July 16th, 1945, Jornada del Muerto desert Batter my heart, three-personed God; for you As yet, breathe, shine, and seek to mend; That I may rise and stand, o’erthrow me, and bend Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new. John Donne “Holy Sonnet XIV Batter My Heart, Three-Personed God” Two men sat in a concrete bunker. It was not a particularly large space, maybe thirteen feet by thirteen feet. The walls remained rough with sharp nibs of concrete that could graze through skin if brushed against, but the floor was smooth and polished with a light dusting of grey powder that always seemed to be ever-present. The bunker was built to last, with walls that could withstand a direct hit from an M4 Sherman tank. The walls had to be thick, for they were about to witness the birth of a Sun. The only items of furniture to grace the bunker consisted of two Richard Neutra Cantilever Chairs in cream leather, beautiful contemporary creations with sweeping legs of flat edged polished chrome that held up the steel spring construction of the seats. In a space filled with nothing but dusty concrete, they were a thing of singular beauty, a concession to the man who had made all of this possible, Julius Robert Oppenheimer. Though he didn’t know it yet, Oppenheimer would share a particular honour with his favourite architect, Richard Neutra, for they would both grace the cover of Time Magazine within a year of each other. One would make the headlines for designing life, while one would become famous for designing death. Two diametrically opposed headlines immortalised on glossy paper. Oppenheimer sat on one of the chairs facing a long rectangular window set into the thick wall of the bunker. The opening ran almost the full width of the wall and afforded a spectacular view out across the desert. The slit in the grey wall glowed orange, for the Sun had decided to put on the most spectacular show that morning, rising across the distant mountain tops to caress each peak with golden fingers, kissing the distant crags with gilded magnificence. #horror #horrorstories #horrorbooks #horrorinstagram #instahorror #indiebooks #instabooks https://www.instagram.com/p/BvB3GtJAp1y/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1res0cur2r0xh
