live very long. The world was no longer kind to the elderly and infirm, the EVENT saw to that, half the world population died in the first week, millions more died the following months who knows how many survived now. The Old Woman was probably in her mid-twenties when it happened. I watched her continue to dig through the house. Part of me wanted to go over and see what she was looking for, to see if I could help, but the cautious part of my mind warned me to stay away, she could be bait, sick, insane. I did nothing, just stood there, and watched. She seemed to become more frantic as she dug through the wreckage, then the yelling started. “NO NO NO! it’s not here! This… this has to be it! where is it!?”. she collapsed on the ground and started to sob, my heart twinged, and I almost rushed over to help. I turned around and walked away, you cannot afford sympathy anymore.