litlinks 2025

Into the Light

by Emily Jones, Blue Gum Community School

Ensnared within a fractured world, each jagged shard reflected echoes of a past too grievous to bear. That was all Astrid was anymore, a patchwork of fear, pain and memory that formed a warped being with little resemblance to the brave, confident girl she once was. It wasn’t her fault; these things rarely are. Misfortune’s fickle hand had caressed her once shining life, throwing it into a sort of cruel chaos that can only grace our nightmares.

It had all begun with the virus that had spread like wildfire across the world, which took what would always be the most precious thing. Her family.

With a prolonged, tremulous sigh, Astrid forced agonising thoughts of loss out of her mind. They never went away, only lurked in the thick, almost tangible shadows that slunk around the edges of her mind, waiting for that moment of weakness, to pounce. A shiver shook her frail body, and Astrid curled an arm around herself, as if the embrace could act like armour, and defend herself from the demons that controlled the barbed, irregular lair that was her mind. She allowed her gaze to wander out of the dusty, cracked window of her allocated room, seeking reassurance from her surroundings.

Darkness smothered the short, stout and bleak buildings that had been hastily erected all around her. Smudges of feeble light occasionally punctured the thick, inky black. Everyone in this grim society of survivors was like her, cursed with the act of living when everything you lived for had been snatched away. Haunted by ghosts that made even a simple act weigh heavy with pain.

 And of course, she was enclosed by the crude, metal structure that enveloped Astrid’ s whole world. The Dome. Stretching high above the township, it encased them, covering them in a layer of silver, that defied the sun, the wind, and any wisp of nature brave enough to surface. It also, in theory, defied the Plague, halting the airborne disease from spreading any further. Sometimes extreme measures had to be taken to ensure the survival of humans as a race.

Astrid’s eyes flicked back to the window, as the streetlights stuttered on, the feeble light racing to meet her eyes. The lights were like debilitated soldiers, who struggled to find the energy deep within them to continue on, reflecting the people around them.

 And so, her day began.

In this new, desperate world, education was a luxury. A luxury that only the very few could afford. They were the lucky ones, who had succumbed to the darkness, holding a hand or a chest of hope and advantage. Money, Astrid had none. So, her darkness had no silver lining, no glimmer of light. Day in and day out, she laboured at a factory, the 15-year-old girl in charge of mixing the gluggy, thick mixture that was their sustenance.

It was onerous and gruelling work, yet everyone had to play their part in this decaying society. It was far better than the alternative: to venture alone out into the toxic world ruled by darkness outside. So she slipped on thin, wooden clogs, tucked her stringy brown hair behind her ears, and left her sagging, tired box-like room to begin another day in a life she wished she didn’t own. But Astrid did not complain. She suffered in silence, tolerance her greatest protection.

The dull, monotonous thumps of her footsteps followed her, as she made her way down the winding streets, eyes down to avoid the sight of the grime strewn around her. The high scratches of a rapid skitter ripped her away from her thoughts, and she fought back a shiver. Rats weren’t unusual. She passed the meat manufacturing plant, where they grew the artificial red chunks that barely passed as meat; the nutrients plant; until finally she reached the ‘soup place,’ as it had been coined by the workers, where they combined them.

She begrudgingly raised her eyes to the entrance of the factory, and a flash of light snatched at the edge of her vision. Curiosity curled deep within her, the emotion cutting through the desolate feelings that had become Astrid. A frown crossed her pale face as the simple impossibility hit her. Light that bright, that blindingly beautiful, hadn’t graced her life for years. A tangle of emotions warred inside her: fear of anything different, and curiosity. At last, curiosity won.

Perhaps some small thing inside her knew, even then, that that split-second decision would warp the path of her life forever. Astrid filled her lungs until they were bursting with air, leaving no room for worry or fear. And she let her gaze wander, up, up, and up, following the pinprick of dazzling light that somehow seemed to cause all this happiness, that lay dormant inside her, erupt. A gasp slipped from her lips as she located the source. It was impossible. The Dome, their only protection, was cracked. A jagged gash pierced the thick metal of the Dome; small, but bacteria didn’t need much of a welcome.

Yet, if the world outside was the plague-ridden place filled with darkness, how had something as pure as this sunlight slipped from it? Perhaps the world outside was . . . safe. Wonderful even. A world she could be part of.

But no. Safety was first. She couldn’t let her guard slip, let negligence stumble in.

As these defiant worlds swirled around in her mind, her heart disobeyed them, thrumming with excitement, her eyes jerking to a diminutive, begrimed wooden door set into the side of the Dome. Her foot raised, trembling, hesitant, but strong in its weakness. Her subconscious took the reins to direct her. To onlookers, it must have looked quizzical: a girl fighting a battle inside of herself, but she slowly forged her way forward. And then, she stretched out a quivering hand to grasp a doorknob that held all her fears.

A sudden calm washed over Astrid, like waves smoothing over the sand on a shore. This was right, the right choice. And with that, she set aside her anxieties and thrust open the door.

The abrupt barrage of light momentarily blinded Astrid, as panic ripped through her, crawling into her confidence. Yet as the dazzle faded, and the world around her flickered into focus like the start of an old record, a gasp fell from her open mouth at the brilliance that lay before her.

As a child, stories of paradises and fairylands had been woven before her, yet every description fell so bluntly short. 

All around her, a world coated in the sun’s thick, sticky syrup stretched as far as the eye could see. An explosion of life erupted from the velvety soft grass. Flowers in colours so vivid and bright that they caused a small smile to twist the corner of Astrid’s lips. They bloomed in plentiful abundance, and lush, vibrant trees that seemed to beam at her, were scattered around the land. Ecstasy flared inside of her, so vigorous and voracious that it washed away the darkness that had been brewing inside of Astrid for so long.

She had to get the others! Had to help them feel the joy she felt. Happiness now her fuel, as her breath came ragged and rapid, she sprinted back into the Dome, fighting hard against the claustrophobia that instantly encased her.

“Everyone,” she croaked. Her voice was scratchy and jagged from lack of use, yet it hung heavily with the startling scent of hope. Heads flicked upwards, eyes widened at the astonishing sight that had been presented to their alarmed eyes. A girl, silhouetted by alluring rays of glimmering sun, a sun meant not to exist, offering them a slice of future on a silver platter.

‘’Outside, it is beautiful. The plague harmed us so, yet it has caused life outside to bloom. The earth has been replenished, with us locked away. The plague is not something to fear, not anymore. I have lived most of my life in terror, but I am not going to let that same fear control me now. We could shape a new reality.’’

‘’But, but, we can’t,’’ an old woman whispered, aghast eyes darting back and forth. Astrid gazed into those petrified eyes and saw herself, reflected in the startled blue. She stretched out her hand, sturdy, unwavering.

‘’We can do anything if we do it together.’’

And so, grasping the woman’s frail hand, Astrid took a step. Out of the darkness and into the light.