The Volcano
May 24, 2020.
The street lights illuminated the small town with a pale melancholic blue hue that contrasted in the pink sky of late afternoon while all the residents entered their houses with the sound of the church bell, which warned about the curfew. The volcano erupting in the distance gave off a characteristic odor and a lot of smoke, which passed through the city without any interference in the lives of the resigned residents. The streets were narrow and the walls of the houses were all painted in shades of purple and blue. There was a millennial tree in the middle of the main street, right in the center of the city. Its trunk had curves and a significant thickness. It drew everyone's attention because of its sad appearance, as if it was just an abandoned carcass without any relevance, but that no one would dare to take it away, since it represented the soul of the small town hidden among the mountains.
As soon as I passed the tree I got out of the car and touched its trunk. "I didn't think there were still trees like that ..." - I said to my cousin, who had also gotten out of the car. He was concerned because it had passed the curfew due and nothing but smoke roamed the streets of the peaceful city.
"We need to hurry, otherwise I will be arrested and I don't want to go to jail again. You don't know what happens to anyone who breaks the rules here." - he walked suspiciously, looking from side to side, looking, among the almost identical houses, that of his friend who for now would welcome us. - "I think that’s the one." - and ran to the only house which remained with the lights on.
The smoke grew thicker as we went down the street made out of small grey stones, towards the house. White figures passed us by but we couldn't figure out what they were. When we arrived there, the door was open and we went up the stairs quickly.
"Psst turn off the lights!" - the friend hid behind the pink sofa gestured with a fearful expression on her face. "Do I close the door too?"- I asked, as i turned off the lights; an answer which I received with a negative gesture followed by the index finger under the trembling lips of the hostess.
"They might be suspicious. You must pretend everything’s okay. Now sit on the couch and turn on the TV." - my cousin whispered to me.
A short time later, a strange figure dressed in white appeared at the door and stood there, looking at us, without saying a word.
"What is it? Can't you see that we are minding our own business?" - the neighbor who lived downstairs shouted, and the echo was heard all over the quiet street.
"We just came to check why the light didn't go out as soon as the bell rang." - the man's voice was neutral.
"I was busy in the bathroom, I couldn't come here to turn it off. I hadn't even paid attention to it." - she told him. I was sitting on the couch eating the sandwich she had left up there, while pretending that nothing was going on. I tried not to look directly at the man in white. The TV was the only noise that could be heard apart from our own heartbeats. The man left. My cousin sighed behind the sofa where I was seated and his friend took a sip of a drink with shaking hands.
"I don't know you" - the neighbor spoke from the door pointing at me and my cousin - "don't put me in this situation again or I will denounce your ass! I ain’t got nothing to lose, I just don't want to be tortured by aliens because of the irresponsible attitude of strangers. " - and left.
"What does he mean by aliens ?!" - I laughed.
"The aliens that supposedly live in that volcano. They always come here around sunset because that's when the streetlights turn on. It's hard to convince politicians that they exist ... Everyone thinks we are crazy and abandoned us here to die."
"Enough with the drama" - said my cousin - "Aliens don't kill anyone, they problably don't even exist! This is just a speech of terror for us to obey the curfew and remain indoors so we won’t stand in their way while they do whatever they do."
"This cousin of yours has some crazy ideas, that's why nobody takes him seriously." - the hostess whispered to me.
"’Aliens’ are these people in white who kidnap us for scientific purposes and conveniently nobody notices them because everyone is always hidden inside their dark houses worried about absurdities" - he looked at the window and continued- "This volcano is certainly also built by the government so that we can inhale this hallucinogenic smoke and believe in this shit. I'm telling you, this is all just another experiment and we are their lab rats . " - He went to the only room in the house and closed the door behind him.
His friend laughed and went to the window to light a cigarette. "I love the way your cousin sees the world. It is obvious that he is special, we don't care."
"He is special, alright. He has an unique and insightful way of seeing things. What has been going on all this time that he has been missing?"
"Only he knows. He doesn't talk to people normally and he behaves as if we are all too stupid for not seeing reality as he does. Do you know why the police is looking for him?"
"Everything is a real mystery."
"Well…" - she tilted her head back when she last inhaled her cigarette before throwing it on the street - "Whatever it was, was very serious, considering the reward they are offering ..."
" THEY WANT MY BRAIN! " he shouted from the room and we bursted out laughing.
I looked at the volcano that spat lava fiercely. “How beautiful nature is!” The sky remained rosy, but darker. The smell of smoke no longer bothered me, as I had gotten used to it, as well as everyone else.
As soon as the sun shyly appeared behind the mountains, the gloomy street lights went out and the bell rang. As expected, everyone left their homes and continued their lives.
I went with my cousin to visit a lawyer friend of our family who had an office in the city center. He claimed to have seen an alien become human and that he was almost kidnapped by it.
"Everyone here has a crazy theory regarding the reality of this city abandoned by God, but the truth is that we are being poisoned whenever we inhale this smoke. The only ones who are going to be spared are the madmen from the psychiatric clinic on the top of that mountain because the wind drives the smoke away from there. Can you believe that they say the volcano doesn’t exist ?! And it’s literally beside them. "- the lawyer laughed and I glanced at my cousin who was thoughtful.
It was a short time before we finally signed the agreement. My cousin was going to the madhouse on top of the mountain.
"I saw pictures of it and it doesn't look too bad there..." - I said to him when we left the office and while we walked towards the car, but he didn't seem to listen, since he was lost in his thoughts. - "I think this tree is dead."
The thick branches curled from the old tree reaching the houses nearby and I watched them with such admiration. How great it was, like a real piece of art! When I looked back at my cousin, he was gone. My chest hurt badly and I started looking for him desperately. The people there were not paying enough attention, they just told me that he had suddenly disappeared.
The ground shook and the grey old stones that made up the street heated up considerably. I ran to our friend's house, but everything was closed. The streetlights blinked and the sky became darker as the thick orange smoke spread through the air blending with the blue of the flickering pale streetlights. The ground trembled more intensely and the echo of car alarms filled the place with terror. People were disappearing. I couldn't see a thing in front of me. I coughed incessantly as I glimpsed the white shapes that passed by me. I heard the noise of branches breaking and the fire cracking closer and closer… my feet and my throat burned until I no longer felt anything at all.