Silver Isn't The Only Lining InTheClouds

Silver Isn’t the Only Lining in the Clouds



         He knew it was wrong. He knew he shouldn’t be out here. He knew they were coming. He knew he was going to die.



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72 Hours Ago…



Dez Perlie is on level 60 of his apartment house. He reads his watch, 7:30AM. he quickly takes a look outside the window and heads down the elevator and outside. Dez’s job is to tend to the garden outside the 500 ft walls surrounding the city, where he has to wear sunglasses before exiting the main gates. Dez has never really understood why they had to wear these sunglasses. His friend and coworker Tom, explains to him that the gardens were like the mystical God, Medusa where to look at it directly they would turn them into stone.



Silver was the only colour Dez has seen in his entire life. Silver was the colour of his watch, his sunglasses, his clothes, the trees, the sky, the Sun, the moon. Everyone was expected to wear their clothes during all times of the day and to be only taken off at night, to wash and to have a shower. All power and light was turned off after 7:00PM, when everyone was expected to be back in their apartments. The towering silver walls made it impossible to see what was beyond this city but everyone agreed that even if they did see what was on the otherside, they would be gunned down before they could even take a step. Their ruler, Revlis Silver believed that all the citizens of the New World should be equal and to start off, he introduced that silver was and will always be the colour of everything as it symbolised equality and neutral. Even the artificial sky was silver. To see any other colour was against the law and he had spies operating around the clock and everywhere in his metropolis.



Dez, unsatisfied with his gray life longs for excitement. The next day he prepares to do something daring and unbelievable. Waking up with a stomach full of butterflies, Dez looks out of his window and sees the silver Sun shine its silver rays upon the silver cars, that ran along the silver roads, pausing for the occasional silver suited pedestrian. Already in his silver suit he decides to take the silver stairs down today. Exiting his silver apartment, he also decides to walk to the silver gates today. As he journeys he notices how bland his life is, how he repeatedly goes to work and then goes home, he eats, the power goes out, he takes off his suit, he has a shower, he then puts on a new suit, and the day begins again. He ponders on this for a few more moments before he is invited by Tom to come sit with him and his mates.







Their supervisor starts to issue out the silver sunglasses and everyone puts them on. The sunglasses issued would always latch onto your face and could only be disabled via remote control, which the supervisor wields. The supervisor checks to see if everyone has followed his orders then the majestic 500 ft gates are slowly opened. Their job was simple. Go outside and tend to the gardens, by watering them, weeding out the weeds and planting more crop. Once they were finished they were ushered back inside with the gates closing behind them. Then the sunglasses would be disabled and they were free to do as they please.



Today however, Dez decides to be daring. He has brought a camera hidden within his suit to his work. He casually walks to the apple trees and quickly hides behind a tree. He fishes out his camera, quickly takes a shot and then hastily stuffs it back in his pocket. He then resumes tending his garden.



In the morning, Dez starts his day with his ritual of staring out the window. Suddenly remembering his risky stunt yesterday, he finds his camera and views the image he had taken. Although it was only a picture, Dez stumbles to sit on his bed, as he stares in wonder, of the variety of colours contained within the small frame. He sees the vivid flowers, amongst the lush grass and the open sky. The juicy apples amongst the thick branches of the tree. The crispy leaves gliding ever so gently towards the soft dirt. Amazed, Dez eagerly plans to share this picture with his co-workers.



Behind the same tree, Dez tells everyone to gather up. To grab their attention he uses a sharp rock and breaks the sunglasses that is blinding him from the beauty surrounding him. Having grabbed their attention Dez shows the photograph and exclaims that they are surrounded by colours and life and wishes that they to would, destroy their sunglasses. His friends, curiously viewed the camera shot. They whispered that all they could see was grey. As Dez got more and more worked up, his co-workers started to fear he was crazy and soon alerted the supervisor. Knowing that he was going to be hunted down, Dez immediately took off, diving into the rugged undergrowth, heading off into the grassy hills.



Reaching the summit, Dez looked back. Swift, black assailants were racing up the hills and Dez asked himself why did he did what he did. He knew it was wrong. He knew he shouldn’t be out here. He knew they were coming. He knew he was going to die. Knowing that death  was inevitable and close, Dez finds a spot on the soft, silky hill. Watching the black shadowy figures get closer and closer, Dez basks calmly in the rays of the radiant sun, for the first, and perhaps the last time.