Breaking the Spirit

[Heresy]

Among the casualties were all of Timothy’s family, minus Francesca. All of the four, Gordon, Hannah, Conner and Kevin were on the night shift at the time of the collapse, overseeing and participating in the new drilling. His two brother’s remains were never found; half of his father was found, his upper torso severed from his missing legs. His head was crushed under a large rock and greyish red liquid oozed from where his cranium would have been; what was left of his brain. His mother had been one of the initial survivors, but the toxins in the Leeds atmosphere had pushed her body to the limits before the incident, and managed to claim her life after it.

Timothy was simply speechless when he saw the consequences of the strip mining of Leeds in the morning. His life had been turned upside down, and his mother’s last words to him burned into his mind like a hot iron.

“Find yourself...”

What did that mean? What was he supposed to do? What could he do? It sounded more like a cliche than a serious comment...

Luckily, his residential bloc had been left largely unscathed by the massive gash in the earth that was now the landmark of where mine 483 had been. Timothy was left only with what his family had left behind and his elder sister. He’d have to begin again. How? He didn’t know that part.

Timothy lived off of what he could find in the house for nine days, and used his savings to purchase extra food while pawning off the possessions of his family, in order of their importance. He waited until his sister arrived the day before the funeral, and had a small sense of relief when she finally did. Being 24, Francesca was exactly ten years older than Timothy and had really no choice but to take care of him, being the only living relative to him. She dutifully took up her responsibility and tried to retain some sense of normality in both his life and her own.

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