After the Sunset
The children lined up for their daily physical examinations, each more restless than the last as the teacher moved down the queue. They did not know the reasons for the inspections, but accepted it like any other small nuisance - they had other things on their minds. The eerie pink hue of the sky, amplified by the setting sun, penetrated the partially ash-covered windows and tinted the room, mockingly coloring the cheeks of the children - a rosiness that only the teacher had the bittersweet task of remembering. The youngsters were unaware of a time in which the air entering the building did not have to be cleansed and the doors and windows did not have to be vacuumed sealed. The instructor often wished that he were unaware as well. The building, which once was a magnificent research facility, was now dilapidated, but the smell of hospital-like cleanliness still filled the edifice. It had been salvaged and converted into an apartment complex with an educational zone just two years prior.
The teacher reached the end of the line just as the bell rang. The bell signaled the finale of the sunset, which meant that it was then safe to go outside without fear of the sun being too strong. The instructor got lost in his thoughts for a moment as he remembered the sunsets of his youth - then he had willingly accepted similar pollution for the sake of making the twilight sky even more beautiful. He recalled sunsets that a painter would have no hope of capturing and a photograph would never do justice. His daydreaming was ended by a child tugging on his sleeve; it was time for recess. The children rushed to retrieve their coats and other garments with an excitement and joy that only a great deal of naivety could afford in such times. It was summer, but it could just as well have been winter - it was frigid and dreary outside. As a finishing touch to their ensembles, each child donned a gas mask, which was a necessary piece of equipment for anyone wishing to wander under the pink sky and rain of ash. The masks concealed the anticipation-fueled smiles as the children waited. Some of them pressed their hands against the cool glass of the windows, not understanding why they were not allowed to feel such coolness on their faces outside.
Soon the doors opened, allowing in more of the pink glow from outside and allowing out the children equipped with masks. As the sun fell below the horizon, the air became colder and the true darkness of the land beneath the sky littered with cinder clouds was revealed. Spotlights were turned on to pierce the darkness and create an area in which the youngsters could play, but the light only went so far before being swallowed by the sheets of soot. The children ran out into the man-made niche generated by the lights, kicking up the ash and giggling as they went.
Some of the children began making the ash into spheres and launching them at each other, while others twirled and created soot cyclones to add to the rain of black. The ash was thick ebony sand, light and cool. Its silent descent was reminiscent of the snow of the past. The instructor watched their youthful exuberance from within his own mask, thinking of how the children's interactions with the soot mirrored his experiences with now extinct snow. He thought of breathing in the cold December air, picking up the frosty ice and snow and playing and building with it - completely nonchalantly. He remembered the taste of snow on his tongue and the crunch it would make as he stepped. The teacher had been caught reminiscing, again - this time by the school bell, which rang once more, signaling the end of recess. He herded the children back inside, skillfully overcoming their reluctance with kindness.
Once inside, they removed their masks, switching from the smell of plastic to that of a hospital. The children resumed their places at their desks, opening their textbooks to the assigned page. They felt the tattered - seemingly ancient - paper as they turned the pages, unaware of the struggle that was necessary to salvage the books. The children were taught about many things that no longer existed, in hopes of somehow preserving the knowledge of those before them. This was the only environment they had ever known - a dark shadow of societies past.