“Looking up at the sky, we see a vast blueness, an open horizon, a blazing white op proudly lighting up the world, and floating waves of fluffy white cloud. Do you see it, the world is beautiful. Specks of white dust reflected sunlight dancing in the air like thousands of glittering gems. The wind gently caresses your hair, the messenger of Gods, always there to guide your way.”

“Look behind you, what lovely scenery, people walking about, kids running and laughing, bright smiles on everyone’s faces. Some pine and maple wooden houses, fragrance smoke came out from the furnace, dried fruit and smoked meat sit by the window, waiting to be consumed, what a feast. Oh my! Is that a mull ox? Did Mr. 9 catch it, I knew he has the potential to be a great hunter, if only…”

“Grandma! You are getting sentimental again.” A young, androgynous voice interrupts my thoughts.

“Grandma, did you drink the juice my Da gave you, he said that it is good for your health and will help you focus”. Smarty followed up by reminding me to drink that dreadful concoction, what did D even put in there?

“Grandma, Grandma, what happened after that, why didn’t the girl keep the radio, it was an old tech right, it should fetch a ton now.” It was Milky, what did B teach the girl for her to… Wait, what is she wearing? Was it an old tech wristband?

“Grandma, can we get back to the story please?” This time it was Princess, the prettiest girl in this small village, asking with clapping hands in front of her blue, and pink frilly dress, big cat-like eyes open wide, selling cuteness.

““Please!”” And of course, the princess had spoken and so go the rest.

“But aren’t you guys bored, listening to such depressing stories?” I ask in a perplexed tone, unsure if I should tell such young children about this story.

“It’s not depressing at all.” It was Princess, taking the lead once again.

 “Yes, it’s fun listening to the radio. The guy was funny, who would use words like 'fucking' nowadays.” Milky says in a cheerful tone. I should really have a word with B.

“Hey, what is 'fucking' anyway?” Spiky asks aloud, unsure if I am going to answer that question, so he directs it at Milky.

“Yes, yes what is fucking, Milky?” Now, I regret ever telling them about the radio, I had been caught up in the memories and forgot to skip some unnecessary parts. I guess old habits die hard. But first, I need to change the topic.

Clapping my hand, I gather all the shorties’ attention. “Now children, who like to listen to stories.” All heads immediately turn to stare at me, like the security personnel on old floating cities listening to speaker broadcasts. I have managed to change the topic successfully. For now.

Taking a few seconds to juggle my psy-mind, the only thing that can still function normally in my rotten body, I delved into the past, digging up old memories of the foggy world that has long been lost to the passage of time.

The sky was a picture of bleakness, black fog shrouded the sky like a blanket covering the Earth in darkness. A few rays of sunlight fell down through clouds of black fog, a faint trait of white in the black boundary.

Far below the black sky, New York City lay in ruin. The once center of the world economy, the city that never sleeps, a beacon of light that forever shines in the dark of night was no more. Now decorated the city was crumbling buildings and floating black crystals, among millions of other broken things. In the middle of this abandoned city, near the crooked 24th Street sign, was a young girl.

The girl looked out of place standing there in a one-piece, gorgeous black dress. With a blank face, the girl looked up at the signboard, eyes wide and unmoving. She looks more like a doll than a living human being.

In the middle of the wide but empty intersection of New York City, stood a pale figure dressed in black; the figure itself was as unalive as the scenery around her, painting a fitting frame for an apocalypse world.

But then, the previously perfect portrait of a doll cracked, and words flowed out of its mouth.

“I’m lost.” It was a statement or more like a confession. A confession that she, the girl that has transcended humanity, and became something akin to a God, had gotten lost in a city that she used to live in. Granted, the girl had never wandered outside of the subway station but once since the first Dark Fall, but with her psy-mind, she should process a photo memory of what she would like to remember. So how had she found herself in this situation?

“I had never been to this street before. It should have been the 17th street, but the sign says that this is the 24th street. Did I take a wrong turn somewhere?” Muttering to herself, the girl twirled around like a lost child, head spinning non-stop. Without the post-apocalypse New York City as a backdrop, the scene of a beautiful young girl twirling around in place with a fluttering glamorous black dress would have been bewitching.

After spinning around for about ten minutes, something sparked inside her psy-mind. A solution, a simple way to find her way home, a rather “best solution” for her entire journey that she could have used since the beginning.

Fly

Yes, the girl could have flown away from the Floating City 09, where she had been hiding, straight to home. But for some reason, the girl had spent the better half of ten years hiding among the outlanders, gathering scrap metal pieces to make herself a barely functional floating shiny cardboard that she called a boat to travel back to New York City, which took her almost another year. Then she had to spend another week walking around the crumbling city, exterminating black abominations that she could have totally avoided just by flying.

It was a shock. A shock so big that she felt embarrassed. A feeling that she hadn’t felt ever since the day that *** ****** her.

A rare tint of pink graced the girl’s round cheeks. Her eyes closed, eyelashes trembled a little, that must be due to the wind.

“That’s right, I didn’t forget that I can fly, it just that sailing and walking are the human way to do things. Yes! I have to be like a human, so sailing and walking is definitely the correct way to travel. No human can fly! So, I should not fly as well!” Thinking to herself, the girl reached the ultimate conclusion that flying should be banned from her list of “how to act like a human”, all the while her body began floating slowly to the sky.

“But this is an emergency! Yes, finding my home is more important right now, and it’s not like anyone is watching.” The girl spoke aloud in an affirmative tone, reassuring herself that flying was acceptable at the moment.

Sometimes, a person spends too much time living up to a lie that they forget the essence of their being. The girl had spent a decade hiding among the outlanders; living as a normal human, she hadn’t had any chance to get used to being an omnipotent existence. As the girl contemplated to herself, her body had drifted passed the tallest standing building.

At this time, the girl emerged from the deep debate inside her head, with the winning vote to veto flying from her future ventures. The girl had successfully retained her dignity. Satisfied with the outcome, she cast her gaze on the city below.

From far above, New York City looked like a bulldog head with a slightly open maw. The collapsed scene of a ruination megapolis painted a dull rusty color fur for the dog head. It even had an eye hole; a great crater appeared to be where the eye socket should be made for a perfect image.

“It would be interesting to keep one as a pet.” The girl thought. She had seen a dog before. Actually, she had seen many dogs, and other animals as well, before. On the first level of the floating city where she used to live, the managers there kept animals as pets. The girl has seen some dogs and cats wearing clothes, and eating fancy food that the workers in lower levels would kill for. The girl didn’t understand why there was such a huge gap in the quality of living between people in the same city. But the white-haired uncle who used to look after her had told her that people with different jobs enjoy different levels of treatment. She guessed that the managers have a more difficult job than the workers, so they get to live more luxuriously. But she failed to see how being a pet is more difficult than the labor that workers on lower levels do every day.

“They just eat and sleep, but maybe there is a trick to sleeping and eating like a pet that humans cannot do.” The girl thought. “I hope there are some animals still alive on the mainland, I would love to have one as well.”

The girl had consulted the white-haired uncle, but he told her that all other animals had gone extinct already and that only humans boarded the floating cities after the first Dark Fall occurred. “That’s just a dream,” or so he said. But the girl knew what she saw, not that she could explain to others without revealing her secret. No one is allowed to leave their assigned level after all, they would never get a chance to see a dog.

Lost in thought, the girl had somehow reached her destination. She had arrived right above the covered entrance of her home, now buried below layers of concrete, dust, and black crystals.

“I guess I have returned.” The girl murmured.

“I’m home.” It was a good decision not to fly from the beginning after all.

The girl was in denial, and she still is.