The Suffocating Cold

The sun peeked through my curtains, illuminating my entire room. I lifted my head, my blonde hair tumbling down my back like a waterfall. The red rays of the rising sun turned the ripples of my bed sheets into fiery peaks. Sweat dripped down my already drenched pyjamas from yet another scorching night. I opened my window, and the heat came roaring in.

Electricity is forbidden to be used. They say it is because the risk of a fire is too high but I think it’s because we’ve run out. Our region is sweltering all the time, and is never cold. It barely rains here. Maybe once or twice a year. With the dryness and lack of rain, our resources are running out at a rapid pace.

I sighed. Another day in the torridness.     

*** 

My mind blurred; the last remnants of a dream being chased away by the realization that I was awake again. With a mental sigh, I cautiously opened one eye, but was only greeted by darkness. Strange. I blinked a few more times, an attempt to allow my eyes to focus but alas, it remained completely dark. I was not sweating like I normally did when I woke up. My eyes desperately searched for the sun's rays, but only found my mother's figure silhouetted at the door, illuminated by a single candle. 

"Good morning sweetheart," she whispered. Worry seeped every word.

"Wh-why is there no light?" I quaked. I shivered from the coolness in the air.

My mother walked over to my open window and winced as she gazed outside.

"Why don’t you have a look for yourself?" she murmured.

I hesitantly tiptoed towards the window and glimpsed outside. The rolling sand dunes were barely visible. Against the dark moonlit sky, all I saw was the faint outline of the crumbling dark buildings. The landscape seemed to yearn for the caress of sunlight. The sun hadn't risen today. It didn’t rise. 

My mother wrapped an arm around me as we both huddled together in silence and fear.

“They think the sun’s resources have been used up 5 million years too early.  We think that the scientists experimenting with the sun has destroyed it. Your father has been trying to mitigate the citizens’ concerns since dawn…” she trailed off. I guess we did not have dawn anymore.  We were finally facing the consequences of our actions.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door slamming. Father was home from work, his brow creased in deep thought. I opened my mouth, prepared to bombard him with questions, but he simply dismissed me with a shake of the head as he stalked into the kitchen, closing the door behind him.

"How could you leave us here? We were sitting here worried all day, and you thought you could just leave us in this circumstance, without letting us know you were okay? What is happening? Why didn’t the sun rise today? Can you and your colleagues do anything about this? “My mother frantically asked. I could just hear her voice through the door.

"Candace, for god's sake. I am the deputy prime minister. It's my job to look after everyone, not just you." he retaliated. I could tell his temper was sizzling like a ticking time bomb.  

"We don’t know why the sun didn’t rise today; but our climatologists think it has something to do with our experiments on the sun.”

“God, Matthew…you shouldn’t have messed with nature,” my mum cried.

“What could we have done? Global warming has brought  too much heat for our Earth to bear. We had to try to reduce the heat, the only way was to directly minimize the heat emitting from the sun. I guess our scientists predicted wrong and ended up destroying the it. We have told everyone not to panic, nevertheless, there are plenty of candles going around to light up our homes.”

I could not contain my anger.  How could the government just hide the truth from everyone? Didn’t they promise transparency to their citizens? They have learnt how to talk straight to our subconscious minds, utilizing their power to direct us to behave how they want. They wanted a calm society that was easy for them to control, and a calm society was what they got. 

***

The sun didn’t rise today either; its absence is having a big effect on the temperature, which is dropping by the second without the heat. Citizens have already started to huddle together in a huge mob, trying to conserve body heat. Our world was hot, not freezing. I glance outside my window and take in my surroundings. Hundreds of old, flimsy surgical masks blew in the cold breeze, stained with blood and dirt while the funeral home nearby, with an incinerator for the dead, vomited black smoke into the sky. I looked at the dry riverbed. I remember when it used to be full of rushing water.  I miss those days.

My father made an announcement today saying that the circumstances are grim, and that we will just have to hope for the best. I guess his lies became too hard to sustain. My mother left to help the sick who are not coping with the cold very well.

I’m scared. I am scared for humanity and I am scared for myself. Who knew how many days I had left to live on this earth?

It was impossible to tell when the night has fallen; mostly we just measured time by the hunger in our stomachs.  This sight was quite unbearable to look at.

I sighed. All of this chaos in just a couple of weeks.  I lay my head down on my pillow, and close my eyes, feeling the cold consume me. I remember the heat, and I miss it very much. I picture the crumbling clock tower slowly ticking as I fall restlessly asleep. 

Who knew if this was my last?