[ WP ] The sun has just risen for the first time in 14 years

The last time I had seen it I was only four years old. 
 
 And as with any memory, it faded with age until all i was left with was a vague image and the fleeting feeling of warmth. It was the feeling that had stayed with me all these years, like a memory that my skin held onto, the warm kiss of the sun's rays, and ever since it had craved for more, always there in the back of my mind, a hunger that may never be sated again. Humans need sunlight. That was what I was told. But we do n't always get what we need. And so I've lived with the thirst for fourteen long years now. 
 
 I have lived underground for all of my life along with the rest of humanity. No one knows why we did. Those are memories long past and forgotten. But we do know a little of the world as it was before the Darkness took over. Few photos and books have survived, but those that did painted a much more vibrant picture of the earth, filled with greenery and light, warmth and a life above ground, animals and seasons and weather, of cities that grew up instead of down. 
 
 I had lost myself in the stories far too many times. I knew them all by heart. There was n't much else to do in the colony otherwise besides working and surviving day by day. There were few kids my age growing up and even still kids are few and far between. Mother told me that people have given up, that our time is coming to an end and we too shall be just a memory. There's always a sadness to her voice when she tells me this, but I found myself agreeing with those people more and more each year that passes in total darkness. 
 
 The earth was uninhabitable, the land a cold wasteland devoid of life. The colony is the only ting that sustains us, keeps us warm, let's us carry on with our meager existence. The light within always seemed so dull compared to the sun, but my four year old mind was compromised by my immense imagination. Things always seemed grander back then, full of hope, until reality sets in little by little, year by year. 
 
 Naturally, like my mother and father and almost everyone in the colony, my skin was pale, borderline translucent. Thirsty for the sun. 
 
 The sun. 
 
 It invaded my thoughts almost daily. It was like a sliver of hope for humanity. If the sun came back, maybe, just maybe we could claw our way back from the brink of extinction, live life the way it was supposed to be lived. But there was no hope and mine was dwindling as well. 
 
 I dreamed nightly of green as far as the eye could see, of warmth that soaked down into my bones chasing the chill away. It was hard for me to imagine, the only references I had to go on were old and faded, memories of memories. 
 
 The last time the sun rose it was only briefly, teasing us with a hope that was soon dashed mere hours later as it set once again. The whole colony gathered around the atrium under the great glass dome. Bright orange light had melted the ever present layers of ice and snow enough to stream rays down into the colony. everyone avoided it at first, then slowly, one by one we each took turns stepping into the bright column of light. My eyes stung and I had to squint when it was my turn. I had never felt anything like it before in my short life, but my body seemed to know that this is what it was missing. How could we live without something so essential to who we are as a species? 
 
 And then it was gone. I wish I had been older when it had happened so I could have fully appreciated it. But my memory would just have to do for now. I still had hope, no matter how small a sliver it was, that I would see it again. Hope that dwindled with each passing year. 
 
 Ten days had passed as usual, but there was something odd. My body grew antsy and I could n't figure out why. The air seemed less biting and there was a different energy about the colony, though no one could explain it. Little did we know that our life was about to change. 
 
 On the eleventh day I awoke to a frenzy that stirred the colony. People rushed to the central atrium. My heart aflutter, I quickly dressed and joined the masses as the gathered around in a circle under the glass dome. 
 
 At first I did n't see it, and then all at once I did and all the memories from the last time washed through me, enveloping me in their fuzzy warmth. At first it was only a speck in the ice above. The room was silent as we all watched, our attention rapt, at the growing yellow-orange dot until, and it seemed like hours had passed, it finally broke through and a sliver of light beamed down onto the floor. 
 
 Everyone gasped at once in awe laced with a relief so subtle it was easy to miss if you were n't keen to those sorts of things. But I was and I felt it as palpable as my own. But something else began to stir within me, hope. I was n't naive to think I would ever run through a verdant field in my lifetime, but at least now I knew that the sun had n't given up on us yet. 
 
 Like all those years ago, we each took turns standing under the beam of bright light. I shifted from foot to foot as I awaited my turn. This was it. I was going to have the chance to experience, really savor the sun like I did n't when I was a child. The memory played in the back of my mind over and over again. 
 
 And then, it was my turn. I hesitated before stepping into the light. My memory becoming a monolith in my mind. What if it does n't live up to the last time? Then my memory of it would be forever ruined. But I could n't let the opportunity pass me by. I took a deep breath and stepped into the ray. 
 
 It took a moment before I could feel the warmth along my skin and it seeped down into my cold bones. I close my eyes to revel in the feeling. It was everything that I thought it would be. Immediately I was transported to a field of wild flowers under a great blue sky, bright and warm. My body seemed to soak up the sun like a towel drank water. I was lost to my own reverie until I was yanked out of it suddenly by a gentle hand on my shoulder letting me know my turn was over. 
 
 It took everything that I had to tear myself away from it all and step back into cold reality. Dullness set in over me once again as I left the sun's embrace. Mother wrapped an arm around my shoulders, but the heat was no where near that of the sun. Nothing we had in the colony would ever be able to match that. 
 
 A few hours had passed and the column of light began to fade once more, growing dimmer and dimmer, taking with it the hope that had ignited within me. 
 I was n't ready for it to go. No one was. I could see the despair in their eyes. For many, I would later learn, that small bit of hope was crueler than if they had never seen the sun again. The ray faded back into the warm dot in the glass and as quickly as it had come, it was soon gone, leaving behind the empty darkness once more. 
 
 The crowd dispersed and I was left alone under the glass dome, staring up, lost in my memories both recent and old. I had felt the sun for the second time in my life. How lucky I felt in that moment to see, to feel such a wonderful thing. Because where there is light, there is hope, even if it was just a sliver of it.
