Sound of Sirens (a five-minute #freewrite #wewrite with @kaelci)

The streets were quiet --too quiet. People walked in pairs along the pathway, not a word spoken between them; cars were pulled to the side of the road, their engines silent and their chassis rusted; not a single tweet or screech emanated from the wildlife. If not for the people in formation, it would seem as though the world were dead.

Rhys followed at their backs, unpaired, feeling self-conscious that no-one had been chosen to walk beside him, and curious as to where they were being guided. There had been no choice in the matter. The compelling force was strong; he could not resist, and neither could the others.

A soft whistle sang out from ahead, breaking the silence, and then a distant siren began, similar to the old sirens once used by the fire engines. There had been no need for their services for years now. In this day and age the only fire was spectral, gas wasn't a danger, and cats no longer got trapped in trees.

Were there even cats around anymore? He hadn't seen one since his childhood.

The sound of sirens intensified, piercing through his ears and into his spongey brain, and though he inwardly winced, no emotion was outwardly evident.

Part 2

by @dranuvar

He thought about what lied ahead. Trees, the feeling of loneliness and of a promise. He didn’t know where the call would make them go, but he knew that They called. Rhys was by himself, so he didn’t know what to expect, but in the end, his feelings didn’t matter, and so he walked, remembering pieces of what he was told of things in the old times.

Cats were the ones to first start disappearing, right when gray became far too common in the skyes and silence was the music everyone heard. There was someone to blame, but it was gone, and everyone would have soon been gone too. But then the first sirens called out, beginning as a soft whistle and then a scream that reminded of the classic fire engines. And disaster paused, life kept going even if scarred. And now, from time to time, the sound returned, and enraptured couples walked towards the expected unknown.

The streets were left behind, now a road in an open space, and still no emotion outside, but with a mind who didn’t wince anymore. Something ahead, a light, a silhouette. He felt someone grabbing his hand, but kept looking forward, the impulse irresistible. Now closer and with a clenching warmth grasping his fingers, the sirens now a whisper, he saw a face in the sky.

“Here we are” was said in a chorus, and everything made sense.