Traum(-a)

It was the scoop of an oddly grayish day. I never heard who or what news agency had gotten it first, though. Some kind of pulse had altered the ocean flow all over the globe, which produced several disasters in both ports and inlands. In other words, no city could be safe from this havoc. Mountains and highlands would have worked as the most proper shelters against this, but it happened so suddenly. A one thousand meters water barrier was rushing towards the city and, as the experts had calculated, outskirts and downtown would be drowned in two hours, three maybe.

Everyone thought the end of mankind would come quite soon. Thousands of people blocked the highways and nobody else could leave from that bucolic parade of stagnation. Only a few ones gave up any hope and decided to face their destiny at home. In a matter of minutes almost everyone had gotten off the streets. I could feel the crushing void as I headed to my favorite shrine, a Gothic church built by the English Catholic Community. I lit a candle just as I entered and crossed myself; the priest's sermon thundered through the dimly lit nave as only few faceless people paid him due heed. I couldn't help but thinking of the twisted irony when he spoke "and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters". Waters. They were older than time and light. They had begotten life and today they would wipe it out and, probably, drag the remains of it to Norwegian shores. Two old ladies whispered that the deacon's nerves broke down and he joined the fleeing throng, leaving the priest on his own. In earlier years the father should have been a tall, sturdy man who worshipped God and all his saints and thanked him for his greatest work. Today, the loneliest man in the universe, bent by age and disease, stood before my eyes, in front of the altar. Once he produced his rosary from his pocket, he immediately focused on praying a series of Hail Marys and, since nobody was watching, I dared to go upstairs as far as I could.

I reached the roof and divined the vault upon me, then I looked down and heard the wind whistling through the trees as it swung their branches. This had nothing to do with God's will. Many things that happened before had nothing to do with it. It would just happen and that was everything I needed to know. Nobody I ever knew or I wanted to meet stood by my side. I strangely felt that the wave would come from the southwest and made my own conclusions. My head put the will to survive and the sane resignation together just in case I couldn't make it when I discovered a skyscrapper ten blocks away from the cathedral. I thanked God for giving me more hopes once again and walked the staircase down. I jumped down the last steps and immediately told the parishioners we could stand a chance if we reached the skyscrapper on time. None of them seemed to listen to me; they had surrendered to the things to come. I tried to talk the priest into telling the others about the possible shelter but he just kept praying. When I pulled him from his arm I couldn't move him at all, not even an inch. Though old and whithered he was still taller than me. He only needed one single deep stare to tell me he would not leave his herd. He had been forsaken before and he would never do that to somebody who needed him, even for saying prayers only. I turned my gaze and finally could see the people's faces. They were old, maybe as old as the priest or maybe even older. He kindly gave me his rosary and I understood I had to go.

I ran down the sidewalks but soon found out there were no cars driving by, so I stepped onto the road. The ground began to tremor and I knew I had to hurry. The wave probably had broken against the outskirts, crushing those crooked people who attempted to escape from the watery coffin this city would become. I had the purpose to tell the most of the people I ran into about the shelter but I could see no one in the streets. As I walked into the lobby I rushed to the lift, pressed the button but hesitated. I wouldn't make it to the top on time so I took the stairs. I climbed up as fast as I ever did. I managed to get to the next to last floor and looked out to the window. The streets were flooded so I shut the paine. For a momentI thought the building would yield to the great flow and saw that only the spires of the cathedral pointed towards the sky, just like fixed poles emerging from the deep. As I heard a greater wave that followed breaking against the building I hid away inside a closet. I still carried the rosary and held tight to it. I couldn't stand the noise of the roaring wave and, therefore, I covered my ears. I must have passed out for I remember nothing about what happened next.

I woke up by the sound of the blowing wind. I thought it was raining so I went to look outside. To my surprise it was not rain but thick drops falling from the leaves of the remaining trees the deluge spared. I went downstairs and outside the building and noticed everything was wet to the kern. I tried to find people but I could see nobody. I almost slipped on the pavement when I ran down the streets; no one came out. I called out anybody but got no answer. I entered people's houses but they showed no sign of survivors. Some rooms had been drenched and some others remained half-dry but, everytime I entered one the void sprang at me. I then ran to the church, hoping I could still find somebody there. The doors were torn apart and I looked up and down. Plentiful pieces of stained glass lied all over the floor. I realized that the parishioners and the priest were all gone as I noticed little crosses and beads mingled with water and scattered prayer's book pages. The pews next to the windows were totally destroyed. I turned my gaze upwards and it came across with the gloomy, tearful eyes of Jesus above the remaining altar. There was nothing to do in the church anymore so I went off. When I walked out my candle fell from one of the upper gutters.

The cloudy vault kept hanging on and the cold light of morning fell upon the remains of the city. Many edifications managed to survive and stayed on their place; even the oldest trees grabbed their roots to the deepest layer of the earth and remained there, but people had been eliminated from this town. The great flood washed them away and only God knows where they will appear, if ever. The waters managed to annihilate any trace of life but me. I couldn't understand the will that made me escape and I guess I never will. I was not sure if somebody else in the world was still out there but, Death had spared me by that moment. The watery echo of my footsteps resounded in the atmosphere as I restlessly kept running and hoped to find someone for, if the flood didn't destroy me, desolation would do it in the end. I was the loneliest man on earth and there was no one who could take that away from me.