A Flicker of Hope

The morning air was heavy with the acrid smell of ash and despair. Mara gazed at the sky, bleak, gray, and hopeless, and remembered times past when the sun shone bright with promise. The ruins of the city drifted in and out of focus through the haze, mirroring her muted memories of the “good days” before the alien invaders came. 

Hopeless. The opposite of hope. She wiped away the moisture that seeped from eyes and reflected on that solitary word. Hope. A repressed idea, a forbidden concept, a dangerous game for those who dare play it. Many have tried and failed.

Yet today felt different. Her pulse quickened as she heard an inner voice whispering for change, igniting a flicker of resistance, thrilling and terrifying. She didn’t know how or what, but she knew when. Today, she would take the first step into the dark and reclaim hope for a brighter world.