Benn nursed his back with a pack of ice, watching the scene play out before him without much of an expression on his face. The flickering light of dusk hung behind the curtains, his old, worn chair shifting beneath him in the perfect support position.
He could practically smell it emitting from the small little screen in front of him. In fact, he sniffed at the air, his nostrils wrinkling in distaste.
Politician speak.
Grid reeked of it. He was better at it than most, but the old man could still smell it on his breath even across countless light years.
He didn’t know how they planned to use such positive PR to target his grandson, but he knew that it was coming.
The old man looked down at his hand and sighed. He should be out there too. But all the people left on Earth were those far outside their prime and those too young to even drink.
They couldn’t do anything but watch.
A knock came at the door and Benn grunted, grabbing a cane he usually ignored to prop himself up. It was fine, his back would be alright in a few days.
Okay, maybe a few weeks. He didn’t bounce back as fast as he used to.
He pushed the fabric blocking the door’s window and chuckled when he saw who it was. He opened the door and a pair of young women stood outside.
One of them was quite petite and the other stood taller than he did while his back was hunched like this. They had a few supplies in their arms and bright smiles on their pretty little faces.
Benn chuckled.
"See? I told you the old man would hurt himself watching Grey." The smaller one said.
The bigger one dumped the materials she was holding up on the smaller one and hurried forward to help Benn, hooking the old man’s arm over her shoulder.
"You’ve got to be careful in your old age. Look at you."
"You know, they say something’s changing about Earth’s chemistry or whatever. If you just stay limber and treat your body well, maybe you’ll get a lot younger soon." The smaller one said, grunting as she tried to balance everything.
A voice came from the far off distance. This time, it was a boy, but he sounded like he was hauling something heavy.
"Keep talking a big game and you’re going to break your back first." The voice of another boy echoed.
Benn couldn’t even resist as he was ushered into his own house by a gang of teenagers.
Soon, the two boys made their way in, hauling bed frames and makeshift tents with them.
"Are you lot invading my home?"
"Hush old man," one of the boys said, "you’ve got all this land and all our parents got zapped to another dimension. Since Grey’s on TV now, you gotta make some room."
"You should be thankful, actually. Sabrina here had to tell a lot of people to scram." The second boy said. "Otherwise, there woulda been like 50 of us."
"We both know she only did that to keep the hoes away. She’s been mad enough watching that Amunet chick."
The bigger of the two women, Sabrina, started glaring at the boys from over Benn’s shoulder, her eyes telling them to shut up.
They both put their hands up in mock surrender.
Benn laughed. The four were probably over at their house the most often.
The boys, James and Duke. The girls, Sabrina and Lilac.
The five of them had gone to pre-school, then kindergarten, then primary, middle, and high school together. Though, considering they all lived in the country, that wasn’t much of a feat. You could have said that about all the kids in the surrounding 50 kilometers.
But from the start, these five had been the closest. It was just that Grey was kind of a magnet for people—both in the repulsion and attracting sense.
No matter who you came across, they had an opinion about him. And most often, that opinion was positive.
When James said there were a gang of people who wanted to come, Benn believed him.
There had been a fog over the community. Between all the disappearances, and the insecurity about their futures, it was impossible to be in high spirits.
But then, once again, Grey swept in and became their light.
Benn could have sworn that just a few days ago was the first time he had heard someone laugh, and to think they had done so while watching a teenage boy commit mass murder.
Was that because Grey was dancing, rapping, and kicking ass at the same time?
Maybe.
But this was the first time that the people of Earth had seen something that could make them feel some real hope.
Then that hope was ripped away as they watched Amunet and Thi Lan struggle on the brink of life and death once again...
Only for Grey to appear once more, with a shit eating grin on his face and a tongue that could have poisoned the ocean itself.
"Old man, are you okay?" The petite Lilac hurried to Benn’s side, wiping at his cheek with a handkerchief.
"Oh." Benn shook his head. "I guess I really am getting old. I didn’t even notice."
He looked at the tear soaked handkerchief as though baffled that those had really come from him.
That was who his grandson had always been, the light of the world.
Earth had a vacant hole at its heart. The only reason it hadn’t fallen into absolute chaos were because of mechatronic enforcement officers that were, at least, not abusive to the general population.
But that didn’t stop them from feeling like there was a hole there. A hole that, albeit slowly... Grey was starting to fill.
"Don’t worry old man." Duke clapped Benn’s shoulders. "He’ll get out of this one just like he gets out of everything. Then he’ll fall in love with Amunet so Sabrina finally lets me fu—!"
A stainless steel bowl dinged against the back of Duke’s head.
Benn couldn’t help it, he burst into a fit of laughter, his back be damned.