Hi all,
another piece of flash fiction for you, enjoy!
The tide is out. The smoke from the stacks is pulled over my head and out to sea.
There’s no one on the beach. There are lots of men and women running around inside the power station, heaping coal into the furnaces. Or sitting in fake leather chairs, staring at green computer screens.
I’d hate to be out at sea. The wind is already strong on the beach and it gets worse the further you go from the shore. And the monsters out there, of course. That’s why the power stations all point their smoke out to sea. Something in the smoke. They’re allergic, that’s why they don’t come any closer.
I walk towards the power plant. Not so close that the security guards have to worry. The stacks are mottled from rain and age but still impressive. The smoke is almost the same colour as the clouds. A little whiter, a bit more yellow. The tiny soft stones under my feet squish in a puddle.
I look at the clouds. It’s been… 59 days. And 83 days since the time before that. So easily another 3 weeks before we can expect to see blue again. If the smoke stops the monsters could come in from the sea. Better to live with grey. But the grey makes it colder which means the clouds keep growing.
Once I saw a ship, far out and hazy with smoke. I remember shivering at how dangerous it must be, out on the ocean with just a little smoke stack to keep them away. If there was a fault it would be gobbled up immediately. Our power station was sending out plenty of smoke to help them on the water.
My mother tells me about black and white films. When she was younger films had no colour but real life did. Now its the other way around. The films show plenty of colour but life is black and white and grey and empty wet beaches and me by myself.
