XMAS SPECIAL(2)

Dark was the night, for as Emmerly raised his head, he could descry no hint of the moon, nor stars that are its eternal companion of loyalty. The sky was a doom of blackness, and it pressed down on all, giving the illusion that here at this height, you would bump your head if you attempted to straighten your bowed back. The wind, at this height strong yet less strong than one would expect, howled and groaned as it passed through the cracks between the buildings. Even a man as stout and tough as wind may be hindered by the city’s endless arrays of cliff-like walls. Oh yes, dark, oh so dark was the night, yet it was not so, not so where Emmerly now looked upon.

The city, was lit, white, red, and green, by the lights that shone through the ravines between the buildings, from layers upon layers of hologram billboards and signs, advertisements and screens: there was no night in this city, at least not at ground level. It made little difference, for all that day and night meant to those who lived below was whether one could look up and see a thin line that was the sky above, not that many of them actually bothered to do this: the buildings, in their height and monstrosity, had blocked nearly all natural light that could reach the ground, and men, in their desperation for survival, hustled with down-cast eyes, seeing but the ground before their feet.