Opening Story - 011

I follow Tayla through the ruins of the abandoned city. Empty city blocks, lonely streetlamps, and stacks of cinderblocks stretch across the waste. Weeds grow in through the gaps between the gravel and stone, and vines climb their way up the remnants of brick walls.

A far cry from the rebuilt part of the city centre we've left behind.

Only the occasional corner shop remains, selling second-hand items or convenience food. Coming out of one such store, I catch a glimpse of a song I recognise. It's a bit of an older song. From the early 2020s, if I remember correctly.

"What kind of music do you listen to?"

"Hmm?"

"What music do you listen to?"

"Oh… I don't think you'd know any of it. I listen to really old and obscure stuff."

"Really? I listen to some older stuff as well, so I might know it."

"Ever heard of the Velvet Underground or Dinosaur Jr.?"

"No… what kind of music is that?"

"Depends… they were both around for quite a long time, and made a lot of different stuff. Mostly noise rock, punk, or grunge."

"I listen to grunge, but I've never heard of either of those bands."

"What you listen to is probably neo-grunge. If it's from the twenty-first century, it isn't really grunge. They sound completely different."

"What's the difference between the two?"

"Grunge probably has a 'heavier' sound than what your used to. The guitar riffs are longer and usually more distorted. Especially with Dinosaur Jr.'s earlier music and Sonic Youth, which is more along the lines of noise rock than grunge, like Nirvana."

"Hmmm… you really know a lot about this, huh?"

"I guess so…" Tayla responded, "my father listens to a lot of music like that. He introduced me to it. As well as groups like Talking Heads and Queens of the Stone Age, though I doubt you've heard of either of those bands."

"…no, I haven't."

The kind of music her father listens to, huh?

For me, I think I would have the complete opposite reaction. Any music that my father likes, I would have absolutely zero interest in.

It would be off-putting.

Though I doubt that man would listen to the same music I do. Not that I know or remember what music he does listen to.

She must really respect or look up to her parents.

"Do you like your parents?"

"Huh? Well, I don't exactly like them. Their a pain, and their overbearing, but they aren't bad parents or anything."

Or perhaps not. Perhaps it's enough just to get along with them.

I think me and my father used to get along. Before we stopped talking to each other.

"We're almost there."

Tayla's voice snaps me back into the present. I realise that I'd been lost in thought, talking to her and then thinking about my father, and I'd lost any sense of where we are.

That was stupid. I don't want to think about my father anymore. I don't want to have to think about him anymore.

Looking around us, I realise that we're in a big open area now. A square or market of some sort, I guess. There's shopfronts lined up all around the edge, however most of them are boarded up. The few that are open, Tayla pays no attention to.

In the middle of the square, is a large hulking ruin that's just intact enough for me to recognise what it is.

A cathedral.

A huge cathedral.

Or at least it was. I assume it must've been destroyed in the earthquake from thirty years ago, and never rebuilt. Tayla leads me around to the other side of the ruin. There, out in the square, is a small collection of food trucks and tables. I guess this is where Tayla was taking me this whole time. She takes me to one of the trucks, and orders for me.

Trust me, she says.

"I'm sure you'll like it."

I read the menu, and the writing on the side of the truck. It seems that it specialises in noodles, mostly soups.

Unsurprisingly when our meals show up, it's a bowl of noodles in a broth. An assortment of vegetables, pork, as well as half of an egg, boiled, also sit in the broth. I wouldn't usually choose to eat something like this.

One of my father's relatives that I was staying with had a number of health requirements that meant we had limited variation in the food we ate there. And since I ran away, well, I've basically been living on microwaveable frozen meals.

I try the soup, nonetheless.

"Do you like it?" Tayla asks.

"It's pretty good."

Like I said, it isn't something I would normally choose. It's a bit spicier than what I'm used to, but it's rich in flavour. Or maybe my taste buds are just starved from the lack of decent food. I eat slowly, so as not to upset my throat too much, which is already burning from the heat.

Tayla ordered the same thing for herself, but she isn't having the same problems I am. I've taken perhaps a dozen spoonfuls, whilst she's already half-emptied a bowl that was filled to the brim.

"How did you know about this place? Do you come here a lot?"

"Hmm? It's not that special or anything… I would think most people know about it. I guess since you're not from here, it's understandable you wouldn't."

"Is that so?"

I'm a little disappointed, really.

I thought for a moment there that Tayla had decided to show me something that was like a little secret of hers. It made my heart skip a beat.

"How come they didn't rebuild the cathedral?"

"I heard that after the earthquake, they couldn't decide whether to try and restore it, or to rebuild from scratch. I'm not sure whether that's true or not, however."

"Hmm… a lot of the city seems quite empty. Is it the same reason why they never rebuilt everywhere?"

"No, a lot of the time it had to do with money. Arguments over insurance payments, or simply not being willing to invest the money needed to rebuild. And even after the rebuild, a lot of the buildings were abandoned. The city hasn't looked like this since the earthquake, you know?"

"Really? I'd assumed this was all because of the earthquake."

"No, no, no. Even when I was a little kid, a lot of these places weren't abandoned or empty. It's because the city's dying. People are moving out. It's turning into a ghost town. There's entire suburbs that are empty already. I have friends that like breaking into empty houses and stuff like that. They often find stuff that's been left behind."

"Huh…"

A dying city.

A city that is dying.

I had got that feeling, even before Tayla said that, or before I came into the city centre earlier this week. It's just like there's a depressing feeling all over. A city where the people have given up.

There's no belief that things are going to get better.

And perhaps their right to think that. From what Tayla just said, the future seems grim for this city.

This place is dying.

While I was distracted, Tayla finished her bowl. She made a noise that might've been her showing her satisfaction. It made me smile a little. It was kind of cute.

Looking down at my bowl, I saw that I was still barely halfway done, even though Tayla was finished.

"I was wondering…"

Tayla's voice made me look back in her direction.

"… why did you agree to go on a date with me?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I guess… in other words, what do you like about me?"