Alarmingly Strange Stories
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"I can't find anything here," Scott said, disappointed. "Wait," said Bianca, climbing on top of the wall and looking down to the ground below, "I think I found something." Bianca crawled to where the wall met the hillside and then slid down to the rocks below. Overturning some rubble, she uncovered two human feet ticking almost comically out of the ground. "Found the feet and legs!" she yelled. After that discovery, their work seemed easy. Although it was late and dark they plowed enthusiastically through the ruins, at last finding a full human torso underground. Then they carefully carried all the parts into their compartment of the ruins, arranging them into the form of a whole human on the ground. The ruin man's head lay on a pillow of cotton, and Dan lay his shirt over the ruin man's naked body, like a blanket. The group sat patiently in a circle around the ruin man. The sun had set hours before; it was dark and cold, and Dan shivered, crouching close to the wall. They all waited silently for some movement, some sign of change. "Please," Bianca whispered through clenched teeth, "come on...." "Soon," said Dan, repeating words they had all heard a hundred times over in the past three weeks, "The ruin man will lead us out of our poverty and help us overthrow the oppressive system. What else could he be but a god to guide us? What else could he do but help us be free?" Just then, a faint red glow formed around the ruin man, gently building into a wave of soft warm light. The light hung for a second just above the ruin man's body and then faded, seeping into the concrete and the rubble and the twisted shards of metal and glass on the ground. * . . . . . * . . . . . * The group sat in silence. Slowly, the ruin man stretched and moved his limbs, all of them seamlessly connected to his torso like they had grown that way. In the dim light he seemed ominous and strange. As they stared in awe, he sat up and then stood, wrapping Dan's shirt around his waist and blinking at them with clear dark eyes. "Our god," whispered Dan. They all stared wide-eyed at the ruin man, waiting for any movement, any gesture of approval. He looked ready to speak. "Don't call me your god," he said at last, "How could I lead you out of oppression when, just a few minutes ago, I was absolutely nothing? You created me. You can liberate yourselves. If you can put together a man from pieces found in a ruin, you can bring yourselves together and make a difference. And please don't worship me." Dan waved an arm weakly to indicate all they had given him, to show him the flowers and the box and the small offerings on the ground, and most of all their own dedication and worship which they had given unquestioningly. Bianca and the others sat still and gawked at him, stunned mute. The ruin man stood and stared calmly back at them, still wearing the same serene smile that they had trusted, still the same beautiful ruin man who they had counted on for answers. Then the ruin man turned and walked to the ladder, climbed it, and walked gracefully away from them on top of the ruin wall. He paused for a moment, standing gloriously high above the ruin and the bay and the city lights gleaming on water, and then leaped off the wall to the hillside. The group below watched him silently, wide-eyed. "I don't understand," Bianca said, as they shivered miserably in the dark. Scrabbling on the cold concrete, she found her pendant and put it back in her pocket where it belonged, now. "It's all so pointless. Fucking POINTLESS," moaned Amy, who looked ready to cry. "It was all for nothing, wasn't it?" Bianca thought about this. "Not completely," she said, finally, tipping her head back to look at the sky. "Maybe he gave us something after all. Maybe he's right about not needing a leader." They sat in silence for a while and then struggled to their feet, climbing up the ladder and out of the ruin one by one, heading off together into the dim gray morning.

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