Beating Hearts

In those streets I was the only beating heart, the only being of warm blood and flesh. The walls around me were doubtless home to many in the fairly recent past and still crammed with individuals hiding away, yet now it was an unfamiliar abandoned maze to all.

The light fell on the words that I spoke to nobody, unaware that no one was outside, or that the streets lay silent. It was as if God had stopped time, removed all the distractions so he could see it for real, see how it really was, what it really was. And in that moment, all I wished for was another beating heart in this deserted city, another being of warm blood and flesh, one more pair of trainers to walk next to mine.

Experiencing cold sunsets of blazing orange or deep lilac purple by myself, spending these endless hours alone, waiting for the population to come back outside. I can only wait, I can only hope.

Louis Howard – Year 9