Facebook has a wonderful “memories” feature. Every day, you can see what you posted on the same day in previous years. Occasionally mine throws up a strange and wonderful thing that I don’t remember ever posting – terrible jokes, tales of the cat’s adventures, silly quizzes that reflect my state of mind years ago… and even the odd bit of writing.
This was something I wrote in July 2010. I’ve made a few minor amendments but otherwise this is just how I rediscovered it. I hope you enjoy it.
The universe was collapsing. Everything ceasing to exist, nay, everything never having existed, and we didn’t notice.
First the dragons disappeared. We remembered the dragons as myths and legends, and forgot about the fire and the great cries that echoed across the sky.
Then the griffins disappeared. We remembered them even less than the dragons, for they had kept to themselves and left fewer traces on our world.
The unicorns became a legend. The pixies and the elves were dragged screaming from reality, and we couldn’t even remember if they were different names for the same thing.
And then the past began to disappear. Humans had been around for millions of years, we knew, but all we could recall was a mere two thousand – and much of that was guesswork. The battles of King Arthur suddenly never happened, and we dismissed those that pursued Excalibur as cranks and fools. A great flood that destroyed half the world only remained in a book that fewer people believed every day – and why should they? The history it told increasingly wasn’t true.
We didn’t realise the universe was ending. When we looked up at the sky and the stars were fewer, we decided the stars were a dream. When we looked at the bare shelves of our libraries, we wondered where we’d imagined such strange authors as Shakespeare and Dickens. We ate simple foods, laughing at tales of arcane spices and exotic fruits like pineapples, bananas and mangos.
Eventually we lost speech. Everything was communicated by gestures and grunts. We couldn’t say very much, but there was very little left to say, and soon fell completely silent.
Then, words gone. Never there. Only fire, and cold, and light, and food, and people. Not many many people. Not many people. Just people, just few people. Words, what for? Forgot them.
Now, just me. All in head. The universe, dream.