Museum A Short Story

[HyBriD54 0]

An admin on our Xisto hosted forum wrote this. We thought we'd like to share it with you.---------------Alex removed the card and switched off his laptop. As a last measure he opened the waste chute and threw the machine in. It was written off from the Department decades ago: no-one would notice if that was thrown into the trash. He hid the card in the folds of his tunic and, closing his dormitory door behind him, went out into the winding mazes of the Caves.He walked on stealthily, his pale face expressionless, deep furrows set in his eyes. The idea of even trying to enter the Museum was unthinkable– no-one, not even the Chief Elder, had entered the forbidden place, its access prohibited by all means.“He can’t be trusted,” said the other Elders. Even though he was one himself, Alex didn’t have a very clean record. One more break-in attempt, one more network breach, and he would be Banished. Sent to the Surface. Forever.But what did he care about Banishment? He knew what it meant, and he wasn’t one bit afraid. To him, trying to break into the Museum was almost an obsession, a child-like curiosity, almost… boyish.The fluorescent lights in the tunnel dimmed and flickered. It was obvious the path was poorly maintained. He would raise the issue with the other Elders, he thought, and stopping by a light, scrawled a note into his notebook.He looked up. There, in the distance, was what seemed like another locked maintenance room.His mind raced with excitement. Flipping back his notebook, he checked his notes.He had arrived.Alex fumbled in his black tunic for his hacked card, swiped it at the reader and waited. The doors slid open, revealing a blank, inky darkness. He walked in, and they glided shut with a soft click behind him…The footstep broke the age-long silence in the neglected hallway. There was no-one to greet him except darkness. Alex switched on his torch, its light stretching into the distance. Neglected stacks of tapes, and nothing more. He walked on, his face expressionless as ever.The hall widened, and the Hall of History came into view. Statues of presidents and world leaders peered out of glass cabinets, their busts neatly labelled. Flags adorned the ceiling, their colours faded and fabric tattered.Artifacts- computers, telephones, tables and chairs- were neatly displayed at the back of the hall. The life they needed now made the furniture redundant. Those were faint reminders of the world he lived in before the move underground. Before the fallout.He didn’t remember it all. He scoured his mind for the memories, to relive them again. But he couldn’t. It seemed like he had lived for nothing. He was now nothing but a Citizen, another one of the crowd in the Underground, taking shelter from another potential fallout, living their lives in fear of death.***There was a door at the end of a passageway. Alex broke into a sprint.A wooden door– he hadn’t seen those for a while. He read the placard on the door— Natural History.With a childish excitement, he turned the handle.A magnificent apple tree loomed over him, its branches embracing the air. No wind was there to sway its branches as it stood like a statue in the chamber. Its fruit hung from its outstretched branches, red and gleaming.There was what seemed to be a skylight on the wall. He remembered the light. The sun, the sun! It showered him with light that stole its way through the tree-top, and Alex stretched his hands into the light…For the first time in decades, he felt warmth.***He remembered the days as a young boy on the house on the hill, where the tree once was, and his father would push him on a tyre swing, and his mother would sit by and watch, peeling apples from a basket beside her. The days of pies on windowsills, strolls in the forest- they would not leave the house on the hill for the world.He recalled memories of Christina, his gentle female friend, one who he cherished and loved. He remembered their sweet, innocent conversations; their peals of laughter echoing by the riverside, as the reeds swayed in the wind.And one day, they both had come of age. They exchanged vows of love, his pale blue eyes meeting her emerald ones. They embraced, tears of joy flowing from her cheeks…***The door swung open with a thud on the wall. Alex woke from his reverie. He turned around.His shocked face betrayed him.He was caught.“Citizen Alex Deitman,” the Chief Elder announced plainly, her voice cold and unforgiving.“I expected you would turn up here.”She walked up to him, her face illuminated in the sunlight.“You are hereby withdrawn from all Elder duties. Pack your belongings. You are to be Banished.”She hastily drew out her thick ticket-book and issued an Order. Alex Deitman would be exiled in an hour. She handed him the ticket.He read the note, and saw a blot on the paper. He looked up at her.For a moment, their faces met. A tear strained from her emerald eyes.He had nothing more to say. It was an Order, and he had to comply. Alex reached for the door and left.She was alone.The Chief Elder looked up at the apple tree, magnificent, its branches outstretched.She embraced the air and felt- warmth. She wiped away her tears.For the first time in years, Christina smiled.She remembered sunlight too.

Edited November 7, 2008 by HyBriD54 (see edit history)