Grey city

Adam was a young boy, and the only color he truly knew was grey. He lived in the heart of a sad city, practically abandoned. What human life did reside here, was trapped inside by insurmountable, gateless walls. there was no sun here, so the only light that existed was the grey muddled streams that showed from some of the few surviving streetlamps. Clouds stifled the city, leaving it damp, and causing a constant drip from rooftops to form a lonely background song. The chilling, never-ending breeze whistled between the buildings, always searching for collars to creep down, or any way to disturb a night's rest through the cracks of a building.

It was in one of these buildings that Adam lived alone with his older sister, Esther. They had always lived in this grey world, almost always alone. Both of their parents died while Adam was still young. All they left behind was a single heart shaped locket, entrusted to Esther by their mother, and which she always wore around her neck. Adam would often crawl into his sister's lap to escape the cold that crept in through the crumbling walls; and holding the locket in his hands, he would ask what his parents had looked like. When he was still small Esther would talk for hours about their parents, but with time her stories became shorter, and she struggled to remember. As the memories of her parents faded away, their stories were replaced by the legends surrounding the last skyscraper in the city.

It stood at the very center, tall and dark. The many holes in the walls and boarded up windows caused an ominous whistle to come from the building day and night, as the winds zipped around the ancient passageways. At its base stood one solitary entrance, a vault door. This would open once a year, on the 28th day of September, at 10pm, for 10 minutes. Atop the building stood a large platform, almost as big as the old football stadium, and from it came a bright light. With the help of binoculars, Adam and Esther could barely make out the green grass textures against the glass pane walls.

Esther would spend hours recounting stories of the green grass, and beautiful trees, heavily laden with fruit. Adam could sense the hope in her voice as she told him this was the only place in the city that poked through the clouds and saw the sunlight. It was said that if you entered the building in the 10-minute window and passed through the tests inside the ancient skyscraper you could ascend to the platform and live a life in the warm sunshine. But few dared go near the building, as the city was equally rife with tales about the skyscraper as they were about the platform on top.

Esther always told him that they would ascend the building together and live their lives on top, basking in the sun, never worrying again about the hunger or the cold. Life would then be filled with color, and happiness.

Finally, their time came. Esther’s locket snapped and fell into the unknown, and with nothing to remember their parents by, Adam and Esther decided to move on. They packed their few belongings on to their backs and walked toward the entrance. Esther pulled him along as she walked briskly through the streets. The wind blew in their faces as if to keep them from reaching their goal, and the time of the vault door’s opening crept closer.

At last, they reached the entrance. The wind howled from high above them as they stared at the door, waiting for it to open. Adam could feel distant eyes on his back as the few locals hid behind the nearby buildings, watching them, but too afraid to come closer.

The door started to creak open. Rust crumbled and fell to their feet as the door dragged itself across the ground. Looking at Adam, Esther nodded and turned into the dark building. As Adam stepped inside the building, the vault door immediately closed behind him. Esther looked worried for a moment, as this clearly wasn’t 10 minutes, but fearing she would scare Adam she pushed forward. The dim light from outside squeezed itself through the cracks in the building to reveal the interior. Emptiness. There were no chairs or offices, only a staircase in the far corner of the building rising high into the darkness, beyond what either of them could see. As they stepped towards the staircase, they feared what test might lie ahead.

Hours crept slowly by as they wearily ascended the steep metal steps. Each step loudly echoed then faded down into the darkness below. Adam stumbled as he peered over the edge and would have fallen if his sister had not grabbed him. Both were motivated by dreams of the bright world above, and it gave them strength.

Finally, they had made it to the roof. Crawling up upon the concrete they saw the bottom of the platform that they had dreamed of for so long and smiled in relief. A hatch opened slowly revealing a faint light from above. From the opening dropped a ladder with a timer attached, indicating they had 20 seconds to come inside. Invigorated by this new encouragement they rushed toward the entrance. Adam sped forward across the roof and started to ascend the ladder but was cut short as he heard a loud noise from behind him. Looking back, he saw his sister grabbing on to anything she could as her body dangled from the edge of a large hole. The dilapidated building’s roof had started to collapse, and she had fallen through. Adam looked uneasily at her as the timer counted down. 10... 9... 8... He looked into her eyes as they pleaded for his help. 7... 6... 5... It was a long fall to the bottom. 4... But the dream of living in warmth and comfort, in color. 3... Adam looked at her and mouthed the words “I’m sorry” as he dashed up the ladder, quickly followed by the loud slam of the hatch behind him.

He stood in a long hallway leading to another vault door. The only light came from a sign above the door which read, “One Way”. Adam eagerly walked up to the door and grabbing ahold of the handle he swung it open. He breathed in and stepped forward as the door swung shut behind him.

Except there was no warmth. He stood in a large room with glass paned walls; weeds sprung up from the cold rusted metal flooring and a single pale light flickered from the ceiling. Along the walls, he could see green chipped paint in the shape of grass blades. The same paint which had appeared to be grass blades before. The mocking wind crept in from the corners and whisked by his ears, whispering to him, “Fail”. At the very center of the room stood a wilted tree with no leaves. Adam came closer, his eyes hollow, and pulled a trinket from the lowest hanging branch. A small heart-shaped locket.

Adam is a young boy, and the only color he truly knows is grey. He lives in the heart of a sad city, trapped in the top of its last skyscraper.