Skyscrapers

A city filled with sound, filled with fumes, filled with light. Full
of life but not all of it good. Full of people but not all of them
good.

Filled with people but none to see. Filled with sound but none to
hear. A waste land within a flowing city.

Through the ages people come but never go. People Explore but never
discover. People STAY.

A traveler. Always traveling. He sat down on the once flooded street
confused and alone. He gazed up as a cold breeze blew. He saw a tall
black office building. It was cold with modern age. Moss grew on the
side and was exploding out of the bottom which tilted the building.
The other buildings where similar. The road that once was inhabited by
pools of cars was cracked open in the middle that moss and dirt
escaped from.

The traveler walked towards the office building with human curiosity.
The sound of glass shattering ringed through his ears. The glass fell
down from a high floor of the dull-but-not-so-dull building. It hit
the ground in an awakening of sound then shattered in to separate
shards on the empty street. A thick branch fresh with leaves thrust
out of the broken window.

The traveler now with anxious curiosity reached for the door. A thin
twig with very few leaves was curled around the door. He touched the
knob and to his surprise the twig curled around his filthy hand. He
ripped it of with his other hand in disgust.

He opened the door with slight suspense. He stepped into the building
on the wet and muddy floor. Each step there was a sickening squelch.
He reached the reception desk and bent over to inspect. There sat a
man morphed to the wall with moss bursting out of his suit, branches
curled tight around his neck and coughing up dirt. The traveler looked
away in horror. He wanted to let out a scream but was unable to break
the stiffening silence. He saw the poor man in the corner of his eye
but chose not to.

He saw an elevator at the far right of the room. He walked towards it
shaking still in utter shock. He pressed the arrow pointing up and the
doors opened. He stepped inside and pressed the 2nd floor button. As
the doors closed the traveler took a deep and unsure breath. It went
up to the 2nd floor. It didn’t stop. It went up to the 3rd floor, 4th
floor, 5th floor, 6th floor, 7th floor, 8th floor and it stopped in
between the 9th floor and the top floor. It just stopped. The doors
opened in between the two floors. He took a step back into the
elevator. He heard the sound of ruffling leaves. A tree branch came
into view and whipped up in front of the elevator. It slithered into
the elevator towards the scared traveler. It wrapped around his leg.
And pulled him across the elevator to the edge. (unfinished story)