Natures Resurrection

Sometimes, I find myself wondering if we’ve gained as much as we’ve lost. It’s been twenty years since they vanished, twenty years of silent footsteps, a voice that withered away and industry left long abandoned.

Maybe it was worth it? That’s the thought that has rooted deep inside me, growing stronger each and every day. Our world, it’s beautiful in it’s own way, harsh? Definitely. Brutal? Most certainly. But there’s a certain majesty to it, to the way the plants had started to shatter the concrete foundations of man’s world.

Overgrown, messy and so completely, wonderfully natural. I had seen a berry bush that had grown through the remains of an old car, it’s vines had almost grown through the exhaust and into the engine.

Another time there had been a thunderous explosion, only about two miles from where I’d been staying at the time, when I went to look I found a portion of a building had fallen away, a giant tree that had growing through the centre of the once proud creation. The roots standing taller than me, sharp and jagged, had carved through the road in a desperate hunt for the soil buried beneath.

But it was nothing in comparison to my destination today, I had always wanted to see New York when I was a kid, back before nature started fighting back against us and if anyone had survived then perhaps that’s where they might have gone.

Crossing the distance felt like I was moving through a fog, no map, no other people to ask for directions, the only indication I was travelling in the right direction being where the sun rose and where it set. I hit the coast first, the vast expanse of ocean glittering like diamonds, undisturbed and peaceful.

I’d hit DC first as I followed the cost, I think that perhaps finding that giant senate building, what had been a pillar to the old world, now home to a river that seemed to have almost sliced through it’s centre, that was when I was able to appreciate the changes, the first time I didn’t miss the constant companionship of my childhood.

The river had been good shelter, the trees that had grown along it’s edge bountiful with the amount of fruit they produced, everything feels faster now that I’m not constantly on the clock, sleeping when I want, eating when I want curtesy of a world that seems determined to provide without the need to be exploited.

The trek up to New York after that exposed even more, nature had never grown this quickly before, not once in history have we seen a tree that could grow as large as a house in days rather than years, vines that were visibly snaking along the ground as they grew.

But all that paled in comparison to the city itself, the pictures and stories I’d heard when I was young painted it as a concrete paradise, skyscrapers so high you couldn’t see the tops of them from the ground, buildings that were marvels of their age. Now? Now they were a monument in a whole different way.

I can’t think of any word to describe it other than a jungle, trees of all kinds flooded the streets, leaves blanketing so think that they blocked the sun almost entirely, hiding the moss covered ground underneath.

The terrain was rougher as I clambered toward the centre of the city, my body starting to feel stiffer as I pushed through to the end of my journey, where I found the strongest changes in the world so far. Everything I’d climbed through to get here, this is where it came from, what had once been the Empire State Building had stretched, warped, the concrete foundations replaced with thick bark that stretched higher than anything I’d ever imagined.

I could see the remnants of windows etched into the thick trunk, the leaves almost blue and ethereal, fruits of all kinds littered the floor where they must have fallen from dozens of feet above, it was beautiful, the worlds gift to those of us that remained.

Then came the sound I thought I would never hear again.

“Oh my god” Her voice cracked, husky in a way that betrayed it’s lack of use. Eye’s widened as we faced each other. I didn’t know how to react when I saw her, I tried to find my voice, years of silence leaving anything I might have said in that moment lost in my throat. That left me just staring at her, as she observed me.

Hair the same ethereal blue as the tree above us, vibrant green eyes darting around faster than I could keep up with. Skin the same colour as the tree, looking closer it even had a similar bark like texture.

With great effort I finally got my voice to work, the words feeling like glass as I forced them from my throat.

“What… are you?”

She didn’t answer me straight away, just approached me warily, almost as if I was an animal let loose from it’s cage.

“How are you here? Are you real?” She was talking to herself more than anything else, mumbling in a way that people only do when they don’t have anyone else to listen, then she poked me, her finger felt course and rough against my skin, but the smile that lit up her face was like nothing I had ever seen.

“YOU’RE REAL!” Her voice still cracked, but the excitement in it was unmistakable as she threw her arms around me, nearly knocking me to the ground, before quickly extracting herself. “Sorry”

It was such a simple moment, so weirdly human, I’d nearly forgotten what that had felt like. I couldn’t help it, I laughed, laughed until my lungs were screaming and my eyes were watery.

“It’s okay” I croaked out, trying and failing to compose myself. “Why… why do you look like that”

Her smile was forced, almost confused, before she said simply “Look down”

My own hands swam into view as I looked at them, the same barky texture of her skin covered my hands, and as I pressed them to my body I felt it, throughout my muscles and my bones, the weight of them was changing same as had happened to the world around us. “What… what’s happening to us?”

“We are what comes next”