Future Reflections

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Alex GutierrezEnglish 200

January 18, 2011

Future Reflections

Roy trudged his feet across the ground, scraping his tattered shoes against the cracked

asphalt of the road. His skin was grimy and sweat rolled down his forehead. Hope showed in his

eyes, betraying his fatigued movement. Clank! Clank! Clank! The sound of a shovel beating

along metal followed him around, emanating from a man in ragged clothing.

"m not sure why you do that #nimus,$ Roy mumbled, wincing at each blow. The man

that he spoke to, #nimus, held up a rusted shovel and brought it down on another car. t didn"t

change much, the car was already burnt and destroyed% the same condition followed every

building and every other car that was in the forsaken city in which they traveled. The cars were

artifacts from the past, each more seemingly useless and outlandish than the previous.

&isten, when everything is destroyed n" crap, have nothin" betta" to do than t" smash

away at cars. '() #in"t no problem with what "m doin", *ust havin" me some fun!$ #nimus"

+uick and barely audible language was one of his many signs of distress. Roy felt pity towards

the man.

hat"s the cheerful savage doing now)$ # third body came from behind the group. He

was seemingly well-dressed as he managed to avoid rips and smudges on his shirt, and his

blonde hair contradicted the ravaged environment around them. His face showed no signs of

struggle% he was a man who seemed to have everything together in a world fallen apart.

ell a/, #nimus is beating his shovel on cars again0and you"re telling me you really

don"t hear that)$ Roy was envious of a/ during these times. a/ was plagued with a strange

mental insanity that caused him to believe that #nimus didn"t e/ist. He couldn"t hear or see

anything that #nimus did. The same went with #nimus towards a/. To each of them the other



wasn"t present. Roy wasn"t surprised when he first made the discovery% insanity tended to cling

to any survivors Roy met after the downfall. These had *ust been the two that weren"t interested

in Roy"s belongings or too unstable to coe/ist with.

Tell him to stop then) 1amn you need to be more in control of yourself,$ a/ replied in

an almost annoyed tone. 2till he was calm and almost immediately returned to his peaceful body

movement.

#nimus most likely noticed that Roy was in conversation with a/, because he +uickly

interrupted, hat the hell are ya" ramblin" on about)$

a/ suggests that tell you to stop messing around with your shovel!$ Roy blurted out.

He couldn"t avoid the whiny tone in which he said it% he was irritated. rritated because of the

noise, irritated because of their ignorance and insanity, irritated because he knew there would be

an argument to erupt between the two. The worst part was that he"d have to be their puppet and

state their words e/actly as they were meant. He once tried to alter #nimus" words to make one

of their arguments end, an act that changed a disagreement about music"s involvement in the

downfall to Roy pouting over a bruised arm. 3eedless to say, Roy knew his role in the group"s

structure. He was the voice of the group. They needed him almost as much as he needed them.

Roy was surprised when #nimus didn"t get enraged at the comment. He merely looked

down at his shovel and gripped it tightly in his hands. He gripped it until his veins started to

show and his skin turned red with tension, an act that was much calmer than #nimus" usual

response. 2till anticipating anything une/pected, Roy clenched all his muscles ready for any

possible attack by #nimus. However, #nimus didn"t swing his shovel at Roy. "ll be sayin" this

once, and once only. f you got a problem with anythin" do, *ust tell me and settle it like a man.



1'3"T #33#" H4#R #35TH3" #6'7T TH#T &TT&4 8'C4 3 5'7R H4#1! He

ain"t done anythin" to show the fact he e/ists. f somethin" seems too good to be true% it is. 1on"t

take a genius to know you"ve got some serious mental problems man. 6ut since "m a generous

gentleman, "ll make ya" a deal. hen see that a/ fellow ya" been talkin" to for so long now,

"ll drop my shovel n" obey to any demands ya" come up with.$ He continued to walk ahead of

the group% the blows against the cars were made with much more energy and enthusiasm.

Roy didn"t bother relaying the message to a/. t would only add tension in their constant

battle to prove to Roy that the other one wasn"t real. This ongoing struggle over Roy"s mentality

lasted since the beginning of the downfall. t was a tragic moment. The world was so intrigued

with the discovery of fire that it never considered one thing9 fire grows and spreads rapidly. t

was the discovery that sparked a change to mankind that lead to its inevitable end. The year :;<<

wasn"t ever prophesied or even thought of. deas lead to conflicts% conflicts lead to death% death

lead to revenge% revenge lead to the final flame to purge the world of its impurities, and only then

did the cycle end. a/ believed it had something to do with religion or political views and that

maybe those involved believed they were doing something right in some far-fetched sense.

