Part 1 here.
Part 2 here.
Part 3 here.
Part 4 here.
V.
Inside the library, two twelve-year-olds each tipped a stack of dust-covered books onto a desk by the window. Sunlight streamed through, catching the motes of dust dancing in the air.
“So this is how life was, before all this happened,” noted the girl, pointing to pictures of wafer-thin laptops, tiny music players, and sleek cars.
“It feels unfair, doesn’t it,” the boy said, looking enviously at the photograph of a video game console. “We’re living like this because of their mistakes.”
“I heard Mom and Dad talking the other day. Apparently, things weren’t supposed to turn out this way. They could’ve prevented all of this from happening, but they didn’t. And now…here we are.”
“It isn’t fair,” he repeated.
“It isn’t,” she agreed, “but we’re going to have to make do. And when things get back to normal, we make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
