Dystopian World

Dystopian World

I was standing in a ditch that once was the flowing, working River Thames, outside the Houses of Parliament scavenging for any wealth or riches buried that could see me through another day. The Thames used to be filled with water a few years ago, carrying cargo, commuters and tourists but now in the 2050 it is no more than a boggy bed. I’m lucky to be still alive, with the shortage of food and water due to the power termination in 2040, the world has slowly, slowly worn away. The atmosphere was silent except from the sound of cold wind blowing into my pale, withered cheeks. The Houses of Parliament was now a ghost building; there had not been a government since the assassination of Prime Minister Smith, which was a good, yet sinister event, for it was PM Smith who had caused this global never-ending power cut. The situation PM Smith had left us in was abhorrent to us all.

As I was looking at the vacated Houses of Parliament I noticed the Victorian clock Big Ben had completely stopped. This eerie feature made the clock feel as if the world had stopped in this dramatic time change. It was as if time had stopped around me and I was the only person left on a deserted island. The rasping sound of the cold air that blew around me was high pitched. I knew vaguely that it was about 1pm on an August afternoon, but there was, again, very little sun. The sun shining was a rare and distant thing. I looked up in desperation at the clouds and saw cascading radiation of light seeping through the dark clouds. I was about to turn away when suddenly I saw St Paul’s Cathedral. The landmark dome had survived the bombings of World War II where everything around it was crumbling away. This building showed the great British spirit during the war and represented how the building stayed strong, just like the country did throughout 1939-1945. However, this building was now smoking, the dark black smoke rose from the top like steam from a boiled kettle. I stumbled towards the building, trekking through the soft wet mud at the bottom of the river bank. As I got closer and closer, the smell of burning metal was flowing through my nose and I could start to see that the top part of the dome was slowly burning away. I was saddened to see such marvellous architecture burning away. This stirred emotional memories back to me from 2004 when I was a young boy growing up, when everything was perfect and the country was normal. I had come to the great City with my family for a River Cruise bringing my beloved teddy bear that I had since I was a day old. This bear had been everywhere with me but on this day the most awful thing happened which I remember so strongly to this day, that my bear had fallen out of my hands into the depths of the water. This feeling of utter sadness and loss falls upon me once more. The most popular City in the world had drastically changed into a grotesque, distorted waste. The city of London was gone and it would never be put right. All the worlds’ power is no longer available.

There were a few dead bodies frozen in time with rigamortis and their bodies covered in film of despair. I looked down at one body and I could see long strands of hair covering the pale hard skin. The body I was looking at was of a young girl who had been abandoned by her family because she was too weak to carry on walking. I crouched down and I felt a desperate sadness and shiver run down my spine for I had never been this close to a dead person before. I brushed the hair to one side of her face and then I could see her lost, colourless eyes staring into space. The overwhelming feeling the small girl gave me meant I could not stay for long and I soon got up and left her. I felt like the only man alive and I was soon getting lonely and tired, knowing I was going to end up like that small, exposed girl. It was at that point I felt specks of rain bouncing off my face and within a few minutes the heavens opened and rain was cascading down like a waterfall. With no other clothes I had to find cover. I looked behind me and saw what used to be the famous London Eye. I quickly trekked through the mud until I saw a glass cabin of one of the pods of the London Eye. Without contemplating the consequence that I might suffer I entered the murky glass pod and was now sheltered from the pouring rain. As I looked up at the pod the rain leapt off the sides in mass quantity.

I had never been in a war zone before but this is what London felt like. Everywhere I looked I could see buildings reduced to ruins, my home being one of them and walls crumbled down into large rigid pieces and all the pathways had been disintegrated into mud baths. It was scary. I knew there was no one out there to kill me but I feared for my life because of the unnatural weather and conditions that has been thrown on planet earth. I lost my belief in God a long time ago but I now found myself praying for this world to be changed back to what it used to be. Soon after the prayer I noticed that the rain had finally settled down and to my amazement through the clouds came the brightest sun. I got out of the cramped murky port of the London Eye and stood up. I could not believe my eyes, I felt like I was on the set of a movie, or a miracle was happening as a huge colourful rainbow went over the crumbling Houses of Parliament as if it were a sign. I stared at this rainbow with my mouth wide open. All seven colours looked immense and spiritual and for the first time in many years I felt that the spread of new life, hope and security was being radiated over the land. Faith is truly a wonderful thing.