Darla's Love

Darla was walking down the red road, loose dirt clinging to the sole of her shoes.

With her right hand she tried desperately not to lose the faint grip she had on the

precious object. As it is usually the case, the moon nearing its dark phase provided

little light, but plenty of despair.

She managed to walk for another three miles to finally reach an open field, and

although it wasn't her original destination, this place had to suffice, for her strength

was completely depleted and her life barely hanging from an unnatural string.

“This is it. It will have to be” she said to herself with a forced smile.

Her right hand opened, one finger at the time, to slowly reveal the can that not to long

ago served the purpose of storing fine wafers. In one quick motion she removed the

lid, and in that instant a stream of tears that had the emotional charge of an orange

sunset, traveled from the corner of her eyes to the tip of her chin.

She couldn't see, hear, or smell the contents of such container, nevertheless, she

had no doubts of the force that was entrapped within it. Her senses were of no use in

this unusual circumstance.

She mustered the remaining force and condensed it in two words: “good bye”

In a second, multicolored flames spurted upward into the sky in what resembled a

dance of aeons, to condense amidst clouds too desperate to catch the faint wind that

could carry them far from the hungry and engulfing fire sphere.

But in time their effort was worthless, no matter how far or fast they traveled the pure

energy ate everything like a black hole eats light.

In two days the entire human race was gone from the face of the Earth, all the life in

it extinguished from its desolated surface. Destiny was fulfilled and the humans were

no longer human. Evolution carried on, with the hope of returning balance to a scarred

ecosystem.

In the harsh icy land of Antarctica, a penguin looked at the sky and the purifying

flame entered through his avian eye to disappear into the depths of his brain, leaving

only a faint but noticeable gleam in his face. His fellows watched in silence.