Window of Dying Hope

The outside world was unknown to her, but she could see a glimpse of it through the window in his room. She was not aware of any other windows, it was the only window. All the other windows had been sealed up long ago according to the stories. But she didn’t know if they were true.

When she had first started to visit him he had made her swear to never tell anyone that he had it. He seemed truly afraid about anyone finding out about it at the time. That fear was still there in him. Just as fresh and raw as that day so many years ago, despite him now being old and frail.

She wondered why the old man was the only one with a window. She tried to ask him once, but he got angry and had shouted at her that she would never understand and to never ask him that question again. She remembered that he had been on the verge of tears.

She found him to be very strange. His attachment to that window was baffling. She had caught him staring out of it to the world beyond on a number of occasions. Wondering what the big deal was she had started to steal glimpses out of the window when he wasn’t looking. He had been right, she didn’t understand.

The first time she looked out the window she was blinded by the bright light. She was so used to the dim lights of the light bulbs that the brightness of the outside world came as quite the shock. Why was it so bright, she wondered. She tried again and the light didn’t affect her so badly.

She what she saw was baffling. There was some strange green stuff on the floor of the outside and something blue on the ceiling of the outside world. What is all that, she wondered.

She must have asked the question out loud because the old man answered her. He explained that floor was actually called the ground and the green stuff was called grass. He also explained to her that the ceiling was actually called the sky and that it just kept going on forever. She hadn’t heard him behind her at all. She knew he was sneaky, but she didn’t know he was that good. He had gotten her pretty good.

He had continued to explain over the next few days that the grass was actually alive and growing. He also explained that there were other “plants” outside that did the same thing. He went on to explain “animals”, “birds” and other strange things about the outside world. The outside world sounded frightening to her, but there was something else that frightened her more. The way the old man had become excited talking about the outside world and the look he would get on his face was incredibly disturbing.

Her whole life the only thing she had known were the dark stone walls. Someone had told her once that it was called concrete. Someone else had called it cement. Either way, it was home and it was safe. This outside was just too much to comprehend. Why would anyone want anything to do with it?

There was already plenty of excitement inside. Just socializing with her numerous acquaintances through her social platform was very exciting and fun. The old man had asked her once if she had met any of them face to face. It had been her turn to become angry. She had yelled at him how incredibly rude that was and to even ask for such a thing was crossing a line.

He then had asked if she considered any of them her “friend”. She had replied by asking what a “friend” was. The old man then looked at her funny, like he was sad and then told her he felt sorry for her and that her and her generation is truly a pathetic, lost cause.

She had never been more infuriated in her life. She couldn’t believe the audacity of the old man. She didn’t understand it, but somehow she had known that he meant that as an insult. She had been visiting him all that time despite how socially awkward it was and he never showed any appreciation. Insulting her like that was too much.

She remembered that she had come up with a plan to make him pay for that insult. A plan to make him experience his worst fear. She had decided that him having the last window to the outside world had made him into an entitled person and that he needed to be brought down a few pegs.

Her plan had been to take away the one thing he treasured, his precious window. She had contacted the authorities and reported the window.It didn’t take long for them to assemble everyone needed to seal up the window. She made sure she was present when they did because she wanted to watch and record the old man suffering.

Making people suffer in some form and then posting the video of it on the social platform was an incredibly popular thing to do. Everyone enjoyed watching the anguish. Watching these videos was one of her favorite activities, but she had never actually posted a video before. However, she found that she would never get the chance.

When everyone entered the small room they had found the old man sitting in his chair staring out the window. It wasn’t until she was in front of him that the excited smile she had dropped as she realized he was dead. He had died with a peaceful smile on his face and that had enraged her even more.

The authorities had later found that he had no living relatives. So what possessions he had were going to the government. There had been a something called a “letter” that the old man had written to her before he died. The contents of that “letter” had made her so angry and sick that tears of pure rage ran down her face.

He had written that he knew she didn’t like working as his visitor over those few years. And when he had caught her looking out the window to the outside world he had had a glimmer of hope that her generation might find the courage to tear down all the walls and go back outside where they truly belonged, but that she had been a real disappointment and proved that people now truly were a lost cause.

The letter had also been his last will and testament, and he had left her that room. She had known it wasn’t out of kindness or their acquaintance. It had been her punishment for what she had tried to do to him. It was a constant reminder of how he got the last laugh. How he got the better of her again.

She hated that room and would have given it up, but one of her acquaintances talked her out of it stating that it was a prime room that anyone would have killed to own. So, she held onto it without ever using it.

When she finally had been given a baby to raise she decided to give him that room. Now, she stood in that room and realized that was a mistake. Her son had been acting very distant over the recent years as he did not talk to her much on her social platform anymore, if at all.

Earlier that day she had received a “goodbye” message from him that she found out he had sent to all his acquaintances. She had no idea what was going on, but she knew she had to get to that room. She had a feeling that she was already too late.

She got to that room and was greeted with the newly reopened window shining back at her in all it’s glory. Somehow, her son had carved out the window from the wall. She then noticed the sheets had been tied together with on end tied to one of the bed legs and the other end went out the window. From there she found a box on the bed and a “letter” next to it.

She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. That old rage from so long ago began to well up in her again. She stormed over to the bed and analyzed the contents of the box. It was filled with what she was pretty sure were pictures, but ones you could hold. She knew what the images were as she remembered what that old man had described to her years ago.

They were pictures of the outside world and written on the back were descriptions of what they were. There were stories about these places and what it was like to be there. They even had directions of how to get to these places.

She then found instructions on how to make a “rope ladder” from the bed sheets and how long it needed to be for someone to “climb” down to the “ground” safely. The “letter” this time told of the old man’s story, what lead people to isolate themselves in this concrete tower, and what the reader of this “letter” should do next.

She then found another “letter” that was for her. In it he explained that he left the room to her in hopes that either she would change her mind about the outside world or she would give the room to someone that would share in his dream of going back to the outside world.

It continued on that he left the box hidden in his chair cushion and that if someone sat in the chair they would find it. She looked up to see the old man’s now torn up chair. She couldn’t bring herself to read the rest of the “letter”.

He had done it again. The old man had gotten the better of her again. The first time when he was alive, the second when he died and now the third from beyond the grave.

She sat on the bed defeated and cried. She didn’t totally understand why she was crying. She thought it was purely from rage, but that wasn’t quite right. Her chest ached in a way she had never experienced before and she had never been so confused.

She stopped crying for just a moment, went to the open window and looked out to the outside world. There in the distance she saw her son walking through the “grass”. She could tell that he had the same look of excitement on his face that the old man did so long ago when he would talk about the outside.

She stood there and watched him disappear into the distance and she thought that he was such an idiot. She turned, wiped away her tears and walked out of the room confident that her son would return when he got bored. She would have no idea that moment was the last time she was ever going to see her son again.