A Gaze From The Top Of The New World.

• Eddy Holmes, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2022

A gaze on top of the new world

A starry night, viewed from my isolated window. Silence, deafening my thoughts.

The real world is said to have ended eons ago. Past down stories shape the reality we are met with today. However, what is it that we truly value in this life? Sure, it changes per person. But society’s grasp on such a futuristic idea made all the people claim that our new lifestyle is the only correct one. Formed from materials that our past had ought to see, our opened eyes revealed the cascading environment, the hours devoured by the corporate group, asking the yet-to-be residents to slave their body’s for happiness, confined behind concrete walls. Mastering over 1300 floors, 2000 rooms on each level makes the doors so eerily thin. It is the largest thing on this planet, a place we call the new world. When we had to entwine our past world with our future, we were all stuck trying to get used to the heavy oxygen, and the empty void reflected by the window. The trouble is, less than being completely abandoned by society, everyone I had ever known was supposedly living behind the connected floors that I was close to, physically. I’m not sure what that really means, but it was found that as soon as my brother learnt how to walk, people from the neighbouring land took away my body, and left me on the 1st floor, somewhere I would have never thought to venture in this lifetime.

I live on the 1009th floor in my world. It is curved, a spiral-like pattern, very thinly caressing the sky as it scrapes the surface of each and every floor. Because of that, my window can only see the insides of that spiral. Going further and further upwards, each level encompassing a new colour, or shade. It’s quite beautiful, but over time, the colour is fading. The painted outskirts that are flaking, and falling to the floor. The sky for our world is forever dark, a red hue reflecting over the cotton clouds is the only way to tell the time. No clocks are allowed in our world, or in truth, no one wants to know how long it’s been.

There are thousands of floors in my world. Every floor encompassed some strange or unique feature that only they could possess. The lower the level, the more likely it would have plants and animal decor, the higher up, the less people cared. No one was allowed to share what was so special about each floor, unless it is classified as a ‘public area’, but only the highest levels know about that rule. It’s an interesting place, although I’ve never ventured myself, but it is said to have a reverse waterfall, allowing you to make it to the top of the building with no struggle. What a beautiful view it was from the top, a dark landscape, that could only be seen from this height. It’s mysterious, but beautiful.