Leave the City

by Claire Joanne Huxham

We left the city delirious, the future in our mouths.  You laughed and cranked it up a gear while I wound the window down and threw my shoes out of the car.  I twisted and watched them bounce, white on asphalt.

Now we can never go back.

We’ve got the best seats in the house.  I offer you a buttered scone but you’re too busy looking at the sky.  It’s crimson electric and angry, so angry.  Red sky at night my dad always said, but I get the feeling this sky’ll be red for a long, long time.  A column of smoke and so much liquid fire.  It’s gone midnight but a hot, dry wind is blowing.  It smells feral.

We can never go back.

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Claire Joanne Huxham spends most of her time obsessing over Buffy and Battlestar Galactica.   She’s also quite keen on sushi, cats, and cheese, but probably not in that order.