The Lightkeepers

21

Sure, it was nice that I could see all that I had ever wanted to. It took my breath away each

and every time. They always shined so brightly, always grinning and winking at the gazers below

them. On the other hand, the city had no life. Times Square was dark. The Big Apple was broken,

a shell of what it had been. Whatever survived there was barely managing to avoid the inevitable,

living in a constant state of crumbling and shambles like the city ’ s buildings.

‘ Bittersweet ’ could describe a lot of things, I realized.

We survived, but at what cost? We were alive, but only because we saved ourselves. The

world, as a society, built and invented and innovated, but we still ended up here.

What if, I thought, what if we unleashed this on ourselves? What if all we had ever done

had led us to this?

I adjusted the telescope to study what I hoped was a planet. Is there life there? What form

does it take? I wondered. Shrugging, I rubbed my hands and silently returned to my window,

waving goodnight to my father.