#nimus didn"t see any *ustified side to mankind"s flaws. He once stated his theory while

searching through a convenient store for some rotted snacks, e"re all *ust a load of people

waitin" to take apart everything when we get the chance. e *ust wanna" take it apart and study

it. #in"t nobody carin" about what"s it for, they *ust wanna" take it apart and study it. 2ooner or

later, they reali=in" they got so much to study, they can"t do a damn thing about it!$ Roy didn"t

have an opinion on the case. hat was done had already been done, nothing he could do about it.

He was more interested in finding a way to prove that #nimus and a/ were insane.



Roy believed he was close several times, almost making the two come into the reali=ation

that the other was real. However, the comple/ity of their thoughts and fate itself seemed to set

things into motion to not allow such a discovery to be made. &ike the time when Roy was

bruised by #nimus and a/ wasn"t paying attention. hen Roy tried to show a/ the bruise

afterwards, a/ simply thought that Roy hurt himself and scolded him to never do it again. 4very

time #nimus leaves to go hunt for any wild animals that may have been roaming the streets

during the night, a/ is in deep slumber. Roy"s attempts to e/plain to a/ that the food comes

from #nimus are in vain, as they would re+uire for a/ to stay up :<>? to catch #nimus in the act

of catching and preparing the food. 4ven when they eat it"s impossible to show that the other one

e/ists to each other, as a/ likes to eat outside of their newfound shelters to get a glimpse of the

fading sky.

ith all his efforts of the past going to waste, Roy *ust trudged along the road. He didn"t

know what was driving him to go in the direction he was headed. He felt familiar with the place,

yet he had never been in a city before the downfall. He, like a/, had been raised in a rural area.

2uch an array of vast buildings was only something to dream about in his childhood. #nimus

was born in the city and raised in the city% that"s why he was the one who could e/plain

everything to the group. He knew the way through most cities and he could tell you anything

about them% they were his birthright. 2till not even #nimus" suggestions could sway Roy from

his unknown path. t was as if an invisible rope was dragging Roy"s entire being through that

street.

Roy turned off the street and walked into an undersi=ed abandoned building. #s a habit,

he flipped the switch to the lights of the building when he walked in. This time it was different

than before% there wasn"t a sigh of disappointment but rather a gasp of e/citement. The lights



flickered on and a rapid tune started playing in the background with an upbeat singer rambling

on with swift words. 6y the looks of the fluorescent lights shining on the gleaming floor and the

tone of the music, Roy knew he was in a club. He had a strange feeling he couldn’t identify; he

was seeing something so familiar yet so alien.

hat tha" hell)$ #nimus shuttered at the sight before them. The room was filled with

manne+uins all dressed up in bright and gleaming clothes. They were all posed in different ways,

some dancing with each other, some sitting on chairs in groups, and some *ust facing a flashy

door in the corner of the room. These were the companions of someone long lost to the past. a/

started to laugh and walked up to one of the manne+uins. @udging by the features, the manne+uin

was a female. He grabbed her hand and asked her to dance% she didn"t even hesitate to say yes

and soon they were doing twists and bends throughout the room. #nimus pointed to the flashy

door that some of the manne+uins were facing awkwardly and looked towards Roy. Roy walked

past the two, his eyes streaming with tears from the lights. He kicked the door down and

anticipated the mirror that stood alone in yet another empty room. He recognized the birthplace

of all his travels.

#nimus +uickly followed Roy, along with a/ who had abandoned his dance partner.

They were in a room with a bare floor and walls made of rundown wood. The mirror itself was

rusted on its metal linings and the reflection it showed was a little smudged. Roy remembered

the place instantly, before the downfall, before he was burdened with their insanity. This was the

thing that would settle #nimus" and a/"s struggle for Roy"s belief once and for all. That"s the

interesting thing about mirrors9 they don"t lie, as they merely show reality from an uncorrupted

point of view. He would look into the mirror and see that they were both there, and they would

see it too. f one of them wasn"t there, then it would be obvious that they were *ust a realistic



thought that ran deep in Roy"s head. 5et the first thing Roy cared to notice was how thin he had

gotten over the long years. #fter seeing such a change in his body, he shifted his view to the top

of the mirror and noticed two words written in what seemed to be lipstick. Roy focused on the

two words until he came with the reali=ation that they were two &atin words he had previously

seen in his life. 'ne translated to peace- the general calm mood he had sought after the downfall

to keep the rage from controlling him. The other translated to vivacity- the liveliness he re+uired

to not end up rotting in the ground. The ruins of a city lost to its inhabitants remained still as it

had been for years, only being interrupted with the sound of a shovel dropping on the ground to

break the long silence.

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Future Reflections