Aftermath (2)

***

This was one day before Yulian was released from prison.

Morning came to the academy as it always did.

The smog belched out by the factory chimneys throughout the night lay beneath the ocher morning sunlight veiling the city's sky.

People rubbed their sleepy eyes as they walked out into streets stained the color of sickly earth.

But even late into the morning, the streets were quiet.

It was still summer vacation, so the students had returned to their family homes.

Through the middle of those deserted streets, a boy pedaled his bicycle energetically with a bundle of newspapers tucked under one arm.

“Extra! Extra!”

The boy's youthful voice cut through the ocher fog...