Some doors had collapsed or were perhaps destroyed by looters or animals as time passed. Either way they left a welcoming entrance for animals. Broken cars and rusty pieces of metal littered some of the larger driveways, stripped from all but their most useless parts.
Auchenshuggle, once a major festival town and home to an amazing night lift was now a mere distant memory of better times. Silence had taken the place of the sound of playing children, talking neighbors and the sounds of a working community. The silence was deafening.
The town hall, once the pride and glory of this town, was turned into a new pride and glory by the various animals that lived here. Birds, cats, dogs and all sorts of rodents had all taken their spots.
You couldn’t help but feel lost in this town now, even if you knew exactly where you were. It was a lonely place with only distant memories of what once was. But not all was lost. In a way the legacy of this town lived on through the animals that lived here now, the spirit was still alive albeit in a different manner.
Doors were boarded up tightly and some showed signs of painted symbols with meanings known only to those who put them there, but whoever put them there’s long gone too. Clothing, home appliances and other belongings were left lost and broken outside some of the homes. They were of no use to anyone anymore.
Caister, once home to thousands of families and counting was now but an eerie shell of its former self. The many sounds of wild animals who’ve made their home in this town are carried in the wind and give it a new sense of liveliness and vibrancy.
The safety of the bank was forfeited long ago. There was nothing left but empty halls and empty safety deposit boxes, boxes that made for great nesting areas for small birds who gladly took advantage of this.
No matter how many animals made their home in this town now you couldn’t help but be overcome with loneliness. Life had not just come to a halt, it had completely disappeared. But there was an awful feeling of hopelessness you couldn’t escape from. Even if those who lived here returned too much had been lost already and it’d never be the same again.
