My mother used to talk about the last thing she watched on the TELEVISION before the POWER went out. She tried a few times to explain to us what those words meant. She talked about days before sunset brought fear, about days when we lived in spires of glass and metal. Thousands of us, hundreds of thousands, millions, billions. I wracked my mind trying to fathom that many people together in one place.
She would tell us of the night before the world changed. Sitting around the TELEVISION in her house, she and her sisters watched the NEWS. A story was being told. A REPORTER was at the edge of the Forest, accompanied by POLICE OFFICERS. Giant lights were shining into the trees. The REPORTER spoke to my mother and her sisters as the POLICE moved forward, into the Dark Place. And then, they attacked. The OFFICERS were cut down, “right there on T.V.” my mother would say. The REPORTER screamed. The SCREEN went black.
All that was left were the words “Police Warn Citizens To Stay Away From The Forest.”