Solarpunk Halloween Flashfiction.
Here's two bit's of flash fiction I worked on last year for a writing contest.
Warm Forever.
Forgotten and framed, demonized and damned.
Here I fester to be crushed and canned.
I did nothing wrong, just was tossed into the wrong hands.
I worked hard to bring power and warmth across these lands.
Then because some twisted few abused me.
I was left inside these pipes, unable to break free.
People found others to do their dirty work.
They went on with their lives with smugs and smirks.
I was forgotten, a thing to be erased and repressed.
My chambers were something now useless most guessed.
As I yearn and gaze, people still walk near.
Over the hill shivering there are kids wanting fear.
Tonight Halloween is thick with frost.
There’s someone nearby, a child cold and lost.
Come here! You’re cold, I’ll warm you up snug.
There’s a small valve before you, give it a tug
It’s rusty and ruined, it should break away.
Ignore the smell, come sit and stay!
Now to heat up, just one game to play.
Just give your solar lamp a little tap, or the staticky sweater a swipe wherever.
Yes! a spark like that, now closer. Pretty soon you’ll be warm forever.
The Plastic Catacombs
Killed by garbage isn’t the way I wanted to die. Came to Puente Hills because of all the ads they play you, mountains of trash and treasurer. Piles of copper, batteries, circuit boards, steel, and glass, people even say that they used to make bottles out of aluminum and tossed them away! I sorted trash for months, just another person on the conveyor line. Hoping to get lucky and find something, but didn't even find enough for half a bike.
Then I started hearing about the pickers. The guys who operate the loaders and miners saw plenty of interesting scrap come though. Figured nobody would notice if they skimmed abit off the top, and I figured nobody would notice if I grabbed some before they got to it.
Few days ago I headed down a tunnel in the dead of night, late autumn. Stayed down here for days, bagging up everything that looked even vaguely shiny. When I found a legit bike and pulled it, it looked like the tunnel support came too. The entrance is out, I’m trying to claw though it, but I ran out of water yesterday, and my light started flickering. Now the only thing I have are millions of plastic masks staring back at me as I claw through them. Whatever Halloween was, I think they were right to bury it all.
The masks are taunting again, my light is going.
To whoever reads this, happy Halloween, whatever that means.
