Walking the Ruins

Library

Even in the city's center, most of the buildings have nearly collapsed. Only a few of them stand higher than one or two stories. 

We walk the streets in silence—except for Elaine, who whimpers every now and then. Rose walks beside her, touching her arm.

Nature has taken a firm hold of everything. Trees grow in the alleys and squares. Shrubs, ferns, and brambles infest the ground and shroud any of the smaller objects humanity has left behind. Birdsong and rustling foliage form the soundtrack of what feels like a fairytale movie.

Steve, who's still walking at the head, stops and points to the left. "Look there!"

The remains of a large building lurk in the shadows of the trees. It looks surprisingly intact, apparently built from stone blocks that have weathered the years without crumbling. It is in much better shape than the constructions of steel and concrete to its left and right.

Stairs overgrown with ivy lead to a large entrance, whose doors seem to have rotted away or fallen from their hinges with a cavernous hall behind it.

Above the entrance, an inscription is hewn into the sandstone. BIBLIOTHÈQUE / LIBRARY it says. The French word reminds me of endless, dreary language lessons, of hours of bored despair. I wonder if I will ever have French classes again. I somehow doubt it. And I am surprised to detect a sense of nostalgia.

"Come, let's have a closer look." Kevin, who has a weakness for books, starts off towards the building.

"Wait." Steve lifts an arm as if to catch him, but he's out of reach. "Be careful! We don't know what might be hiding in there."

Kevin walks on. Steve follows, shaking his head.

"Well, I won't stay here." I follow the boys.

Jenny, Elaine, and Rose apparently share my feelings and join me.

We all stop at the entrance and study the hall behind it. It is high and surprisingly bright. Most of the building's roof has collapsed. Part of the floor is missing, too. Apparently, it has fallen into the basement below. Plants are growing on the remaining horizontal surfaces.

Kevin investigates the wall beside the entrance and starts pulling at the ivy covering it. His efforts reveal a metal plate. Its surface is dulled and weathered, but I recognize a series of recesses that form an inscription.

BIBLIOTHÈQUE PUBLIQUE DE GENÈVE / PUBLIC LIBRARY OF GENEVA
RENOVÉE / RENOVATED - MMCCXXXIV -

"Renovated in the year of... 2134." Kevin hesitates as he reads the number.

Rose takes a noisy breath. "Shit. We have skipped more than one hundred years."

"Much more," I add. "If this building here, the library, has been renovated in 2134, it must have looked like new then. Look at it now. Look at this graveyard of a city. That must have been hundreds of years ago."

For a moment, we look at each other, wordlessly.

"No! It can't be." Rose shakes her head, vigorously. "They would all be... dead."

I don't have to ask who 'they' are. Rose is talking about everyone, everyone we knew, except the six of us. Yes, they are dead, all of them, and they have been so for hundreds of years. I guess we all have already reached that conclusion anyway, at least when we set eyes on the ruins of the city for the first time. But having proof, in the form of a solid, undeniable metal plate and a year engraved therein, is a different matter.

I move closer to Rose and squeeze her shoulder.

Kevin takes a step into the building and peers into the hall. "I wonder if there are any books here."